Building Fire Research Articles

Fire safety of building integrated photovoltaic systems: Critical review for codes and standards

A critical review of current regulations and standards is presented pertaining to the fire safety of the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems into buildings. Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems need to meet both fire safety requirements as PV systems as well as the building fire codes requirements as building structural components (e.g. facades, roofing and glazing). However, the current building codes do not provide provisions that cover various applications of BIPV. Furthermore, the new building materials of glazing, tiles and claddings with the added function of solar energy collection are beyond the scopes of most of the current codes and standards. The present study also identified gaps in addressing the fire risk of BIPV systems with respect to the application to buildings considering potential fire hazards specific to the application.

Research on the fire safety assessment of high building with intuitionistic fuzzy TOPSIS method

In our country, fire from high-rise buildings happens from time to time and produced economic loss could be well over 100 billion that will give rise to great harm to safety of the people’s life and property even to the development of the whole national economy. In the fire protection work for High-rise building’s safety assessment, prevention, cause and salvation, all of this controlled by multiple factors. With their different attributes, fire problem and management work became more complex and even harder. When we want to integration and judgment the information which including many main bodies that with multi-aspect and evaluation index characteristics to be evaluated, Fuzzy mathematics evaluation method can help us. It can consider fully the fuzzy and uncertain in the assessment. For the problems in high-rise Building fire protection management. And it is frequently viewed as a multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) issue. Thus, a novel MAGDM method is needed to tackle it. Depending on the conventional TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preferenceby Similarity to Ideal Solution) method and intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs), this essay designs a novel intuitive distance based IF-TOPSIS method for fire safety assessment based on the high building. Afterwards, relying on novel distance measures between IFNs, the conventional TOPSIS method is extended to the intuitionistic fuzzy environment to calculate assessment score of each alternative. Eventually, an application about fire safety assessment based on the high building and some comparative analysis have been given to demonstrate the superiority of the designed method. The results illustrate that the designed framework is useful for fire safety assessment based on the high building.

Analysis on Design and Installation of Automatic Fire Alarm System in Civil High-rise Building Fire Protection System

Analysis on Design and Installation of Automatic Fire Alarm System in Civil High-rise Building Fire Protection System

Flame attachment and downstream heating effect of inclined line fires

Experiments were conducted to quantify downstream heating from inclined fires generated by a 25 cm wide, 5 cm deep gaseous line burner. A variety of orientation angles (θ) and fire heat-release rates (HRR) were employed simulating, at reduced scale, the dynamics of two-dimensional (2-D) inclined flame spread as found in wildland or building fires. The total heat flux q˙f″(x) to a nearly-adiabatic surface ahead of the burner was measured by a water-cooled total heat flux gage at different downstream locations (x). It was found that, with an increase in fire HRR or θ, q˙f″(x) increases. The same is true for both the flame projection length on the inclined surface (Lf,p) and the flame attachment length (La). The location of flame attachment divides a flame into an attachment region (0≤x≤La) and a liftoff region (La<x≤Lf,p). A scaling analysis was performed to correlate the modified non-dimensional heat flux q˙f*(x) and the normalized downstream distance x/La in these two regions as a piecewise power-law function. Lf,p is scaled by a non-dimensional HRR, Q˙θ*=Q˙/(ρ∞cpT∞(gcosθ)1/2D3/2L), together with the angle between a flame and an inclined surface (α). La is well represented by two derived non-dimensional quantities, L/Lf,0 and Lf,p/Lf,0 (Lf,0 is free flame height), based on the analysis of the balance between the buoyancy force of a flame (upward) and the inertial force due to air entrainment (horizontal). The quantitative comparison with previous flame spread tests over inclined PMMA samples demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed correlations in predicting downstream heating of 2-D flame spread over inclined terrains.

