Service

Smoke Control CFD for Buildable, Approval-Focused Ventilation Design

Independent NIST FDS analysis for design teams that need more than a calculation: credible smoke behaviour evidence, practical design advice, and reporting that stands up to review.

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When CFD is the Right Tool

This service is for projects where smoke control performance needs to be tested properly rather than assumed. That usually means atypical geometry, complex make-up air paths, basement or mixed-use layouts, shaft-driven strategies, or design teams trying to compare different ventilation approaches before the scheme is fixed.

In those situations, the value is not just producing a model. It is using the analysis to understand what the system is likely to do, where the limits are, and what adjustments are needed to arrive at a strategy that is both technically credible and practical to build.

What This Service Covers

  • Project review and strategy definition to confirm what needs to be tested, which criteria matter, and what scenarios will provide useful evidence.
  • NIST FDS modelling to assess smoke movement, temperatures, visibility, airflow behaviour, and system response under credible fire conditions.
  • Design option comparison when a team needs to benchmark natural versus mechanical approaches, compare layouts, or review value-engineering changes.
  • Buildable design advice on fan locations, vent sizing, extract rates, shaft arrangements, pressure behaviour, and coordination with the wider building design.
  • Approval-focused reporting that sets out assumptions, limitations, results, and the technical basis for review by clients, fire engineers, and Building Control.

Typical Outputs

A project can include concise technical advice early in design, or a full reporting package once the strategy is defined. Typical outputs include modelled scenario results, option benchmarking, commentary on design implications, visual outputs for team review, and a written report that clearly explains what the analysis supports and where caution is still required.

Approval and Standards Context

The analysis is typically used to support performance-based strategies developed against UK guidance such as Approved Document B, BS 9999, BS 9991, and BS 7346. The objective is not to overstate what CFD can do, but to provide clear evidence showing how a proposed strategy performs, how robust it appears, and whether it is suitable to take forward for approval.

Project Fit

Why Teams Bring Me In

Best suited to projects where the team needs clear evidence to compare options, resolve risk, or support approval.

Alternative Strategy

Atypical Layouts

When prescriptive guidance does not map neatly onto the space and the team needs performance evidence to move forward.

Option Review

Strategy Benchmarking

When there is more than one possible strategy and the decision needs to be based on quantified smoke control performance.

Coordination

Late Design Changes

When plant, shafts, vents, or layouts are changing and the team needs to understand the technical consequences before sign-off.

Approvals

Approval Discussions

When the reporting needs to be clear, proportionate, and credible enough for discussion with Building Control and the wider design team.

Selected Outcomes

Proof the Advice Works

Outcome-led examples showing how the analysis informs viable design and approval decisions.

Benchmarking Result

Mechanical strategy shown to outperform a natural shaft benchmark

A mixed-use commercial scheme used comparative CFD evidence to show the proposed mechanical arrangement delivered stronger life-safety performance than a prescriptive natural shaft approach.

See the benchmarking case study

Pressure Control Result

Corridor under-pressure capped below the 50 Pa limit

A residential dual-shaft strategy was validated with dynamic control logic that kept door forces within a safe range while still delivering high-volume smoke extraction.

See the residential case study

Clearance Result

System layout verified without dead zones or excess plant

A basement car park study confirmed compliant smoke and pollution clearance while optimising fan placement rather than oversizing the system.

See the basement case study
Relevant Proof

Service Case Studies

Wider project examples showing the range of building types and smoke control questions this service can cover.

Tracer Gas Validation

Subterranean accommodation smoke clearance

Tracer gas CFD used to verify uniform smoke clearance across 19 basement compartments without stagnant zones.

Open case study

Complex Core

Listed luxury London hotel smoke control

Engineered smoke control assessed across a listed hotel, including stairs, lobbies, restaurant, bar area, and firefighting interfaces.

Open case study

Industrial Exhaust

Large-scale industrial smoke exhaust

High-volume smoke exhaust and sprinkler interaction assessed across a large industrial facility with protected access routes.

Open case study
Service FAQ

Questions Teams Usually Ask

Straight answers on scope, inputs, outputs, and how the work supports review.

What information is needed to start a smoke control CFD study?

A useful starting set usually includes drawings, the proposed smoke control strategy, any relevant fire engineering criteria, and a clear explanation of what decision the team needs to make. Early-stage work can still be valuable with incomplete information, but the scope needs to reflect what is known and what remains provisional.

Can an existing smoke control strategy be reviewed rather than modelled from scratch?

Yes. Many projects need an existing proposal tested, benchmarked, or challenged rather than reinvented. That can include checking whether a strategy looks credible, comparing it against an alternative approach, or assessing how a late design change affects likely smoke control performance.

Does the consultancy only support performance-based designs?

No. The consultancy can support both fully performance-based strategies and projects that need benchmarking against more prescriptive guidance. In practice, the analysis is often used to test whether a proposed approach is equivalent, stronger, or more practical than a default guidance-based solution.

What do clients receive at the end of the process?

Outputs depend on the stage of the project, but they typically include technical advice on the strategy, modelled scenario results, commentary on design implications, and a report explaining the assumptions, findings, and basis for review by the wider project team and approving authorities.

Next Step

If the project needs a defensible smoke control decision, start with the strategy question.

The useful starting point is usually not “can you run a model?” but “what exactly does this team need to prove, compare, or unlock?” If that question is clear, the modelling scope and reporting package can be kept focused and commercially sensible.

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