Fire Safety Provisions Research Articles

Weaknesses and Suggestions of the Provisions of Fire Protection Regulations of Health Constructions

Healthcare buildings, require special arrangements in two separate areas like to ensure the evacuation strategy depends on the users mobility and including measures that can be taken against places of high risk of fire, in the step of providing fire safety. Unfortunately, there aren’t adequate regulations taking place for places of high fire risk and evacuation strategies of patients in the Regulation on Fire Protection in Buildings’ in Turkey. But, NFPA standards (National Fire Protection Association, USA) and International Standards used in the UK Building Regulations, UK.) contained related issues of regulations. In this working it is aimed to complete of the weaknesses in our regulations as a result of comparing the regulations of N.F.P.A. and B.R with fire safety regulations of Turkey and to ensure the fire safety of buildings in the best way in this direction. It is believed that the losses and occurance of fire can be decreased by organizing of special measures relating to patient evacuation and risky places

Subway Constructions Fire Safety Regulatory Requirements

Fundamental requirements for tunnel fire safety, stated in russian regulatory documents, are considered in the article. There requirements apply to smoke removal systems, evacuation calculation, fire classification of construction materials, fire resistance of constructions and other points from the set of rules. Necessity of reconsideration of few points and correcting them according to existing rules and scientific and technical achievements in fire safety sphere is proved in the report. Authors propose resolutions of problems raised in this issue. Authors’ conclusions are based on results of investigations connected to providing fire safety of metropolitan railways.

An integrated fire safety assessment of a student housing facility

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated approach to fire safety assessment, through combining the outcomes of a checklist tailored to the requirements of the International Building Code (IBC), and an evacuation simulation tool (EVACNET4), applied to a student housing facility as case study. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed relevant literature and previous studies pertaining to fire safety assessment and management. An assessment checklist was developed according to the requirements of the IBC. EVACNET4 simulation tool was utilized to model the evacuation of the facility under review. The results derived from the aforementioned steps were correlated to identify potential corroborating or conflicting issues pertaining to the safe evacuation of building occupants in the occurrence of a fire incident. Findings – Fire safety provisions were found to be adequate, and the building can be evacuated safely in about 190 seconds, should a fire occur. The architectural design aspects of the exit doors which might cause potential bottlenecks were identified. Originality/value – A completely fire safe building does not exist, and thus more integrative approaches to fire safety assessment and management will reduce to the least extent possible fire risks. A holistic fire safety management of campus housing is of paramount interest to the campus community, and the building industry at large.

Application of fire engineering to assist disadvantaged minority in enhancing building fire safety

To protect occupants from the dangers of fire in domestic buildings, the Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance (Cap 572) was enacted in 2002. The statute requires that the owners and occupiers of buildings used for domestic purposes where the first building plans were submitted during or before 1987 upgrade their fire safety provision to the 1994 standard. However, structural constraints in existing buildings prevent owners from installing heavy fire service installations (FSIs). Furthermore, installing FSIs in communal areas involves financial and property rights issues which may be insurmountable in nature. From this perspective, it is difficult for occupiers of these buildings, particularly the elderly and those on a low income, to enhance fire safety due to financial and technical burden and therefore they cannot enjoy the benefits of upgraded fire safety provision. Nevertheless, with reference to the proven effectiveness of an improvised sprinkler system (i.e. one which uses direct town main supplies and thus does not require the installation of water tanks and pumps) as an alternative to conventional sprinkler systems, this paper explores the technical feasibility of accepting an improvised hose reel (HR) system as an alternative to conventional HR systems.

Experimental Studies on the Flammability and Fire Hazards of Photovoltaic Modules.

Many of the photovoltaic (PV) systems on buildings are of sufficiently high voltages, with potential to cause or promote fires. However, research about photovoltaic fires is insufficient. This paper focuses on the flammability and fire hazards of photovoltaic modules. Bench-scale experiments based on polycrystalline silicon PV modules have been conducted using a cone calorimeter. Several parameters including ignition time (tig), mass loss, heat release rate (HRR), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, were investigated. The fire behaviours, fire hazards and toxicity of gases released by PV modules are assessed based on experimental results. The results show that PV modules under tests are inflammable with the critical heat flux of 26 kW/m2. This work will lead to better understanding on photovoltaic fires and how to help authorities determine the appropriate fire safety provisions for controlling photovoltaic fires.

Performance-based approach to determining fire safety provisions for buildings in the Asia-Oceania regions

With the rapid development of economics in the Asia-Oceania regions, there were big construction projects with new architectural designs in the past three decades. Many of these projects were invested by Hong Kong enterprises. However, large halls without compartmentation, multi-purpose complexes in Central Business Districts, supertall landmark buildings and deep subway stations in old towns failed to comply with the fire safety codes. In such cases, performance-based approach is allowed as an alternative practice for determining fire safety provisions. Furthermore, there are fire safety challenges to green constructions. Consequently, a new fire engineering discipline integrating fire safety and built environment with new architectural features appears. In this paper, performance-based approach implemented for determining fire safety provisions in the past three decades in this part of the world will be reviewed. The four fire code systems available at the moment, namely, (1) prescriptive code, (2) fire engineering approach, (3) performance-based design, and (4) engineering performance-based fire code, will be outlined. Fire hazard assessment methodology for the performance-based approach, together with associated engineering tools, particularly the application of computational fluid dynamics, will be introduced. Examples of projects in Hong Kong failing to satisfy the prescriptive code will be outlined. Problems associated with buildings with fire safety provisions determined by performance-based approach in the past years will be highlighted. It is concluded that more in-depth fire safety research related to the fire safety of big constructions in the Asia-Oceania regions should be carried out to meet the new challenges.

