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Improve fire safety. Design vents using the up-to-date guidance in the 2007 NFPA 204!

NFPA 204 applies to the design of venting systems for the emergency venting of products of combustion from fires in buildings. Manual and computer-modeled solution methods aid in design calculations. The equations or models provide the designer with the necessary tools to develop vent designs based on selected performance objectives related to a specific building and a specific set of circumstances.

Key changes to the 2007 edition that increase fire protection include:

• Reference to International Standard and European Standards on vents, mechanical smoke extracts and draft curtains
• Consideration of air entrainment into the fire plume
• Consideration of wind effects in locating vents and air inlets
• Use of vents in areas of the building as air inlets
• Sizing of air paths
• Limitations on air velocity
• Determination of heat release rate
• Determination of discharge coefficient for vents and inlets
• Determination of exhaust rates and number of exhaust inlets
• Updated information on plugholing
• Better description of the smoke layer interface
• Updated annex text on recent research
• Reference to International Standard and European Standards on vents, mechanical smoke extracts and draft curtains