Fire Safety Assessment Research Articles

Closing the gap: Merging engineering and anthropology in holistic fire safety assessments in the maritime and offshore industries

This article reports on the endeavor to merge the fields of anthropology and fire safety engineering in holistic fire safety assessments within the maritime and offshore industries. The article suggests a combination of the two disciplines to transition from an interdisciplinary approach towards transdisciplinarity. The approach has been developed and adjusted during three cases of risk analyses and prevention strategies on fire safety. The article presents two methodological insights illustrating the necessary attitude of interdisciplinarity as a foundation towards transdisciplinarity. It advocates for the need of willingness in organizations and project teams to consider both disciplines as equally valid, integrate them in research definition, and create a base for common understanding. Subsequently, it is proposed that transdisciplinary work requires the creation of a group of core members acting as guarantors of transdisciplinarity, thus becoming themselves transdisciplinary humans working in a joined framework of thinking and methods. The article also presents two operational findings integrating the two disciplines within the area of fire safety. The first finding concerns including ‘daily operations’ in fire safety design, as daily practices and perceptions among crew can have a high impact on fire safety. The second finding concerns ‘reclassification of space and place’. It highlights mixing and shifting between work- and leisure-related practices within the same physical space, leading to the identification of new fire scenarios. It also explores the shifts between work, leisure, and emergency places, and their link to the shifts in professional roles of crew.

Study on construction of loss of component cooling water system initiating event fault tree for fire event PSA

ABSTRACT In this study, the construction of the loss of component cooling water system (LOCCWS) initiating event (IE) fault tree (FT) for an actual fire event probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) model of the Korean reference nuclear power plant considering only IE initiators was validated. The quantification results of the LOCCWS accident sequences obtained using an LOCCWS IE FT model with only initiators are similar to that with initiators and enabling events. This confirmed that the LOCCWS IE FT for an actual fire event PSA model could be constructed by considering only IE initiators. In addition, the same LOCCWS accident sequences were quantified assuming that fire triggering only the LOCCWS IE leads to reactor shutdown. Compared with the quantification result obtained based on the assumption that any fire included in the fire event PSA leads to reactor shutdown, the core damage frequency (CDF) can be reduced. Thus, it can be concluded that there is a possibility of underestimation of CDF when the LOCCWS IE FT model with only initiators is used and the assumption that fire triggering only the LOCCWS IE results in reactor shutdown is employed for the quantification of LOCCWS accident sequences.

A fire safety assessment approach for evacuation analysis in underground physics research facilities

This paper introduces an integrated approach for evacuation assessment of nuclear physics research facilities exposed to fire risk. The approach combines the use of a simplified egress modelling method and advanced agent-based simulations of evacuation. An integrated multi-model approach is proposed here given the varying level of complexity concerning evacuation safety in underground physics facilities. This paper introduces a simplified probabilistic egress model based on existing hand calculations for 1D smoke spread modelling and it suggests a procedure for its combined use with advanced agent-based evacuation simulations. This includes the use of the outputs of the simplified egress model in underground smoke-filled portions of underground nuclear research facilities (e.g. tunnel arcs) as an input for complex agent-based evacuation simulations in the underground access shafts. An exemplary application of the integrated approach is presented for the simulation of a set of hypothetical fire risk scenarios in the Future Circular Collider (FCC) at CERN. This approach is deemed to facilitate fire evacuation safety assessment in underground physics research facilities by optimizing the simulation of relevant fire risk scenarios. A discussion on the advantages and implications of the use of an integrated approach in comparison with other safety assessment methods is presented.

Новые подходы в оценке пожарной безопасности персонала при его эвакуации из производственных помещений в случае возникновения пожара

In this paper have been presented new approaches to fire safety assessment of personnel during its evacuation from industrial premises. A method for composition of scenarios for a fire break-out and development based on the Ishikawa Diagram, as well as a mathematical model characterizing the process of fire break-out and development have been implemented. A fire safety index for personnel escape routes has been introduced, and models for assessment the probability of personnel evacuation have been used. Have been concerned problematic issues related to humans’ behavioral feature during fire, their moving in case of evacuation inside enclosed and confined spaces, distance of workplaces from escape routes, reliability of emergency voice alarm communication system. An approach for safety assessment of automatic fire extinguishing units containing fire-extinguishing agents which are hazardous to human health has been proposed. Examples for approbation of developments in the process of fire safety assessment for escape routes, and composition of fire in a machinery room of gas transmission provider’s compressor section have been presented.

