Objectives  In order to rationally formulate the smoke exhaust tactics and improve the smoke exhaust efficiency,

  Methods  the smoke characteristics of vertical single opening cabin were studied by building a full-scale fire experimental platform. By setting different opening heights, the burning rate of fire source, and the visibility and temperature of the cabin during negative pressure smoke exhaust were measured and calculated. According to the measured heat release rate of the fire source, the temperature peak values of the experimental and simulated cabins were compared and analyzed by Fire Dynamics Simulator(FDS).

  Results  It is proved that the height of air supply inlet should be set at about one-half of the total height under mechanical smoke exhaust conditions, at which height the visibility and temperature of the cabin decrease more rapidly.

  Conclusions  The results of this paper have certain guiding significance for the formulation of mechanical smoke exhaust tactics in the vertical single opening cabin fire, and have also proved the reliability of FDS under such fire conditions.