Controlling stack pressure in high rise buildings by compartmenting the building.

An investigation was conducted of the effect of decreasing the air leakage area across internal partitions of a typical modern high-rise apartment. The objective of this work was to study the practicality of increased compartmentalization or separation of the living units from each other and from the corridors and vertical shafts in the building. Typically, the main barrier to air movement through a high-rise apartment building is the exterior skin or envelope. Walls and doors between corridors, units, and elevator shafts and stairwells are much Jess airtight, and significant volumes of air can move between these different areas of the building interior under relatively small pressure differences. Some disadvantages of this arrangement are that individual occupants can affect air movement through the entire building by leaving windows or balcony doors open in their units, odours and pollutants produced in one area of the building may be transferred to other areas, exterior walls and windows have large pressure differences across them which drives air and rain through any defect, and special measures to control smoke migration during fires must be provided. The objectives of this study were to measure the actual pressure differences across various separations within a high-rise apartment building, to generate and analyze potential ways of reducing the air leakage through these separations, and to draw conclusions on their effects on air movement in the building, including changes in operation of typical current ventilation strategies and fire and smoke control measures. A 1 2-storey condominium building in Nepean, Ontario was selected as the test case for the measurements. Measurements of pressure difference across 1 8 different partitions in the building were made under cold weather conditions, with doors across some of the separations opened and make-up air fans either operating or switched off. A total of 20 measurement sets are presented. The airflow rates through the make-up air vents on each corridor were also measured.