An Integrated Model for the Fire Safety Analysis of Large Space Buildings

Abstract

It is now widely recognized that performance-based design provides great advantages over prescriptive codes in that designers are allowed to use fire engineering methods to assess the fire safety of buildings. However, traditionally, performance-based fire safety design is still widely performed separately in specified individual study domains, such as fire engineering and structural engineering etc‥ Although the effects of a real fire have been considered in some structural fire resistant designs and in evacuation simulations, as well as in the mechanical analysis of load-bearing structures, the overall integrated assessment of a whole spatial structure performance is seldom performed. Based on middle-layer structure and component structure technology, this paper presents a new multi-dimensional integrated model and methodology for structural fire safety analysis. The effects of a real fire on structures and evacuation can be simulated through a close coupling of fire dynamics, structural analysis, and evacuation simulation. Based on the model, an integrated system FireSAS, was developed. One gymnasium, a competition venue of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, was selected as a study case. The results show that the mechanical responses and behaviours of large space steel structures have complex integrity characteristics as a whole under real fire conditions, and do not suffer merely a local effect. The case demonstrates that the FireSAS system is a useful engineering tool for cost-saving and safe structure design.