Environmental impact of sprinklers and gravity smoke vents interaction — Review and probabilistic modelling approach

Abstract

In the event of a fire in a typical industrial building, the systems deployed first are sprinklers and gravity smoke vents. Scientists and experts have not reached a firm consensus on the advantages or disadvantages of using sprinklers and gravity smoke vents together. While life-safety and property protection aspects have been already investigated, the environmental impact of these interactions has not yet been considered in research. This study identified and meticulously analysed several environmental issues related to the cooperation of these FPSs. A probabilistic model was then developed to efficiently assess emissions of selected pollutants from fires. The focus was on priority pollutants in terms of climate, toxicity and carcinogenicity. Various cost-optimization and monetization techniques were assessed to propose an appropriate method for evaluating the environmental impact of FPSs. A generic warehouse case study was conducted, comparing 24 different storage and FPS configurations. The applicability of the proposed approach was confirmed; however, the case study results indicates that the interference between sprinklers and gravity smoke vents is relatively insignificant compared to other factors. Additionally, four configurations of sprinklers and vents application were analysed. Sprinklers only have the lowest impact on environment for generic warehouse.