Post-earthquake fire simulation considering overall seismic damage of sprinkler systems based on BIM and FEMA P-58

Abstract

Abstract In this study, a post-earthquake fire simulation method considering the seismic damage of sprinkler systems is proposed to quantitatively assess the impact of the spread of fire owing to such damage. First, a modeling approach is designed to convert a building information model (BIM) to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, thereby creating a high-fidelity model of a building and its sprinkler system in the fire dynamics simulator (FDS) program. Second, a probabilistic method for predicting the seismic damage of sprinkler components (including pipes and drops) is developed according to the next-generation performance-based design method in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) P-58 report. Finally, using the seismic damage of the components, a prediction method is proposed to assess the overall seismic damage of the sprinkler system based on a tree data structure. A post-earthquake fire simulation of a six-story dormitory building is performed using the proposed method. The results indicate the level of effect that the seismic damage of the sprinkler system will have on the spreading of a post-earthquake fire. The outcome of this study provides an important practical method for quantitatively assessing the effect of the seismic damage of sprinkler systems on a post-earthquake fire.