Smoke control solutions are used to maintain tenable conditions in buildings, enabling evacuation process, rescue operations and reducing the thermal stress on the building structure. For last 50-years the design process of such solutions did not significantly change – a required volumetric capacity is calculated with theoretical and empirical models, and further, mechanical design is prepared to deliver this capacity. In this paper, a new approach – “smart smoke control” is introduced, as a system that adapts the performance parameters based on the momentary measurements of temperature in the building. The system follows the growth and decay of fire in the building, which allows optimization of its mechanical parameters, and provides substantial increase in the performance. This paper provides a discussion on traditional and new concepts in smoke control, and defines areas, in which a paradigm shift must occur, to enable widespread adoption new and more efficient solutions. The paper does also refer to previous proof of concept studies, presenting the preliminary assessment of the performance of a smart smoke control system.

Eurocode standard recommends using fundamental basic wind velocity (characteristic velocity) as the design value in civil engineering. There are different approaches to estimate this value depending on the climate features of the given area and the quality of environmental data. The estimation of the characteristic value requires statistical analysis of historical data regarding wind velocities measured throughout the country at meteorological stations. The results of the analysis are probability density distributions of this random variable for each meteorological station. On this basis, values of characteristic wind velocity with a mean return period of 50 years are determined. The zones with uniform velocities are delineated on the map of the country. In the case of Poland the last evaluation of wind zones took place over 15 years ago. Higher quality of measurement data on the one hand, and the introduction of the second generation of Eurocode standards on the other hand, create a need to check and update these zones. This work presents theoretical basis for the estimation of characteristic values of random variables in the context of wind velocity, comprehensively reviews practical methods used for this purpose and summarizes current situation in Poland, finally discusses the issues related to the heterogeneity of wind data, illustrating them with an example.