Making sure smoke management systems are designed correctly is imperative since they cannot be adjusted in the field under fire conditions. "Smoke management systems are different from most other engineering systems in that they cannot be adjusted under fire conditions in the field to assure that they work as intended," said John Klote, co-author of Principles of Smoke Management published by ASHRAE (Atlanta).

"Building owners take a dim view of making large design-size fires in their new buildings to test systems. We design these systems with confidence by relying on engineering principles that have been experimentally verified." These principles are described in the book and verified with a smoke management system analysis CD included with the publication. The CD contains programs that can be used for design calculations related to smoke management systems, according to Klote.

The book provides information on pressurized stairwells, pressurized elevators, zoned smoke control and smoke management in atria and other large spaces. Recent advancements include heat release rate, toxicity of smoke, natural atrium venting, plugholing, minimum depth of an atrium smoke layer, smoke stratification, smoke detection, tenability systems and computer analysis.

Designers need to understand these engineering principles to design successful systems and to avoid repeating the same mistakes of those who came before them, Klote said.

To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, by mail at 1791 Tullie Circle NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, or visit the ASHRAE Online Bookstore at www.ashrae.org.