What two items determine the rate of smoke production from a

What two items determine the rate of smoke production from a fire in an atrium?

Solution

Atria can be categorized based on the amount of \"openness\" between the floors and the atrium.

Fully open. All floor levels are open to the atrium space. This is not code compliant—a maximum of three levels are permitted to be completely open to the atrium. This type of atrium is extremely dangerous for firefighters. The greater the interconnection between the atrium and adjacent spaces, the greater the likelihood that fire and smoke originating at the atrium base level (or any level, for that matter) will spread through the shaft to other parts of the building. The atrium base level may have a functional use (e.g. dining area, lounge, reading, retail stores, kiosks)

Partially open. Some of the floor levels above the atrium base are open to the shaft, while the remaining areas above are closed off by fire-rated or code-recognized special barriers such as tempered glass with closely spaced sprinklers on both sides of the glass. The barriers are designed to stop smoke spread, not fire. The bottom level of the atrium may have a functional use.