The Prairies Provinces Chapter of the SFPE in collaboration with the Southern Ontario Chapter, National Capital Chapter, British Columbia Chapter is proud to present our online webinar on Pressurization Fundamentals with Wojciech Węgrzyński.
For more information and to register, visit: https://sfpe-ncr.wildapricot.org/event-5996144.
SPEAKER:
Dr. Wojciech Węgrzyński is a Professor at the Polish Building Research Institute in Warsaw and a host of the Fire Science Show podcast. He is also a Director at SFPE Europe and European/African representative to the Membership Advisory Council as well as Co-chair of Sub-Committee for Research at the IAFSS. He is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed papers published in primary FSE journals.
His main areas of interest are the fundamentals of compartment fire dynamics and the fire impact of sustainable solutions in built environment. His research focuses on the holistic interplay of all building systems in delivering fire safety and finding solutions to make fire safety measures cheaper, robust, efficient, and resilient. As an engineer, he specializes in the use of computational fluid dynamics in fire, with a focus on wind and fire interaction and smoke control modeling. He is a member of the Sub-committee for Research of the IAFSS.
He has received several awards, including the NFPA Harry C. Bigglestone Award (2018), the Jack Watts Award (2019), the SFPE 5 Under 35 Award (2020), the Pascal Award for best ventilation design in Poland (2023), and the Prof. S. Bryła Award (2024). He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Fire Technology journal.
OVERVIEW:
The Canadian regulatory framework permits ‘natural’ pressurization as a means to protect high buildings. In practice, such systems rely upon specific environmental conditions and assumptions to provide effective outcomes. This webinar seeks to explore what constitutes an effective pressurization system for consideration by practitioners.
These are smoke control solutions used to prevent smoke from accessing protected spaces, by creating an overpressure in those spaces. Although the idea is very simple, its execution is far from that. Pressurization systems need to work in two distinct states – when all doors to the protected space are closed (over pressurization state), and when some openings are open (flow-path state).
The presentation will cover:
- What are pressurization systems and why do we use them in buildings;
- Static and dynamic pressure;
- Pressurization systems as part of the smoke control strategy;
- Old-type mechanical systems, and novel active control systems;
- Role of vestibules/lobbies in resiliency strategy;
- Practical examples of use;
- Testing and certification.
