Abstract: Open convex balconies in old buildings have high fire risk and are prone to vertical fire spread. In order to improve its fire safety, the fire load of the balcony was investigated and analyzed, and the fire scenario of the open convex balcony was simulated using PyroSim software, then analyzed the characteristics of the balcony fire overflow and the temperature distribution of the fire scene in the indoor, outdoor and upper balcony. The results show that the balcony overflow flame is able to exceed the upper balcony fence by 1.2 m, causing the temperature at the upper balcony floor to reach about 800 ℃. It is proposed to use the residential water supply pipe to build a simple sprinkler fire extinguishing device and set up a reasonable fire canopy of the fireproof design scheme. Through simulation ,the results showed that the sprinkler can be activated in about 11 s to extinguish the fire,fire canopy with a protruding width of 1 m can ensure the upper balcony temperature below 60 ℃.

Key words: open convex balcony, temperature distribution, simple sprinkler fire suppression, fire canopy, numerical simulation