A fire safety study of Hong Kong refuge floor building wall layout design

Since 1996, refuge floors have been an indispensable passive building element of the fire protection plan for Hong Kong high-rise buildings. These floors must be designed to comply with the relevant requirements of the Building Codes of Hong Kong. Hence, 50% of the floor area must be deployed for refuge purposes. And they must have at least two fully open building side walls so that a desired wind effect is assumed so that any smoke that enters will be purged from the safe area. Therefore wind-induced natural cross-ventilation is of prime importance for the protection of the refuge floor in fire safety. If this wind effect is not achieved, entering smoke will accumulate and cause the safety system to fail. Therefore fundamental studies of this flow phenomenon are very important and needed. This paper studies the wind-induced flow behaviour of Hong Kong's refuge floors. Different building wall layout designs are addressed. By way of this study, the author suggests that a refuge floor shall be designed to have two opposite building side walls open instead of the present Building Codes that require at least any two of them.