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    CRE Retail, 15 November 2019
    Shopping without fire

    Shopping centers can be safely ranked among the most popular buildings among the inhabitants. When building shopping centers, each investor thinks about how to attract as many visitors as possible. Modern architectural and planning solutions, a comfortable microclimate, a variety of entertainment areas for leisure activities (cinemas, restaurants, playgrounds) are designed to attract and retain as many potential buyers as possible.



    Sergey Bryuzgin

    At the same time, there is a complex of events in the building that is invisible to most of us. People do not think about their existence, although they are the most important in the building. We are talking about integrated fire safety systems. Sergey Bryuzgin, Head of the Department of Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Smoke Protection at Metropolis, spoke about fire safety in shopping centers to CRE Retail (#69, November 2019).


    Planning solutions

    One of the most important components of fire safety systems are architectural and planning solutions. Thoughtful and well-organized planning solutions are designed to limit the source of fire and smoke, as well as to ensure the possibility of unhindered evacuation of people from the building to a safe place - to the street.



    Fire alarm systems, notifications, evacuation management

    Next in the hierarchy of fire safety systems are fire alarm systems designed to detect a fire, activate fire alarm and fire protection algorithms (elevator control, unlocking electronic locks on escape routes and other measures), turn off general exchange and turn on smoke ventilation. The warning system allows people to immediately know that a fire has occurred and they need to leave the building, and the evacuation management system tells you in which direction to move for safe evacuation. The warning and evacuation control system is usually combined: light and sound (for people with limited mobility) and speech.



    Automatic water fire extinguishing systems

    Water fire extinguishing systems work in the room in which the fire occurred, and are designed to limit it or ensure complete extinguishment of the fire.



    Smoke ventilation systems

    The task of smoke ventilation systems is to ensure smoke-free escape routes and the creation of fire-safe zones. Smoke ventilation systems include the combined use of supply and exhaust systems. Exhaust smoke ventilation systems are divided into two types - systems that remove combustion products directly from the premises in which a fire occurred, and systems that remove combustion products from adjacent premises (corridors and malls of shopping centers). Supply smoke ventilation systems are necessary for compensatory air supply to the premises from which exhaust smoke ventilation is performed, and to create excess pressure on escape routes (from 20 to 150 Pa), which ensures their smoke-free. Premises with overpressure are vestibules, smoke-free staircases, elevator shafts and fireproof zones for people with limited mobility.



    Basic rules for evacuation

    However, the presence in the building of a complex of fire-fighting systems does not negate the importance of the correct behavior of each person in an emergency. When the fire alarm system goes off, don't panic. Take the hand of the children or take them in your arms, look around for the presence of light indicators of escape routes.


    Evacuation from the first floors should take place on the street. Evacuation from above-ground (starting from the second floor) and underground floors is carried out to the staircase (usually either from the premises directly to the staircase, or from the premises to the corridor and further to the staircase). At the same time, be prepared for the fact that, when trying to open the door, you will feel resistance - these are the supply smoke ventilation systems that ensure smoke-free escape routes. The maximum pressure on the door when the smoke ventilation systems are in operation does not exceed 150 Pa (opening force is about 30 kg (for a door measuring 2x1m).


    If for some reason you cannot evacuate through the staircase (for example, for health reasons), you need to find safety zones. Security zones in modern shopping centers are arranged, as a rule, on all floors and are usually located in elevator lobbies or in close proximity to staircases.


    Overpressure is created in security zones by inlet smoke suppression systems. At the same time, during the cold period, the supplied air is heated, which provides a person with a sufficient level of comfort in such a room while waiting for the arrival of the fire brigade, even if he is wet or without outerwear.



    Current trends in improving the fire safety of shopping malls and other facilities

    Shopping malls are objects with voluminous public spaces (atriums, malls, long pedestrian galleries, etc.), as well as with a large number of premises for various functional purposes, present in the building in addition to retail space (entertainment facilities, restaurants). In addition, a responsible investor is interested in the object having its own individual style, but at the same time not losing the highest possible level of security for the sake of external beauty and financial gain. It is very, very difficult to combine these two factors in one building, since fire ventilation systems, due to the need to supply and remove huge volumes of air, are quite bulky and require large spaces for their placement and compliance with rather strict building codes. Naturally, for an investor, every square meter allocated for technical premises and engineering systems is a lost profit. How to adequately assess and prove the necessity or, conversely, the uselessness (and sometimes harmfulness) of a particular solution at the design stage? To do this, in many foreign and in part Russian projects, engineers use CFD modeling - the construction of a digital model of a building, including the necessary engineering systems, with the parameters of a process specified in it (in this case, a fire). It is this simulation that replaces expensive full-scale tests and allows you to determine the dangerous factors that arise during a fire on the “digital twin” of an object, identify and eliminate solutions that adversely affect the fire safety of a building.



    CFD modeling technology is relatively young in the construction industry, but its potential is huge. Responsible and efficient investors who know how to count money and are versed in modern technologies are increasingly demanding from engineering companies the implementation of CFD models of designed objects. CFD modeling saves money during the construction of a facility, allowing you to choose the best solutions from a variety of possible ones and gives the investor the maximum level of security for both the facility itself and its employees and visitors.