Investigation of Dependence between Thermal Stability for Nano-Dispersed Metals and Velocity of Flame Spreading and Time Storage

Thermal stability of aluminum, iron and copper nanopowders, produced by electrical explosion of wire during heating in the air, was investigated in the work. Thermal analysis method was used for control of thermal stability for nanodispersed metals in heating in the air. It was shown, that after a long time of storage in air electrical explosion metal nanopowders have had extra active ones. Estimation of velocity of flame spreading in poured layer of the powders was carried out. Quality changes in investigated samples, happened for storage time, lead to increase of flame front length and its line velocity. The results of the researches could be used for diagnostics of fire danger of nanodispersed metals, also for selection of working regimes and provision of fire explosion safety for technologies which produce and apply of nanodispersed metal powders. Time-factor have not effected on criteria concerning the danger of the loads and have not changed its marking.

Fire safety strategies for existing rock caverns in Hong Kong

Rock cavern development is not a brand new concept in Hong Kong. In accordance with the recommendations of various studies conducted in Hong Kong, the use of rock caverns with high occupant loads is not impossible. All the existing cavern projects in Hong Kong, however, were designed to have low occupant loads and used as public utilities such as sewage treatment works, explosives depot, refuse transfer station, salt water service reservoirs and explosives magazine complex. In order to determine the possibility of utilizing caverns, from fire safety perspective, for potential uses other than public utilities with low occupant loads, this paper aims to critically review the fire safety strategies of the existing rock caverns in Hong Kong. The results of radon level measured in the largest rock cavern in Hong Kong are also demonstrated to determine whether cavern in Hong Kong is suitable for public use in terms of indoor radon concentration according to the relevant standard suggested by the World Health Organization. Further, recommendations are offered to facilitate possible utilization of rock caverns with high occupant loads in Hong Kong such as introducing new fire safety strategies and updating fire safety provisions for the existing rock caverns.

The Study of Transport Category Aircraft Fire Safety Airworthiness Design

This paper discussed the classification of aircraft zones related to fire based on the existence and characteristics of aircraft flammable fluids and ignition sources as well as fire safety provisions in order to establish the aircraft level safety requirements. Then, the aircraft fire safety airworthiness design process has been presented to allocate the aircraft level safety requirements in terms of zones. And the aircraft manufacturers can use this process as a guidance to perform their fire safety design and demonstrate the compliance of aircraft fire safety.

The Characteristics of Blind and Visually Impaired People Evacuation in Case of Fire

This work presents the results of a survey aimed at identification of key issues concerning the provision of fire safety of people with visual impairments). The questionnaires were passed to All Russian Association of the Blind and distributed by them to places of labour application (plant for the production of electrical appliances) of this group of disabled people. A methodology for field observations of flows movement consisting of blind and visually impaired people has been developed based on the results of this survey. This methodology takes into account not only the type of route (horizontal, inclined or door), but also the level of people awareness about the features on this route. Statistical processing of data and the regularities identified on its basis enabled us to describe the parameters of flows movement. It was found that the familiarity with egress route is a key factor for the safety of visually impaired people: if familiar route is blocked and number of abled-body staff is insufficient, evacuation would be failed.

Fire hazard assessment for a green railway station

ABSTRACTA green railway station adopting natural ventilation was built in Hong Kong to promote sustainable architectural design. Similar to many other green or sustainable projects, such design failed to comply with the local fire safety codes. There are potential fire hazards due to the adopted green features. Better ventilation provision would supply more air to burn the combustibles in case of fire. Performance‐based design was applied using the timeline analysis to determine the fire safety provisions. In this paper, fire simulations were carried out to predict the available safe egress time (ASET) under low design fires with smoke toxicity including only the carbon monoxide concentration. Evacuation simulations were conducted to predict the required safe egress time (RSET) under low passenger loadings. Studies on human behaviour under big fires and heavy passenger loadings were not included. Problems to be encountered in this green railway station using the timeline analysis will be pointed out in this paper. ASET was estimated by computational fluid dynamics with bigger fires resulted from the green features. RSET was estimated by evacuation software under local passenger loadings. The results indicated that ASET are less than RSET under big fires with heavy passenger loadings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Study on Flashover in an Open Kitchen Fire by Nonlinear Dynamics

There are concerns on open kitchen fires in small flats of tall residential buildings. Flashover should be avoided in providing fire safety. It is believed that flashover of a compartment fire is a nonlinear physical process. In this article, nonlinear dynamics was used to study flashover in an example open kitchen fire. The mathematical model developed earlier by taking the fire compartment as a thermal system with a hot and layer and a cool air layer was taken as the simulation tool. The two-layer zone model was simplified by taking the smoke layer thickness at a constant value. The compartment fire was then studied with only one variable on the hot smoke layer temperature. The model was programmed in symbolic mathematics software. The single variable on smoke or hot air temperature is then analyzed for system stability. An example open kitchen was selected to illustrate the concept. Control parameters for flashover to occur have been identified for providing fire safety to open kitchens.

