11th SFPE CASE STUDYShopping Mall - Poland

Marcin Cisek1

Alicja Berner2

Bartosz Bieniasz2

Jakub Okólski2Łukasz Bałaga2

Grzegorz Cisek2

1 Main School of Fire Service2Protect – Fire Experts

Warsaw Poland

• Main assumptions• Building layout comments• Polish requirements• Evacuation design and simulation• Smoke control assumptions• Smoke control calculations and simulations• Answers to survey

questions

Scope of Presentation

Villaggio Mall, Doha, Qatar, 2012At around 11:00 AM May 28,2012, a major fire broke out inthe Villaggio Mall, triggeringan alarm described by aneyewitness as being "a verybenign fire alarm, almost likea door bell". At first manywere not worried as there hadbeen a recent false alarm.

Migone, Paloma; Field, Michael; Kirk, Stacey (May 29, 2012). "Kiwi triplets among 19 killed in mall fire". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved May 29, 2012. www.vosizneias.com

www.rightnow.io

Villaggio Mall, Doha, Qatar, 2012As the fire engulfed the Gympanzeenursery, the entrances to the nurserybecame blocked by smoke, trapping 13children and four staff inside. Firefightersfrom the Qatari Civil Defense force wereforced to break a hole in the roof of the mallto attempt a rescue. Along with the 17trapped in the nursery, two firefighters werekilled.

Main Assumptions

• Design according to Polish requirements with some exceptions• One fire zone for mall and all shops• People number calculations according tenants functions and area

and 10% of mall area• Required solid suspended ceilings in mall• Underground car park out

of scope of case study

Polish Fire Safety Requirements• The facility has been qualified as a medium-rise building (with height of up to 25 m);• Fire qualification of individual parts of the building is as follows:

– the supermarket, together with back-up facilities, stores, shopping malls, the recreational section and cinemas is qualified under ZL I category of fire hazard to occupants;

– the car parks and garages are qualified as zones with fire load density of up to 500 MJ/m2;

– maintenance premises on the underground storey are qualified as a fire zone with fire load density of up to 500 MJ/m2;

– social and office sections — ZL III category of fire hazard to occupants.– food court and restaurants — ZL I category of fire hazard to occupants;– storage premises — production and storage zone with fire load density of up to

4,000 MJ/m2

Polish Fire Safety Requirements• The facility is recommended to be constructed in B fire resistance class. Due to assumed

installation of sprinkler system the class can be lowered to C. • The building’s components should comply with the following conditions concerning

the minimum fire rating: – main load-bearing structure /walls, pillars, beams, frames/ — R 120;– slabs — REI 120;– internal walls — EI 30;– glazed shop fronts — no class;– external walls — EI 60;– roof load-bearing structure — R 30;– roofing — RE 30.– fire rating of staircase components — R 60.– fire rating of staircase walls — REI 60.– fire rating of designed mezzanines – at least REI 60 (the ceiling) and R 60 (the structure).

• Moreover, all of the building’s components are made of non-fire spreading materials.

Polish Fire Safety Requirements• The permissible lengths of the evacuation route in the facility are 80 m.• The permissible lengths of routes to exits are 20 m (for one direction of access) and 80 m (for more than one

direction of access), taking into account the sprinkler and smoke extraction systems.• The minimum width of the flight of the staircase is 1.2 m, and the width of the landing — 1.5 m.• The total width of exits, corridors and stairs should be calculated on the basis of the coefficient of 0.6 m per 100

persons.• The minimum width of the corridors is 1.4 m (1.2 m for less than 20 occupants).• Exits should open in the direction of evacuation. The minimum width of the door is 0.9 m. Anti-panic devices should

be used in exits from rooms which may contain more than 300 occupants.• Sliding doors leading to the building exterior should be equipped with a mechanism ensuring their automatic

opening and leaving them open if evacuation is necessary in the case of fire or their malfunction.• At least 2 exits should be provided for each room in the building which may be occupied by more than 50 people or

with surface area of more than 300 m2.• All staircases should be encased with walls and closed with doors of 30-minute fire rating. • Escalators and moving ramps should not be treated as evacuation routes. • A sound alarm system (SAS) should be provided in the entire facility and it may be used to control evacuation.

Polish Fire Safety Requirements• The following requirements should be fulfilled with regard to interior

design:– floor and wall linings on evacuation routes — at least flammable with

difficulty;– suspended ceilings made of non-combustible or non-flammable and

non-dripping materials which do not fall off when exposed to fire;– no materials which emit intense smoke or whose products of thermal

decomposition are highly toxic should be applied in the interior design.