Effect of Wind Speed on the Natural Ventilation and Smoke Exhaust Performance of an Optimized Unpowered Ventilator

Natural ventilators can maintain the ventilation of buildings and tunnels, and can exhaust fire smoke without requiring energy. In this study, we optimized a natural ventilator by adding axial fan blades (equivalent to adding a fan system) to investigate the effect of wind speed on the ventilation and smoke exhaust performance of an optimized natural ventilator. The experimental results showed that the best configuration of the ventilator was five fan blades at an angle of 25° with set-forward curved fan blades. With this configuration, the ventilation volume of the optimized natural ventilator was increased by 11.1%, and the energy consumption was reduced by 2.952 J. The third experiment showed that, in the case of a fire, the optimized ventilator can reduce the temperature of the ventilator faster than the original ventilator, indicating better smoke exhaust performance. The reason for this effect is that, when the optimized natural ventilator rotates, the rotation of the blades creates a flow field with a more evenly distributed wind speed. The experiments proved that natural ventilators can be optimized by adding a fan system. The results of this study can be applied to effectively improve the ventilation performance of natural ventilators to quickly exhaust smoke in building and tunnel fires, and provide a reference for related research on natural ventilators.

A cost‐effective building fire smoke spread prediction approach for risk mitigation based on data assimilation using Ensemble Kalman Filter

SummaryPrediction of building fire smoke spread behaviors plays an important role in the evacuation in an emergency to mitigate fire risk. Based on data assimilation, a cost‐effective approach was proposed to predict fire smoke spread behaviors under unknown mixed disturbances by combining a zone model (CFAST) and Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). CFAST is used to predict fire smoke spread behaviors as a deterministic fire model. Sensor data of smoke temperature were assimilated into CFAST simulation by leveraging EnKF to estimate unknown heat release rate (HRR) and thus improving the prediction accuracy. The performance of the proposed approach was tested via a series of Observing Systems Simulation Experiments. Two series of cases were conducted for unknown single HRR change disturbance and unknown single‐window breakage disturbance, one series of cases was conducted for unknown mixed HRR change and window breakage disturbances. Result comparisons have been presented in figures to assess the approach performance qualitatively, and root mean square errors (RMSEs) have been calculated to assess the approach performance quantitatively. The RMSEs are within the range of 1.78–29.88 K. The results showed that it was a viable solution to set a larger perturbation range for unknown disturbances. The proposed approach could provide more accurate and reliable predictive information about fire smoke spread behaviors for risk mitigation, as well as other safety‐related applications.

An Assessment of Fire Hazard in the Historic Town of Ouro Preto based on Four Established Analysis Methodologies

This work aims to present a comparison of 4 (four) analysis methodologies of the fire risks in historical sites. These analysis methodologies are the following: Ebrafire, Chichorro, Gretener and Multi-criteria. The Town area under study is bordered by Tiradentes Square, Senador Rocha Lagoa Street, Conêgo Camilo Veloso bystreet and Cônego de Bobadela Street in the historic center of Ouro Preto. The comparative analysis among the four methodologies presented discrepancies in the degrees of fire hazards. However the block assessed presents a high risk of fire, since the great majority of buildings in the area received insufficient fire safety results. Therefore, although the results here are not conclusive, since this research is in the initial phase, it is already possible to verify the urgency of mitigation actions to reduce the risk of fire in most buildings in the evaluated block.

Case research on kitchen fire under water spray effect via numerical simulation

Kitchen fire has been becoming the majority risk to the ancient buildings, as the insufficient firefighting device, the excessive fuel, and the lower fire resistance structure. In this paper, a numerical simulation research was carried to access the effective of water spray in the kitchen fire of ancient buildings. The heat release rate (HRR), smoke temperature and spread process has been obtained, the efficiency of general water spray and kitchen special water spray has been compared, the necessary of the fire alarm device and the water spray have also discussed. The result indicated that the HRR peak is controlled by the water spray and fire detector devices, the activity time of water spray is the majority factor. The flame temperature is approximate to 400 °C without the firefighting device. Though the fire scenario protected by kitchen water spray and fire detector, the flame temperature is 67 °C and the HRR peak is 2.52 kW, which fire has been controlled in 32.7s. The result indicated that it is necessary for the ancient building's kitchen to fix the firefighting devices, and the numerical simulation is useful for the design and selection of firefighting device.

