Atrium Engineering Research in Building Services Engineering

Abstract

Atrium Engineering research is active in dense urban areas of the Asia-Oceania regions. Research in Building Services Engineering related to fire and ventilation in atrium conducted by our group in the past 30 years is outlined in this paper. In particular, a joint research project on atrium fire between The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and University of Science and Technology of China was started since 1994. The PolyU/USTC Atrium of 30 m tall was constructed in 1997 to celebrate the smooth reunification of Hong Kong to Mainland as a Special Administrative Region. Key points on full-scale burning tests to address are on smoke filling process in atrium buildings, static smoke exhaust, dynamic smoke extraction systems, performance of atrium sprinklers installed at high ceiling, and fire detection systems in large space. Research activities in ventilation and air-conditioning are also discussed.