TABLE OF CONTENTS Leonard Y.Cooper
Dr. Leonard Y. Cooper was a research engineer in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 1978 to 1998. Since 1998 he has been senior scientist/ engineer at Hughes Associates Inc., a fire protection engineering research and development firm. Since 1978 he has focused on applying a broad range of the physical and mechanical engineering sciences to develop and transfer research results into technically sound engineering practices in the field of applied fire safety. His research has included the development of mathematical models of fire phenomena and on the assembly of these into compartment fire models and associated computer programs for practical and research-oriented compartment fire simulations.
Smoke and heat venting is the removal of hot smoky gases from the upper parts of one or more rooms of a fire-containing facility and the introduction of relatively cool and uncontaminated air into the lower parts of the rooms from adjacent spaces or from the outside environment. Smoke removal by venting may be driven by (1) natural convection (i.e., buoyancy-driven forces), occurring either fortuitously (e.g., natural venting of smoke through broken windows near the top of a room of fire origin) or by design (e.g., a well-designed system of fusible-link-actuated ceiling vents); by (2) mechanical ventilation (i.e., fan-driven smoke removal); or by (3)a combination of these.
The main objectives of venting by design are (1) to facilitate escape of people from fire environments by restricting...
