Improvement of Positive Pressure Ventilation by optimizing stairwell door opening area

This technical note presents a strategy to increase the effectiveness of Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) tactics in firefighting. It is shown that deployment of a Door Open Area Reducer (DOAR) in an appropriate position, which increases the resistance to the air escaping the stairwell, can significantly improve effectiveness of PPV performance. The simulation results demonstrate that an optimal placement of the fan combined with an optimized DOAR height can increase the pressure significantly yielding higher PPV effectiveness.