Модель для информационной поддержки управления пожарными подразделениями при тушении пожаров в зданиях

Introduction. Fire brigades carry out actions to extinguish fires in buildings in conditions of insufficient visibility. To increase the probability of extinguishing a fire by the first arriving unit, it is necessary to improve their information support. For information support for fire brigades control, it is suggested to use shortwave infrared range monitoring tools. The results of assessing the degree of influence of factors (smoke conditions and the availability of short-wave infrared range means) on the information support of fire brigades when extinguishing fires in buildings are presented. Goals and objectives. The aim of the study is to improve the information support of fire brigades based on the use of short-wave infrared monitoring tools when extinguishing fires in buildings. The objectives of the study are to build a factor model, determine the level of significance of factors – conditions for information support of fire departments and smoke conditions during a fire in a building, and analyze the results obtained. Methods. When conducting the research on constructing a factor model and determining the degree of influence of factors on the information support of fire brigades when extinguishing fires in buildings, scientific methods were used: analysis, synthesis, factor experiment, statistical processing of experimental data. Results and discussion. The results of the evaluation of the influence of factors on the information support of fire brigades showed that both factors – the degree of smoke and the availability of short-wave infrared monitoring tools are significant. In turn, improved information support conditions increase the likelihood of conducting a fire reconnaissance in the building. The results of the study can be used in the educational process when training personnel of fire brigades to practice professional skills. Conclusions. A factor model was built, which made it possible to determine the degree of influence of factors on the information support of fire departments when extinguishing fires in a building. It was found that the factors – smoke conditions and the availability of short-wave infrared monitoring tools are significant for information support of fire department management when extinguishing fires in a building. Keywords: visibility, smoke degree, short-wave infrared range, the source of fire.

Study on Personnel Detection Based on Retinex and YOLOv4 in Building Fire

When a fire occurs in a building, the internal environment is full of dense smoke, which will greatly hinder the evacuation and rescue of the trapped persons. If the evacuation and rescue are not in time, the life safety of the trapped persons will be seriously threatened. In response to this problem, this paper proposes a method for quickly detecting trapped persons in building fires. This method uses a combination of multi-scale Retinex image sharpening algorithm and YOLOv4 person detection algorithm. First obtain the image information of the fire scene, use the multi-scale Retinex algorithm based on the Gaussian pyramid to perform the sharpening process, and then use the YOLOv4 model to perform the personnel detection on the sharpened fire scene image. The experimental results show that the confidence of image person detection after Retinex sharpening processing has been significantly improved.

Модель и методика оценки степени сложности зданий для организации действий пожарных подразделений

Introduction. Extinguishing fires in buildings causes the need for firefighters to carry out actions in conditions of limited visibility and unsuitable for breathing environment. To ensure fire safety of buildings of increased complexity and basements of complex layout, it is necessary to equip fire protection units with breathing apparatus with extended protective action time. The decision on equipment is made by the head of the territorial body of EMERCOM of Russia. However, at the moment there are no methods and criteria for assessing the degree of complexity of buildings in terms of the actions of fire departments. Accordingly, the person making the decision on equipment is based only on experience in extinguishing similar fires. Goals and objectives. The aim of the study is to develop a model for assessing the degree of complexity of buildings to support decision-making in extinguishing fires. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to develop a model and methodology for assessing the degree of complexity of buildings for firefighters in an inhospitable environment. Methods. In the course of this study, a graph model was used to formalize the description of the degree of complexity of the building. The complexity assessment was carried out according to four parameters relative to the average value obtained for all the studied objects. Simulation modeling was used to assess the reliability of the research results. Results and its discussion. A model and methodology for determining the spatial degree of complexity of the task for the actions of fire departments have been developed, which allow determining the relative complexity index. The comparison of the results of the assessment of the degree of complexity of buildings with the time of the survey by gas and smoke protectors obtained as a result of the simulation modeling was carried out. Conclusions. The application of the results of the study will allow the decision-maker to determine the degree of complexity of buildings, which is necessary when choosing breathing apparatus with an extended protective action time and when predicting the likelihood of large (from the point of view of extinguishing tactics) fires. Keywords: degree of complexity of the building, fire protection units, large fires, graph model, assessment methodology.

