Design of elevator smoke control systems for fire evacuation.

A joint U. S Canadian project was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of using elevators for the evacuation of the handicapped during a fire. This project consisted of conceptual studies, full-scale fire experiments, and theoretical analysis. This paper summarizes the findings that are relevant to the design of smoke control systems for elevators. A method of dealing with elevator piston effect is discussed. Elevator piston effect is the transient pressures produced by elevator car motion, and this effect depends on air temperature, building leakage areas, elevator car velocity, and hoistway size. All other things being equal, piston effect is considerably greater for single-car hoistways than for multiple-car hoistways. Different approaches for dealing with the pressure fluctuations due to the opening and closing of building doors are presented. An approach for design analysis is presented with example analyses of two different elevator smoke control systems. Results indicate that many types of elevator smoke control systems can be designed to provide acceptable levels of pressurization even under severe conditions of doors opening and closing.