A smoke model and its application for smoke management in an underground mass transit station

This paper discusses the development of a smoke model for CFD. The model evaluates smoke visibility based on line of sight. Using a compartment fire, the deficiency in determining visibility by the conventional surface-based approach is first demonstrated. Smoke management in an underground rail station is investigated using the smoke model. For a medium growth rate fire, the results show that the platform is blocked by smoke within 2–3 min. On the mezzanine, the designed smoke exhaust controls the smoke only for a limited time of less than 4 min. The variations of smoke obscuration are quantified at three locations, which are used to start the tunnel ventilation at 4 min. This can be related to a video-based smoke detection. The smoke model would be useful in tenability, egress and other life safety assessments. Future development of the model includes local lighting effects and experimental validation.