Evaluation of a fire safety risk prediction model for an existing building

Abstract Fire is one of the most critical risks devastating to human life and property. Therefore, humans make different efforts to deal with fire hazards. Many techniques have been developed to assess fire safety risks. One of these methods is to predict the outbreak of a fire in buildings, and although it is hard to predict when a fire will start, it is critical to do so to safeguard human life and property. This research deals with evaluating the safety risks of the existing building in the city of Samawah/Iraq and determining the appropriateness of these buildings in terms of safety from fire hazards. Twelve parameters are certified based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA2016) code. The concept of giving weight to each criterion was adopted to classify the criteria according to their importance and then conduct an on-site examination of these existing buildings to test the selected criteria. The result indicates a possible fire risk in these buildings due to the lack of compliance with fire safety instructions in the approved codes.

ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ЗАХИСТУ ЛЮДЕЙ ВІД НАДЗВИЧАЙНИХ СИТУАЦІЙ, ПОВ’ЯЗАНИХ З ПОЖЕЖАМИ В БУДІВЛЯХ, ЯКІ НАЛЕЖАТЬ ДО ОБ’ЄКТІВ КУЛЬТУРНОЇ СПАДЩИНИ

Purpose. Ensuring the protection of people from emergency situations related to fires in buildings belonging to cultural heritage sites by means of mathematical modeling of dynamic processes and phenomena characteristic of fire. Methods. The FDS software complex, which numerically solves the Navier-Stokes equation for low-speed temperature-dependent flows, was used to determine the dangerous factors of fire. An analytical model of the movement of people during a fire was used to calculate the evacuation time. Results. Based on the results of the simulation, the values of fire hazard factors in the volume of the building have been calculated, and the dependence of the indicators on time has also been determined. The obtained data illustrate the spread of dangerous fire factors in premises with a complex planning scheme. They are necessary for the rational placement of people in order to increase their safety in the event of an emergency. Due to mathematical modeling, we get information about which security measures should be given special attention. Scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the fact that for the conditions of precisely such parameters of the volume-planning decisions of the building, the time of the onset of the critical value of dangerous fire factors and the time of evacuation of people from the premises have been determined. Practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of using the principles and approaches presented in the work for similar cultural heritage sites to determine the necessary evacuation time, which allows increasing the safety of visitors and staff during an emergency situation. In this type of premises, special emphasis should be placed on equipping with visual indicators of evacuation routes.

Influence of open and closed windows on the vertical spread characteristics of fire

In order to systematically explain the spreading mechanism of vertical fire, Pyrosim software with fire dynamic modules is used to simulate the fire spreading characteristics in a five-storey residential apartment building. The vertical spread characteristics of fire, high-temperature smoke, and leap-frog behavior are analyzed by evaluating the distribution of pressure, temperature, and gas flow velocity in the studied numerical fire field. In addition, considering the possible cases of high-rise building fire in reality, the fire spreading characteristics of three different opening sequences of glass windows are given: (i) only the windows on the first floor are open; (ii) the windows are randomly opened by the high temperature of the glass; (iii) all glass windows from the first to the fifth floors are open. The simulation results show that an appropriate increase of turbulent flow in the low-level area can greatly reduce the fire temperature in the high-level area, which can provide a certain reference for the safety and design of building fire protection in the future.

