Performance-based Building Codes Research Articles

Evaluating 900 Potentially Harming Fires in Germany: Is the Prescriptive Building Code Effective? German Fire Departments Assessed Fire Safety Measures in Buildings Through On-Site Inspections

Fire statistics mirror the outcome of fire prevention. Most fire statistics in Germany deal with the loss of life, value, and fire department actions (number of interventions, nozzles used, or alarm category like a false alarm). However, these results also represent the safety level the legislator has set through the prescriptive building regulations. The current statistics cannot evaluate the level of fire safety and the fulfillment or necessity of fire safety precautions. Today, expert judgment from firefighters is necessary to fill this gap. Here, we show the first evaluation of fire prevention and hazard protection measures by evaluating 900 potentially harming fires throughout Germany. In contrast to minor fires, these fires have advanced to the extent that they could potentially violate the protection objectives outlined in building regulations. The fire department association developed a questionnaire to evaluate the fire safety level and possibly reduce unnecessary fire safety regulations. One hundred twenty-three fire departments carried out the questionnaire, which are responsible for 25% of the German population. Fire prevention officers of the fire departments went to the scene after the fire was extinguished, and the fire safety concept of the building could be evaluated. We found a high rate of injuries, smoke spread, need for rescue by firefighters, and higher than expected firefighter response times after arrival at the scene. Surprisingly, smoke spread rates correlated with building height and not with building age. It was even possible to assess the risk of multiple casualties. Overall, the questionnaire results give insight into the current level of fire safety in existing buildings. Ways and rates for smoke and fire spread prove the importance of second escape routes and the influence of human misconduct. According to these results, current building code regulations are sufficient to prevent fire spread. On the other hand, smoke spreading is a severe threat to people’s safety. For example, the data shown can be applied in Bayes nets or other risk calculations to optimize individual building designs or even governmental building codes concerning fire safety engineering. Based on our observations, science, and building codes, authorities could in the future establish a performance-based building code instead of the current prescriptive code. This paper presents the first approach in Germany to quantify the expert judgment of fire departments and use it as a source of knowledge for fire prevention.

Unintended Consequences of Performance-Based Building Code Amendment in New Zealand

Unintended Consequences of Performance-Based Building Code Amendment in New Zealand

An evidence-based framework validation for building code improvement in New Zealand

PurposeNew Zealand building code may be serving its purpose to an extent, there is still a need to develop a framework to improve the use and application of building code for better building performance and services. This study aims to validate the identified parameters in the developed framework to improve building code practice in New Zealand.Design/methodology/approachSubject matter experts interview was conducted with key stakeholders that use building code, standards and other associated compliance documents.FindingsThe findings from this study establish the importance of improving the building code, and the efficacy of validated framework helps to identify the areas with the most pressing needs within the building regulatory system. All the subject matter experts unanimously agreed on educating and training the building code users. Besides, the validated framework will enable the policy decision-makers in the building regulatory system to promote the use of building code and the utilisation of its potentials in reducing disaster while increasing the built environment resilience. The study concludes that the designed framework will create more robust strategy implementations to enhance innovative solutions embedded in performance-based building code.Originality/valueThis study originality centres on the practical application of an evidence-based framework for performance-based building code, standards and other related compliance documents.

Promoting Performance-Based Building Code Compliance in New Zealand

AbstractBuilding codes are mandatory documents that should be followed in all building constructions and related works. However, building code compliance requires encouraging building code users an...

Defining zero carbon and zero energy homes from a performance-based regulatory perspective

The development of a framework for defining net zero energy and net zero carbon homes has seen significant progress over the past decade. With anthropogenic climate change the principal driver, numerous governments are moving to regulate homes at or near a net zero energy or net zero carbon performance level. What has been missing in the literature is a discussion of how the basic principles of performance-based building regulation will shape the definition. The very nature of performance-based regulation as a legally contestable instrument shapes and limits the content of a regulatory definition. This paper examines the recent literature on zero energy and zero carbon building definition frameworks, explores the key characteristics of performance-based standards and determines practical definitions that could be adopted within performance-based building codes.