19 Nationwide Assessment of Fire and Burn Safety Education Programs and Evaluation Procedures

Many fire departments, burn foundations, and burn centers claim that they provide fire and burn prevention education in their communities, but how do these institutions measure the effectiveness of their programs? Through a collaborative project between a statewide nonprofit burn foundation and a state university, a 37-question national survey was developed and distributed to evaluate fire and burn safety education programs and assessment procedures. Eligible participants in this study were at least 18 years of age and were referred by the nonprofit burn foundation as subject matter experts in fire and burn safety. The survey was administered online and distributed via email directly to identified subject matter experts or through mailing lists from national fire and burn prevention organizations. Questions included 1 consent question, 11 demographic questions, 3 institutional questions, 20 programmatic questions and 2 wrap-up questions. A total of 211 surveys were started and 135 surveys were completed in its entirety, representing 37 states throughout the US. There were 163 unique respondents; 2 respondents did not consent to participate in the study and 1 respondent was a repeat respondent. There were 28 respondents that did not complete all sections of the survey but were included for sections completed. The majority of the respondents were fire departments (n=124; 76.5%) that represented local municipalities (n=91; 56.2%) and provided fire prevention and life safety programs (n=156; 95.1%). The top 3 fire prevention programs offered included Smoke Alarm Education (n=137; 90.7%); Fire Escape Planning (n=131; 86.8%); and Fire Extinguishers (n=113; 74.8%). The majority of respondents stated that they evaluate the effectiveness of their programs (49.1%-52.8%). Number served (89.5%-91.5%) and injury-loss statistics (47.4%-63.8%) were the 2 most common methods of program effectiveness evaluation. Although the majority of the respondents of the survey stated that they evaluate the effective of their programs, the measurement tool most widely utilized is the number of people served. Simply counting the number of people served does not prove effectiveness of a program. More research needs to be done on how to effectively and accurately measure the effectiveness of fire and burn prevention programs. With limited time and resources, fire and burn prevention educators need the right tools and messages to efficiently and effectively educate the public. Through this study, the statewide nonprofit burn foundation and the state university hopes to develop a measurement tool to help detect what actual behavior change occurs as a result of the fire and burn prevention education and training efforts.

Combustion Characteristic of Commercial Flame-Retardant Natural Rubber Under Low Oxygen Atmosphere

Besides combustion behavior under normal atmosphere, combustion behavior under special environment is also an important aspect for safety operation of China high-speed train. The commercial flame-retardant natural rubber employed in China high-speed train as the main floor cloth material was investigated in this study at low oxygen atmosphere with 18 kW m−2 to 60 kW m−2 external heat fluxes by means of ASTM E2058 fire propagation apparatus to deepen the knowledge of combustion behavior. The ignition time of sample mainly depended on external heat flux not the oxygen concentration (only low and normal oxygen concentration) except 40 kW m−2. During the whole combustion process two main stages appeared, one was thermal decomposition of sample, and the other stage was the forming charry layer combustion. The CO and CO2 yields decreased with external heat flux increasing and the ratio of yCO/yCO2 firstly increased and then decreased. The experimental data in this study can provide guidance for fire safety design and assessment of China high-speed train.

Road tunnel fire safety assessment

Road tunnel fire safety assessment

Probabilistic thermo-mechanical finite element analysis for the fire resistance of reinforced concrete structures

This paper presents a probabilistic methodology based on the thermo-mechanical finite elements analysis to investigate the impact of the variability of the thermal properties of the concrete in the fire safety of structures. This is meant to evaluate if characteristic values or safety factors for the conductivity and specific heat are required during the semi-probabilistic structural fire safety assessment. To illustrate the use of the proposed methodology, this work includes a case-study with a tunnel lining which considers the uncertainties related to the thermal and mechanical properties of the concrete, the soil load, and the temperatures described by the standard temperature-time curve. Two failure criteria are considered: one was the maximum temperature of 300 °C at the reinforcement and the other based on the temperature-dependent strength as provided in the Eurocode EN 1992-1-2. Several finite element analyses are performed. The design of experiments is executed by a Correlation Latin Hypercube Sampling. The calculated probability of failure has different values depending on the adopted failure criteria. A sensitivity analysis using the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was carried out and demonstrates that the uncertainty related to the specific heat has the greatest impact on the results.

