Stack effects in tall building fires: a case study of Taiwan old apartment fire

Tainan, a city that prospered early in Taiwan, has a hot and humid atmosphere. Hence, the grilled doors in numerous old buildings for ventilation and lighting to conserve energy. This study analyzed a fire incident that occurred during the late night of March 17, 2019 in a 38-year-old dwelling, where three residents were severely covered with soot. The site investigation showed that eight staircases lead to the same basement, which apparently created a stack effect and a makeup air phenomenon. Numerical simulations have been performed in this study to reconstruct the fire scene, whose results were consistent with the actual fire scene. In particular, the results showed that some staircases in the fire were blackened by smoke, while others acted as makeup air inlets. The temperature at the households’ doors on all floors of Staircase 2, which was closest to the fire, exceeded 60 °C after four minutes. Furthermore, two immediately feasible improvement strategies according to the control volume theory of fluid mechanics were proposed in this study. Firstly, changing the grilled doors in the basement to a closed flat door style could effectively prevent smoke from flowing up in the staircases. Secondly, residents may consider closing the windows of the stairs at night to improve fire safety. The results showed that the chimney effect can be significantly reduced. These improvements could be a reference for other old dwellings to enhance their fire safety.