An Examination of the Performance Based Building Code on the Design of a Commercial Building

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) is the principal code under which building approvals in Australia are assessed. The BCA adopted performance-based solutions for building approvals in 1996. Performance-based codes are based upon a set of explicit objectives, stated in terms of a hierarchy of requirements beginning with key general objectives. With this in mind, the research presented in this paper aims to analyse the impact of the introduction of the performance-based code within Western Australia to gauge the effect and usefulness of alternative design solutions in commercial construction using a case study project. The research revealed that there are several advantages to the use of alternative designs and that all parties, in general, are in favour of the performance-based building code of Australia. It is suggested that change in the assessment process to streamline the alternative design path is needed for the greater use of the performance-based alternative. With appropriate quality control measures, minor variations to the deemed-to-satisfy provisions could easily be managed by the current and future building surveying profession.

A Performance–Based Building Code in Use

The trend in development of building codes has been to move away from prescriptive codes that describe a particular method that must be complied with, to performance–based or objective–based codes that describe the outcome or level of performance to be achieved. The development of the Building Code of Australia followed this trend, with a fully performance–based version of the code being released in 1996. An independent review of the Australian Building Codes Board, including the impact of the performance–based code was undertaken in 1999. This review reached conclusions about whether the code had met the expectations that were originally envisaged. The performance-based Building Code of Australia followed the ‘Nordic model’ of performance hierarchy, consisting of Objectives, Functional Statements and Performance Requirements. After 3 years of use of the code, and with a major review of how the code should develop in the future under way, the appropriateness of the Nordic model is being questioned. This paper identifies the experiences gained from use of the Building Code of Australia´s performance hierarchy, and factors associated with the regulatory environment that have the potential to influence its success. The code re–development process will be described and current thinking on changes to the performance hierarchy will be exposed. The results from the independent review of the performance–based code is reported here in.

Performance-based building codes: a call for injury prevention indicators that bridge health and building sectors

The international introduction of performance-based building codes calls for a re-examination of indicators used to monitor their implementation. Indicators used in the building sector have a business orientation, target the...