Machine learning of fire hazard model simulations for use in probabilistic safety assessments at nuclear power plants

This study explored the application of machine learning to generate metamodel approximations of a physics-based fire hazard model. The motivation to generate accurate and efficient metamodels is to improve modeling realism in probabilistic safety assessments where computational burden has prevented broader application of high fidelity models. The process involved scenario definition, generating training data by iteratively running the fire hazard model called CFAST over a range of input space using the RAVEN software, exploratory data analysis and feature selection, an initial testing of a broad set of metamodel methods, and finally metamodel selection and tuning using the R software.Twenty-five metamodel methods ranging in class and complexity were investigated. Linear models struggled because the physics of fire are non-linear. A k-nearest neighbor (kNN) model fit the vast majority of calculations within ±10% for maximum upper layer temperature and its timing.The resulting kNN model was compared to an algebraic model typically used in fire probabilistic safety assessments. This comparison illustrated the potential of metamodels to improve modeling realism over simpler models selected for computational feasibility. While the kNN metamodel is a simplification of the higher fidelity model, the error introduced is quantifiable and can be explicitly considered.

A Three-Part Bayesian Network for Modeling Dwelling Fires and Their Impact upon People and Property.

In the United Kingdom, dwelling fires are responsible for the majority of all fire-related fatalities. The development of these incidents involves the interaction of a multitude of variables that combine in many different ways. Consequently, assessment of dwelling fire risk can be complex, which often results in ambiguity during fire safety planning and decision making. In this article, a three-part Bayesian network model is proposed to study dwelling fires from ignition through to extinguishment in order to improve confidence in dwelling fire safety assessment. The model incorporates both hard and soft data, delivering posterior probabilities for selected outcomes. Case studies demonstrate how the model functions and provide evidence of its use for planning and accident investigation.

Fire Safety Parameters of High-Rise Residential Building: A Literature Review of Performance-Based Analysis Method

The basic concept in occupant safety assessments in high-rise building residential against fire hazard is the determination of the time the occupants can be safe/escape before the fire danger conditions occur. This concept is also called performance-based appraisal. It is known by another name Available Safety Egress Time > Required Safety Egress Time (ASET> RSET). The concept of performance-based fire safety assessment has been widely used in the concept of fire safety. Discussions related to this literature study are focused on strength and weaknesses in ASET and RSET methodologies, which are related to the parameters. This paper provides a brief overview of the methodologies and parameters of ASET and RSET. The results of this literature study provide a clear picture that the simulation of fire hazards in high-rise residential buildings can be done accurately by considering the parameters of the ASET and RSET. However the lack of resources and experts in using this related software make this performance-based method is difficult to achieve.

Fire Performance of Sandwich Panels in a Modified ISO 13784-1 Small Room Test: The Influence of Increased Fire Load for Different Insulation Materials

Four sandwich panel rooms were constructed as prescribed in the ISO 13784-1 test. However, the construction followed normal industry practice, and the panels were also subjected to the kinds of damage typically found in commercial premises, although such damage may not typically be concentrated in such a small room. The fire load was increased to simulate fires actually occurring in commercial premises by stepping up the propane burner output from the usual maximum of 300–600 kW, and by placing a substantial wooden crib in two of the rooms. The results showed significant differences in fire growth rate and burning behaviour between those panels filled with polyisocyanurate (PIR) and those filled with stone wool in both the experiments without and with the wooden crib. Most significantly, the PIR pyrolysis products caused earlier ignition (by radiation from above) of the wooden crib 11 min into the experiment (1 min after the burner was stepped up to 300 kW), whereas the crib ignited 22 min into the test (2 min after the burner had been stepped up to 600 kW, which is beyond the test standard both in time and heat input) for the stone wool panels. This interaction between building and contents is most often ignored in fire safety assessments. After a few minutes, the PIR pyrolysis products that escaped outside the room, from between the panels, ignited. The extra thermal exposure from the PIR-fuelled flames distorted the panels, which in turn exposed more PIR, resulting in large flames on both the inside and outside of the enclosure. From a fire safety perspective this is most important as it shows that with the large fire loads that are commonly found in commercial premises, steel-faced PIR filled panels are not capable of acting as fire barriers, and may support flame spread through compartment walls and ceilings. In addition, the PIR panelled rooms produced very large quantities of dense smoke and toxic effluents, whereas the stone wool panelled rooms produced small amounts of light smoke of lower toxicity. Furthermore, the experiments showed that modifications to the standard test can lead to extremely different outcomes for some of the products. As the modifications simulated real-life situations, it seems important to discuss whether the standard is robust enough for property safety scenarios encountered in industrial premises.

