Abstract
Fire safety of high-rise building facades is a complex problem, therefore the use of prescriptive fire codes could not be sufficient to ensure a proper building fire safety level. In new high rise buildings the fire safety of facades can be taken into account by means of performance based fire design that can help in the selection of the best technological solutions and material choices. This article deals with a case study done on the Piedmont Region Headquarters (TORRE REGIONE PIEMONTE) which is one of the highest office buildings in Italy. The Torre Regione Piemonte is located in Turin and has 45 storey and a total height of 183,61 m. The building is characterized by the closed enclosure called Grand Space which is continuous for almost the entire height of the building and contains volumes such as offices/meeting rooms named as Satellites. In order to fulfil Italian fire safety requirements, the Torre Regione Piemonte building has been assessed using the performance base design and fire safety engineering approach. This paper deals with the design process selection of the most representative fire scenarios focusing on the fire resistance performance requirements of structural and glazed elements of the facades. Furthermore, all the simulation, calculations and performance fire resistant requirements of the high rise building have been supported by specific laboratory tests and experimental results, that are reported and discussed within paper. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2016 Language: en
Highlights
Fire safety of high-rise building facades is a complex problem; the use of prescriptive fire codes could not be sufficient to ensure a proper building fire safety level
In new high rise buildings the fire safety of facades can be taken into account by means of performance based fire design that can help in the selection of the best technological solutions and material choices
In new high rise buildings the fire safety of façades can be considered by means of performance based fire design that can help in the selection of the best technological solutions and material choices
Summary
Fire safety of high-rise building facades is a complex problem; the use of prescriptive fire codes could not be sufficient to ensure a proper building fire safety level. The building is composed of a central part, used as offices (Office Area), which is next to a closed volume for the entire height named as “Grand Space” Inside this volume, there are box-shaped structures called “Satellite” used for meeting rooms connected with office areas. As the presence of “Grand Space” affects the fire behavior of the building, performance based design and FSE methods have been chosen to examine and conform the building “Torre Regione Piemonte” to the Italian fire safety requirements. – Each floor of the offices (except the double/triple height zone - entrance hall) should ensure a fire compartment with R/REI/EI 120 fire resisting class and the installation of mechanical smoke and heat exhaust systems and sprinklers. – Grand Space is the only volume that requires R 60 fire resisting class; it is composed of aluminum façade structure supported by steel elements and is equipped with mechanical smoke and heat exhaust systems. – The façade between two macro areas (including the separation between Offices and Satellites) should have EI 120 fire resisting class
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