Imperial College London
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ProfessorGuillermoRein

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Professor of Fire Science
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7036g.rein Website CV

 
 
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Assistant

 

Ms Eniko Jarecsni +44 (0)20 7594 7029

 
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Location

 

614City and Guilds BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@inbook{Gutiérrez-Montes:2009,
author = {Gutiérrez-Montes, C and Rein, G and Sanmiguel-Rojas, E and Viedma, A},
booktitle = {Fire Safety},
editor = {Søgaard and Krogh},
pages = {1--42},
publisher = {Nova Science Publishers},
title = {Smoke and fire dynamics in atria and large enclosures: An overview},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/73467},
year = {2009}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CHAP
AB  - The proliferation of atria within modern large buildings is relatively recent. An atrium can be defined as a large open space connecting two or more storeys. Atria are important architectonical features since the 60's and can be found, among others, in shopping centres, office buildings and high-rise buildings, airports, stations and sports centres. However, the atrium represents an innovative, complex and non conventional architectonical element that can lead to fire environments diverging significantly from those in conventional compartments used in the development of current codes and standards. They are a source of discussion in the fire safety community because smoke can easily spread from one floor to another making the traditional methodologies for compartmentation of little or null effect. The design of smoke management in atria has been based on prescriptive codes since the 70's. It was not until the mid 80's that the phenomena started to be the objective of both experimental and numerical studies. It is because of the subsequent improved understanding on fire dynamics and smoke management together with the increased computing power available nowadays, that there is a progressive movement from prescriptive-based to performance-based codes which is also chaning the way atria are designed. The aim of the present work is to provide a broad overview of the current state-of-the-art of fires in atria. A brief introduction to the characteristics and types of atrium structures is presented first. Then, a description of the fire dynamics as well as the main safety problems that arise in case of fire are considered. A historical discussion of the research, including experimental and numerical studies, is presented, and current design methodologies and fire safety strategies are discussed. The final part of the overview addresses the international tendencies towards the introduction of performance-based fire protection codes. This overview highlights the need for furt
AU  - Gutiérrez-Montes,C
AU  - Rein,G
AU  - Sanmiguel-Rojas,E
AU  - Viedma,A
EP  - 42
PB  - Nova Science Publishers
PY  - 2009///
SN  - 9781607414902
SP  - 1
TI  - Smoke and fire dynamics in atria and large enclosures: An overview
T1  - Fire Safety
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/73467
ER  -
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