Comparative study on the construction of support system initiating event fault trees for a fire probabilistic safety assessment

This study compared two different fire-induced support system initiating event fault tree (SSIE FT) models: one with only fire IE initiators, and the other with both fire IE initiators and enabling events. Enabling events place a system in a state such that it transitions from the operating state to the failed state when the initiating event occurs. To develop the fire event probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) models for these two different SSIE FT models, hypothetical internal event accident scenarios were used based on the assumption that a fire included in the fire event PSA causes a reactor shutdown. The results obtained indicate that SSIE FT models with only fire IE initiators, in terms of quantification results of fire event PSA models, are equivalent to those with both fire IE initiators and enabling events under the assumption that a fire included in the fire event PSA results in a reactor shutdown. For the case where a fire in a nuclear power plant (NPP) does not lead to a reactor shutdown, on the other hand, this study showed that SSIE FT models with only fire IE initiators might underestimate the real fire-induced risk, whereas SSIE FT models with both fire IE initiators and enabling events could lead to reasonable quantification results for risk due to fires.

Assessment of Implementation of Fire Safety Procedures and Regulation in Public Buildings

The research assessed the level of implementation of fire safety procedures and regulations in public buildings, which employed the use of questionnaire to ask questions from a sample of 100 facility managers, 230 workers and 220 visitors from selected public buildings. Mean and standard deviation were used to analyze the data collected from the subjects. The findings of the study showed that there are available and adequate Fire Safety provisions which have satisfied their level of implementation. The study reviewed relevant literature on fire, causes of fire in public buildings, fire safety regulations, control of fire, fire prevention and protection, assessment of fire safety, implementation of fire safety. The structured questionnaire used contained 34 items, which were divided into (4) four sections (A, B,C and D), Section A was designed to elicit information status, name, address and type of the public building, Section B was designed to elicit information on the availability of fire safety provisions in the public buildings and Section C was designed to elicit information on adequacy of fire safety provisions in public buildings while Section D was designed to elicit information on the level of implementation of the fire safety provision by the building authorities. The instrument was validated by experts of building construction in the Department of Science and Technology Education of Bayero University Kano in Nigeria. Its reliability was established using split half method by the use of Guttman split-half coefficient formula to correlate between forms with a coefficient of 0.706. The Research recommended that a permanent fire safety committee in all the public buildings should be constituted to be responsible for given out fire safety provisions guide to building users on periodic bases, Courses on fire safety should be introduced, and made compulsory for student irrespective of his/her cause of study, Fire safety training should be carried out at least annually. The study suggested that there is need for further studies on the attitude of public building users towards fire safety procedures and regulations, An investigation in to the awareness level of public building users towards implementation of Fire Safety procedures and regulations in public buildings, An assessment on the level of adequacy of fire safety equipments in public buildings and The study on the level of satisfaction of Fire Safety provisions and training in public buildings.

