The available shielding area of a smoke screen is an important parameter to evaluate its protection capability. It varies with time according to a parabola equation, which could be obtained by the diffusion equation and a few measured data. The available standing time which could satisfy the request of rating area can be calculated. The process of deriving the equation, the experimental procedure and the method of data collecting and processing is presented in detail in this paper. The calculated result is compared with engineering experience to verify the method.