Williaam Cox was commissioned by the design team to provide a smoke ventilation system solution for a large warehouse building in Little Island, Cork. The building was an old, concrete framed, warehouse building whose façade had been modernised two years previously with insulated panels. The requirement for smoke ventilation was not considered during the façade works and this also presented problems with regards to available roof space since much of the roof was now consumed by trapezoidal rooflights.
Upon inspection of the initial drawings, basic smoke calculations were completed by Williaam Cox to enable us to prepare a proposal for a smoke ventilation system. The design team were happy with this proposal and site meetings were scheduled.
We entered the next stage of discussions with both the design team and main contractor and during our first site meeting, it was clear that the drawings did not represent the building accurately. The building was a concrete portal frame, and the depth of beams was not considered during initial smoke calculations. Additionally, a large food and drink distribution company had now taken on the building and they required large internal refrigeration units. Large, fixed items of equipment such as this affect potential fire scenarios and how smoke will move within a building.
It was therefore decided to undertake CFD analysis (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to accurately simulate and calculate the requirements of the smoke ventilation system. CFD analysis considered the complexities of the building with regards to the internal refrigeration layout, the concrete down stand beams and the layout and location of the smoke ventilation units on the roof.
For the main warehouse area, our solution was to supply and install 30nr Kingspan Eura louvred smoke ventilator units with associated control equipment. There was an additional requirement for smoke ventilation for the two escape stairwells on the project and we used the Kingspan Optima 110-03 in these locations.
Our contract team installed the units on the roof in accordance with the layout determined by the CFD analysis. Our experienced commissioning engineers ensured that the systems were tested and fully operational for a demonstration to the contractor/client.
As with all our smoke ventilation systems, all the equipment is certified in accordance with EN12101.
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