About 15 years ago, the design basis for covered malls and atria changed from providing a number of ach to providing the exhaust necessary (if at all) to limiting the hazard posed by smoke. In the model building codes in the United States, the default design requirement stipulates that the smoke layer cannot descend within 6 ft of the highest walking level that is part of the exiting path². This requirement is depicted in Figure 1. The current hazard-limiting design necessitates that the design process consider the size of the design fire and conduct calculations to determine the characteristics of the smoke management system³. The focus of most smoke management system designs consists of the exhaust and makeup air supply capacities and their arrangement. Because acceptance test procedures need to be consistent with the design basis, the test procedures also had to change.

This paper describes frequent errors in design approaches and procedures for acceptance tests for smoke management systems in covered malls and atria that have been related to the author.