VISIBILITY OF PHOTO LUMINESCENT EGRESS SIGNAGE THROUGH SMOKE

Assessing visibility as a mode of tenability is an important part of the fire engineering design of many building. Visibility through smoke is often predicted based on the visibility of the egress signage through smoke, as it is this signage which helps people to navigate to a place of safety. The visibility of internally illuminated and reflective egress signage has been previously characterized by defining the obscuration coefficient of the signs. The aim of this investigation is to quantify the visibility of photo luminescent egress signs through smoke, and determine how they compare to reflective and internally illuminated signage. This study recommends that photo luminescent egress signage should be treated as equivalent to reflective signage when estimating the visibility of egress signs through smoke. Internally illuminated signs have a greater visibility through smoke than reflective or photo luminescent signs