Technical Fire Safety:• sprinkler system• automatic smoke control systems in mall, corridors and staircases• fire safety power switches• fire signalling system, with signal transmission to the fire services• alarm buttons• indoor hydrants• emergency lighting systems• lightning protection• outdoor hydrants• extinguishers• fire road

Building Layout

Evacuation Design

Evacuation Design

Building Design

• Pink line – Corridors REI60• Red line – Staircases REI60• Green line – Exits

Building Design

• Pink line – Corridors REI60• Red line – Staircases REI60• Green line – Exits

Building Design

• Pink line – Corridors REI60• Red line – Staircases REI60• Green line – Exits

Building Design

• Pink line – Corridors REI60• Red line – Staircases REI60• Green line – Exits

Evacuation Simulation

• Two general simulations– All exits available– Top right corner to available

• Software: Pathfinder – Thunderhead

Evacuation Simulation – All Exits Available After 2 Minutes

Evacuation Simulation – Not All Exits Available After 2 Minutes

Evacuation Simulations ResultsTotal Occupants: 17046

Exit Times (s):Min: 41,7Max: 576,0Average: 244,5StdDev: 122,9

Travel Distances (m):Min: 3,9Max: 222,8Average: 82,6StdDev: 32,6

FLOOR Last person leaving floor (s)

Last person in place of safety (corridor) (s)

Floor 00 576 241,9Floor 01 549,4 262,9Floor 02 515,9 339,5Floor 03 482 424

– All Exits Available

– Top right corner not availableTotal Occupants: 17046

Exit Times (s):Min: 41,7Max: 776,2Average: 281,6StdDev: 153,7

Travel Distances (m):Min: 3,9Max: 285,6Average: 92,0StdDev: 38,3

FLOOR Last person leaving floor (s)

Last person in place of safety (corridor) (s)

Floor 00 776,2 297,7Floor 01 750,2 277,7Floor 02 714,1 355,9Floor 03 677,8 657,6

Smoke Control

Smoke Control – Smoke Zones

Smoke Control – Smoke Zones

Smoke Control – Smoke Zones

Smoke Control – Smoke Zones

Smoke Control – CalculationsSmoke Zones

Index volumetric flow rate of smoke exhaust [m3/h]

Kind of smoke convective spill plume

SZ-01 60 000 Symmetrical

SZ-02 900 000 Balcony

SZ-03 800 000 Balcony

SZ-04 1 000 000 Balcony

SZ-05 800 000 Balcony

SZ-06 120 000 Symmetrical Food court

SZ-07 120 000 Symmetrical Cinema foyer

Smoke Zones (shops >900m2)SZ-I 120 000 Symmetrical

Smoke Control – ExampleSmoke Zone SZ-04

Cross Section

Smoke Control – Example

Smoke Zone SZ-04

3D CFD Model

3D CFD Model

CFD Simulations

• Software: Smartfire – Greenwich University• Two main simulations:

– Smoke zone SZ-04– Smoke zone SZ-05

CFD Simulation Example SZ-04

CFD Simulation Example SZ-04

CFD Simulation Example SZ-04

CFD Simulation Example SZ-05

CFD Simulations - Conclusions• SZ-04 After 3 minutes smoke reaches entrances to tenants on level +3

– an additional stair case added near nursery and fitness• SZ-04 All other levels with acceptable smoke concentration• SZ-05 Results acceptable for all levels• Assumed make-up air from corridors overpressure systems• All other smoke zones were not simulated• Volumes of smoke exhaust system can be lowered – more simulations

needed

Answers to questions• Maximum height of atrium with effective mechanical smoke exhaust.

– Maximum 3 levels (15 meters of smoke free zone)– Optimum 2 levels

• Maximum height of atrium with effective natural smoke exhaust– Maximum 2 levels– Optimum 1 level

• Principles for calculating people number and distribution in shopping malls.– At least 4 m2 per person for tenants area and 40m2 per person in mall. In restaurants, cinemas,

fitness – according to the architecture and technology• Fire strength / heat release rate curves for shops without sprinkler system

– Calculated regarding time to start firefighters operations• Maximum area of fire zone

– Can be unlimited• Evacuation strategy containing use of elevators, travellators and escalators

– All devices should be operational during stage of evacuation – but at this moment there are formal and technical limitations

• Possible and reasonable placement of kids play area in shopping mall– It should be on ground floor.

• Minimum area of shop with effective individual smoke exhaust system– Around 900m2

Thank You for Your Attention

MAIN SCHOOL OF FIRE SERVICE (SGSP)ul. Słowackiego 52/54WARSAW POLANDwww.sgsp.edu.pl mcisek@sgsp.edu.pl

PROTECT T. Cisek i Wsp. Sp. J.ul. Rudnickiego 3A 13hWARSAW POLANDwww.protect.pl protect@protect.pl

Marcin CisekAlicja BernerBartosz BieniaszJakub OkólskiŁukasz BałagaGrzegorz Cisek