University of Waterloo Live Fire Research Facility

Every year in North America, fire accounts for a significant number of deaths, injuries, and capital losses, as well as the related economic burdens of fire insurance, fire suppression and building fire protection systems. Indirect costs of fire due to emissions to the environment and groundwater contamination are immeasurable. These costs can be reduced through the development of fire-safe products, advancements in detection, suppression and fire fighting methodologies, and the development of innovative equipment for the fire protection and response industries. With this aim, University of Waterloo researchers from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Health Sciences, together with the fire service in their region and other municipalities across Canada, have conducted collaborative fire training and research exercises for over a decade. A unique synergy has developed, leading to direct transfer of technology to the broader fire service community; however, it is very difficult to access facilities in which controlled, realistic, large-scale, live-fire research can be conducted. To address this need, a $5.6M, state-of-the-art Live Fire Research Facility is being constructed by the University of Waterloo with shared funding from the Region of Waterloo, the City of Kitchener, the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments and industry. The research facility is an integral part of a larger Region of Waterloo Emergency Services Training and Research Complex, situated on a 16 ha. site, minutes from the UW campus. The major fire research infrastructure at the Facility includes • a large-scale fire research area with capability for generation and control of ambient winds and ventilation conditions, • leading edge diagnostics and instrumentation for scenario monitoring, control and data acquisition, • a large cone calorimeter and ISO room fire test area, • a small cone calorimeter, smoke density chamber, flame spread and flammability apparatus for testing the fire performance of materials, and • laboratory facilities for small and medium-scale fire research/analysis and the study of physiological impacts of fire fighting. The large-scale fire test area is 3,975 ft and 4+ storeys high. It is designed to accommodate a two storey house or other large-scale burn experiment. It consists of an outer enclosure with a moveable, inner steel burn ‘house’ in which fires can be set. Rooms in the house can be reconfigured, lined with representative materials and furnished as appropriate for a particular test fire scenario. Ambient crosswinds from 0 to Copyright © International Association for Fire Safety Science 114 20 mph can be generated by a bank of six, 72 inch diameter fans with a plenum/flow straightening system leading to a 20 ft × 24 ft opening into the main test area. The crosswinds flow around the ‘house’ (or other fire experiment) and exhaust through a large overhead sectional door at the far end of the enclosure. Also in the main test area are a 2 MW calorimeter and an ISO room fire test area situated adjacent to a 10 ft × 10 ft exhaust hood. A 3,385 ft conventional building is attached to the large-scale test area. It houses the main control room, general support services, a small-scale fire test laboratory and a physiological research lab for researchers from Applied Health Sciences. Fullscale studies of fire behavior in the burn ‘house’ can be complemented by laboratory studies of the fire performance of materials (heat release rate, smoke generation and ignition, and flame spread characteristics) and the effects of the fire environment on fire fighting personnel. Experiments in any part of the Facility can be instrumented for velocity, temperature, pressure and species concentration measurements with a variety of fixed and portable systems. Video and infrared visualization, laser/phase Doppler particle anemometry, particle image velocimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry systems are also available. Research efforts will focus on the application of basic principles of fire science to areas such as the movement of smoke and heat in full-scale structural fires, fire initiation, heat release rate and spread, flammability and fire performance of materials and components, fire safety, equipment and methodologies for fire detection and suppression and health issues in the fire service. Combined with the existing fire and diagnostics laboratories on the main University of Waterloo campus, this new Facility will allow advancements in fundamental fire research, as well as full-scale investigations with direct application to fire service and fire safety issues, performance-based building codes and occupational health in the fire service.

Engineered Lumber Products: Taking Their Place in the Global Market

Abstract World demand for engineered lumber products is driven by a shift to performance-based building codes; the changing nature of the softwood fiber supply; worldwide demand for affordable housing; and advances in resin technology and wood conversion systems. From structural composite lumber to prefabricated wood I-joists and glulam, these products extend the forest resource by allowing higher product recoveries and using conversion technology that facilitates broader use of underutilized species and sizes. They also enable higher stumpage prices as markets are created for a wider range of species, grades, and sizes of timber. And sustainable forestry objectives are enhanced as markets for small-diameter, low-grade fiber are developed throughout the world.

Comparison of the Systems Approach and the Nordic Model and their Melded Application in the Development of Performance-Based Building Codes and Standards

Abstract The Systems Approach and the Nordic Model are methodologies that have been formulated and applied over the past 30 years to the development of performance-based building codes, standards, and specifications. Their respective use of similar terminology has differed, which has led to some confusion and has contributed to the perception that they are, in fact, quite different. Proponents of each methodology have occasionally stated this perception in public forums and by doing so have created the appearance of controversy. However, a comparative analysis of the Systems Approach and the Nordic Model demonstrates that they are, in fact, quite similar and complementary. They can be melded and applied in a productive manner to the current widespread development of performance-based building codes and standards.

A model for predicting the fire-resisting performance of small-scale cavity walls in realistic fires

A computer model that predicts the thermal response of a structural cavity wall to a wide range of time-temperature conditions is presented. With the advent of performance-based building codes, a need exists to prove the performance of wall assemblies in situations where it can be shown that the expected time-temperature conditions will be significantly different from the ISO 834 prescribed conditions.

Performance-Based Fire Safety Engineering: an Introduction of Basic Concepts

The topics of performance-based fire safety engineering* and performance-based building codes are the focus of significant discussion, research, and development worldwide. Although the two topics a...