АНАЛИЗ ПОЖАРОВ В РЕСПУБЛИКЕ КАЗАХСТАН МЕТОДАМИ МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКОЙ СТАТИСТИКИ

Aims. The aim and objective of the study is to adapt the methods of mathematical analysis to the assessment of fire safety of municipal entities of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Methods. The methodological basis of the study is the theory of mathematical statistics. Up to date, the fire safety assessment by means of mathematical statistics has not been carried out in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is impossible to solve the problem of increasing the level of fire safety in the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan without such studies. Therefore, there is a need to adapt the known methods of mathematical statistics of fire safety in the Republic of Kazakhstan, to carry out such an assessment, which makes it possible to characterize security for 16 regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan that determines the relevance of the study. Applying the methodology of mathematical statistics of fire safety is necessary for making managerial decisions to ensure the necessary level of fire safety of regions on the basis of limit interval values. Results. A sequential mathematical analysis of fire safety in the republic was carried out. On the basis of the results of the study, limit interval values of fire safety for 16 regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan are justified. According to the results of the analysis, it is determined that the interval values of fires for the regions of the republic are 945 f (16) < 1056, in Karaganda, East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Kostanay and Almaty regions, the number of fires in the period from 2005 to 2016 were beyond the limits of the right value of the interval. In this connection, the situation with fires was worse in these regions than in the republic. Field of application of scientific results. The obtained results can be used by both local executive and authorized bodies in the field of fire safety when developing appropriate management solutions to reduce the fire risk, as well as when developing a fire fighting service. Conclusion. The conducted mathematical analysis of fire safety in the regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan has shown that in the five regions of the republic (Karaganda, East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar, Kostanay and Almaty regions) between 2005 and 2016, the level of fire safety was worse than the average republican rate. In this connection, work on implementation of management decisions to minimize fire danger to the boundaries of the confidence interval should be strengthened in the local executive bodies and authorized bodies in the field of fire safety of these regions. The proposed approach to assessing fire safety levels is advisable to use in the design of fire departments and allocation of funds for the implementation of activities to reduce fire risks in the relevant territories.

Оценка пожарной безопасности путей эвакуации производственных помещений

Оценка пожарной безопасности путей эвакуации производственных помещений

The Development of a Simple Two-Zone Smoke Filling Model for a Fire Compartment

Abstract The study develops a two-zone Smoke Filling model to predict how the smoke will descend in a small space, whose area ≤ 200m 2 and a height ≤ 8m. It intends to improve the unrealistic fast smoke descending rate in a small fire compartment by using the method based on “the technical manual of building fire-evacuation performance evaluation.” The model is developed for compartments equipped with mechanical and/or natural de-smoke apparatus. It has been verified by comparing it with the BRI2002, experiments and other references. These comparison results clearly demonstrate the credibility and reliability of the model. In addition, this study further includes the scenarios with the air supply vents in such model to make it more complete. Then, the model is tested by comparing with FDS and the technical manual. It was found that the predicted results by two-zone model are between the ones simulated by FDS and the technical manual, indicating that a new tool is successfully developed for fire safety assessment in a small fire compartment in Taiwan.

Modeling fires in structures with an atrium in the FDS field model

Modeling of dangerous fire factors is an important element in the system of modern fire safety assessment of buildings and structures. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the software system PyroSim. The verification of the fire model in the FDS program, which was performed on the basis of full-scale tests conducted by Professor Chau W.L., was analysed. The analysis of empirical and calculated data on modeling of fire in the atrium is made. The conclusion is made about the accuracy of simulation in the FDS program and the coincidence of the experimental data with the calculated ones.

Field modeling of heat transfer in atrium

The results of calculating fire risk are an important element in the system of modern fire safety assessment. The article reviews the work on the mathematical modeling of fire in the room. A comparison of different calculation models in the programs of fire risk assessment and fire modeling was performed. The results of full-scale fire tests and fire modeling in the FDS program are presented. The analysis of empirical and theoretical data on fire modeling is made, a conclusion is made about the modeling accuracy in the FDS program.

BIM integrated smart monitoring technique for building fire prevention and disaster relief

Abstract Modern high-rise buildings may be configured into spaces of widely varying specifications. This situation creates a diverse building environment with multiple variables that make fire hazards difficult to predict and monitor accurately. Therefore, developing and implementing an integrated fire disaster prevention system is necessary in order to effectively prevent fire disasters and adequately protect life and property. In Taiwan, the response to an organization of fire prevention and disaster relief as well as evacuation planning and rescue guidance continue to rely primarily on human-provided intelligence. This method makes disaster-response decision-making inherently prone to error due to the inaccuracy, incompleteness, and poor communication of this intelligence. However, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and wireless sensor networks have been widely discussed in many aspects of building disaster-prevention management as approaches to increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of disaster-response decision-making. The present study uses BIM to construct a BIM-based Intelligent Fire Prevention and Disaster Relief System. This system integrates information on personal localization, on evacuation/rescue route optimization with Bluetooth-based technology, and on a mobile guidance device to create an intelligent and two-way fire disaster prevention system framework that displays the real-time and dynamic fire information in three dimensions (3D). The results of applying the BIM-based system demonstrate that it may effectively provide 3D visualization to support the assessment and planning of fire safety, to provide early detection and alarm responses, to direct efficient evacuation, and to facilitate fire rescue and control efforts in order to increase overall building safety and disaster-response capabilities.