A Trustworthy Classification Model for Intelligent Building Fire Risk

The occurrence of intelligent building fires causes huge economic losses to the country and society, and even people’s safety. It is necessary to accurately assess the degree of intelligent building fire risk so that the fire emergency management department can make scientific decisions. In this paper, a trustworthy classification model for intelligent building fire risk is proposed, which provides a scientific and reasonable model supporting the classification assessment of intelligent building fire risk. The model integrates Bayesian Network (BN) and software trustworthy computing approach. BN is used to calculate the risk value of attributes that describe the fire risk situation of the intelligent building from 7 profiles. Based on the fire risk attribute values, trustworthy computing is adopted to classify the fire risk into 5 ranks which indicates the severity degree of building fire risk: the higher the rank is, the greater the harm is. Taking the Shanghai Jing’an 11.15 fire as an example, the result confirms that the method proposed in this paper has good theoretical significance and practical value. In addition, we compare our method with 3 fire risk assessment methods in the reference. The comparisons illustrate that the trustworthy classification model proposed in this paper is more comprehensive, rational, and scientific.

Sylvie by Jean Reidy

Reviewed by: Sylvie by Jean Reidy Kara Forde Reidy, Jean Sylvie; illus. by Lucy Ruth Cummins. Atheneum, 2022 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781534463486 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781534463493 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 3-6 yrs Sylvie the spider lives among the shadows of a building's fire escape because she knows that "not everyone appreciates a spider who calls attention to herself." While hidden, Sylvie builds her home by collecting inanimate companions in the form of discarded items—a bottle cap, an acorn, a red gummy bear, and a small flower. Longingly, she also surveys "her people"—the young residents living on each floor of the building—including a painter, a proper little lady with a teapot, a planner, and a girl with an exceptionally brave tortoise. When Sylvie notices a listlessness in the kids' characteristic activities, her heart wonders if they're missing something [End Page 259] more, perhaps something eight-legged? Young readers will enjoy meeting a new small-but-mighty (and spidery) protagonist in this welcome return to the world of Truman (BCCB 9/19), featuring a cameo from the tortoise himself. Laced with lovely alliteration and internal rhyme, the text introduces young listeners to the whimsy of language at storytime. The art alternates between closeups of blushprone Sylvie and expansive views of the whole building, emphasizing the contrast between Sylvie's perspective and that of the human world. The narrative here isn't quite on par with its predecessor, but Sylvie's bubbly effervescence shows readers that it is well worth the courage it takes to be seen. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Study on quantification scheme of weight coefficient for electrical fire risk assessment of high-rise building

Electrical fire is a very important fire type in high-rise building fire. Therefore, it has high research value for risk assessment of electric fire in high-rise buildings. However, it is difficult to accurately obtain the weight index coefficient of electrical fire risk assessment by single qualitative or quantitative risk assessment method, so the reliability and objectivity of electrical fire risk assessment cannot be guarantee. In order to solve this problem, a method of using numerical simulation to obtain different types of fire risk data is proposed. Then, taking fire risk influencing factors as the research object, a comprehensive fire risk evaluation system is established. Through the comprehensive evaluation system, the electrical fire risk data are evaluated to determine the electrical fire risk weight coefficient. The results show that the fire risk quantification scheme of weight coefficient proposed in this paper can eliminate the subjectivity of traditional expert ratings. The proposed evaluation standard is a comprehensive evaluation system based on the numerical simulation and analytic hierarchy process. Above mentioned method can improve the reliability and accuracy of the weight coefficient of electrical fire risk assessment, and provide a theoretical basis for the research and classification of fire risk.

