AI for Smoke Control Systems

Smoke control systems are required in specific building configurations — high-rise buildings, underground structures, atriums, covered malls, and certain assembly occupancies — and their design involves complex airflow calculations that must satisfy both IBC Chapter 9 and the applicable NFPA standards. AI helps with both the design calculations and the compliance verification.

For atrium smoke control, the analysis involves calculating the smoke layer development rate, the required exhaust capacity to maintain the smoke layer above the highest occupied level, and the makeup air requirements to prevent negative pressure that would cause doors to stick. These calculations depend on the atrium geometry, the fire size, the height, and the ambient conditions. AI runs these calculations parametrically, showing how changes in atrium height or fire size affect the required system capacity.

Stairwell pressurization is the other common smoke control application. The system must maintain a pressure differential that prevents smoke infiltration into the stair while not creating forces that make stair doors impossible to open. AI models the pressure relationships across multiple floors simultaneously, accounting for stack effect, wind loads, and the number of doors open at any given time — a multi-variable analysis that is difficult to solve manually.