Engineered Approach to Life Safety in a Shopping Mall Using Autodesk CFD

This class will cover the use of Autodesk CFD software as a design analysis tool to provide an effective, engineered smoke-control strategy for a shopping mall of large and complex geometry. We'll examine how fire dynamics were modeled and how important aspects such as smoke propagation and temperature distribution were investigated. The participants will learn about smoke movement in far greater detail than is possible through traditional design tools, such as zone models and algebraic equations, and we'll cover the impact of irregular shapes and unusual air movements that could not be addressed otherwise. We'll demonstrate how we can design the smoke exhaust systems to maintain a prescribed smoke-layer height, tenable temperature, and smoke visibility; and how we can optimize the volume of smoke to be exhausted to meet life-safety goals. Based on the Autodesk CFD results, we'll show how we can draw important conclusions and introduce valuable recommendations to minimize smoke hazards.