Series arc fault identification based on complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise and convolutional neural network

The effective identification of series arc faults is of considerable significance for preventing fires in residential buildings. Series arc fault currents and load currents have a similar waveform, and the fault features and nonfault features are superimposed on the current signal. Fault features are deeply hidden, making it difficult to identify them. This work proposes a method based on complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) preprocessing and a one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1DCNN). The CEEMDAN algorithm is used to decompose the collected current signals. Then, the intrinsic mode function (IMF) components with no representational significance are eliminated by calculating the Spearman correlation coefficient before inputting it into the 1DCNN. The experimental results showed that the accuracy of the method for the measured load is 99.3%. Compared with the method that directly uses original current signals as model inputs, the recognition accuracy of the algorithm was significantly improved. Therefore, the proposed algorithm can be used for series arc fault identification in residential building power distribution systems.

Retracted] Control System of Fire Rescue Robot for High‐Rise Building Design

In recent years, with the steady and rapid growth of the national economy, various industries have developed rapidly and the resulting fire accidents have also been on the rise. This study mainly discusses the control system of a fire rescue robot for a high‐rise building design. Robot fire detection method involves obtaining the video image of the fire detection area through a high‐definition camera, performing image preprocessing on the current frame image of the video in the robot operating system to obtain the image; and performing the flame area segmentation based on the Ohta color space and the Otsu threshold segmentation algorithm on the image, to obtain the segmented image; through the interframe difference method, the preprocessed image of the previous frame is subtracted from the current frame image and the moving area of the image is segmented to obtain the segmented image; the obtained segmented image is combined with the segmented image in the robot operating system and images are intersected to obtain a segmented image with the characteristics of flame motion; based on other characteristics of the flame, flame recognition is performed on the area in the segmented image. Fires in high‐rise buildings are increasing gradually, which seriously endangers the safety of human life and property. The firefighting robot and its control system play an important role in the fire protection of high‐rise buildings. The purpose of this study is to analyze the disaster relief effect of a firefighting robot and control system in high‐rise buildings. In this study, we use MATLAB software to model and simulate the rescue situation of a firefighting robot in high‐rise buildings. The fuzzy control system established in the fuzzy logic toolbox of MATLAB can easily replace human field work and can change the control rules and membership function in the FIS editor. The results show that the rise time and adjustment time of the system are basically the same under the condition of variable load stiffness. The maximum overshoot is 0.59%, and the steady‐state error is 0.19%. The maximum overshoot is 1.0148%, and the stability error is 0.46%. It is concluded that the expert PID algorithm is efficient and practical. It can be concluded that the robot position control system adopts PID control algorithm, and the attitude control system adopts expert PID control algorithm. This research provides some value for the development and design of firefighting robots in high‐rise buildings in the future and also brings important significance.

Development of fire retarding composite board for fire compartmentation application using waste denim: A review

This paper represents a comprehensive review work to understand the utter need to recycle denim waste and its use as a structural member with good mechanical and fire retardant properties for compartmentation under Passive Fire Protection systems. At present the amount of denim waste recycled is very small as compared to what is landfilled and studying the rate of denim waste generation and its associated problems there is certainly a scope for new effective denim waste recycling methods. This paper includes an intensive review on the best present fire retardant and mechanical properties improving methodologies for denim fabrics. Despite the fact that denim fabric is virtually entirely made of cotton (99%), the spinning process increases the LOI value from 18.5 percent (cotton) to 20.1 percent (denim). Various compositions, formulations, and application tactics of various fire retardants, such as boron-based, phosphorus-based fire retardants, and so on, were investigated to improve the composite's fire retardancy upto 89 percent. To considerably improve the physical and mechanical characteristics of the composite, different composite manufacturing processes such as film stacking, compression molding, resin transfer molding, vacuum infusion, hand lay-up, and hot pressing method were investigated. According to the findings, denim based composite boards have huge potential for fire compartmentation application. This paper provides the direction towards development of such boards which will not just help in denim waste management but also provide important component of passive fire protection for much needed building fire safety.