Experience on Implementing Performance-based Design in Hong Kong

Many new buildings, particularly those with ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ architectural features have difficulties in complying with prescriptive fire codes due to many reasons. Examples in Hong Kong include residential buildings with internal voids, glass façades with spandrel design, good thermal insulation, natural ventilation provision and many others. Consequently, performance-based design known as ‘fire engineering approach’ (FEA) is allowed for active systems since 1987, and then later for passive constructions since 1998. This is similar to Performance-Based Design (PBD) in other places. Over 300 FEA/PBD projects for new buildings and renovations of the existing buildings had been submitted to the local government since then. There are many problems associated with such approach. In this paper, problems on projects with fire safety provisions determined by FEA/PBD in the past two decades will be pointed out.

Some Neglected Areas in Fire Safety Engineering

Fire safety engineering has developed remarkably well over the last 4 decades, yet there are certain areas that have been systematically neglected or overlooked. On the basis of his long career in the profession, the author offers a number of areas for consideration where improvements are still clearly needed. These include: (1) learning from fire incidents in a systematic way; (2) studying fires in residential houses; (3) collecting statistics which are meaningful; (4) developing cost-effective codes and standards; and (5) considering the unintended consequences of fire safety provisions. Issues in each of these areas are illustrated with concrete examples.

Fire Safety Provisions for Aged Concrete Building Structures

This article provides guidance to determine the fire safety provisions for aged concrete building structures which have an age of 50 years and beyond. The ability of the aged concrete structures to resist both structural loadings and the impact of fire needs to be assessed through a combined structural and fire engineering assessment, taking into account the risk of concrete spalling in fire. It is recommended that in order to mitigate the risk of concrete spalling, additional active and/or passive fire protection may be required for the concrete having a tolerable or unacceptable risk of spalling. No additional fire safety measures would be necessary for concrete structures which have an acceptably low risk of concrete spalling occurring.© 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Asia-Oceania Association for Fire Science and Technology.

Aerodynamic problems on providing fire safety in subway

Analysis of the emergency operation modes of tunnel ventilation systems used in subways has shown that these modes do not provide the steady gas-air flows in case of fire in the rolling stock and its stop in the tunnel; and there is no methodological support for calculations of stability of gas-air flows in tunnel fires. The existing technology for assessing the stability of ventilation flows applied in coal mines and road tunnels can not account for the peculiarities of fires in subways.

Numerical Studies on Heat Release Rate in Room Fire on Liquid Fuel under Different Ventilation Factors

Heat release rate (HRR) of the design fire is the most important parameter in assessing building fire hazards. However, HRR in room fire was only studied by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) in most of the projects determining fire safety provisions by performance-based design. In contrast to ten years ago, officers in the Far East are now having better knowledge of CFD. Two common questions are raised on CFD-predicted results on describing free boundaries; and on computing grid size. In this work, predicting HRR by the CFD model was justified with experimental room pool fire data reported earlier. The software fire dynamics simulator (FDS) version 5 was selected as the CFD simulation tool. Prescribed input heating rate based on the experimental results was used with the liquid fuel model in FDS. Five different free boundary conditions were investigated to predict HRR. Grid sensitivity study was carried out using one stretched mesh and multiple uniform meshes with different grid sizes. As it is difficult to have the entire set of CFD predicted results agreed with experiments, macroscopic flow parameters on the mass flow rate through door opening predicted by CFD were also justified by another four conditions with different ventilation factors.

Concepts of Fire Safety Provisions of Means of Escape andEvacuation Safety Plan in High-Rise Building

The measures on safety of buildings in case of a fire have been stipulated almost as specification document in the building codes for a long time. The standards on fire safety were first prepared to prevent urban great fire, later to alleviate human losses in fire of large-scale building. The standards on fire safety in foreign countries, especially regulations on safe evacuation are outlined, and the concepts of building planning especially for the purpose of securing safe evacuation in high-rise buildings are introduced.

Does your facility have a dust problem: Methods for evaluating dust explosion hazards

The hazards of dust explosions prevailing in plants are dependent on a large variety of factors that include process parameters, such as pressure, temperature and flow characteristics, as well as equipment properties, such as geometry layout, the presence of moving elements, dust explosion characteristics and mitigating measures. A good dust explosion risk assessment is a thorough method involving the identification of all hazards, their probability of occurrence and the severity of potential consequences. The consequences of dust explosions are described as consequences for personnel and equipment, taking into account consequences of both primary and secondary events. While certain standards cover all the basic elements of explosion prevention and protection, systematic risk assessments and area classifications are obligatory in Europe, as required by EU ATEX and Seveso II directives. In the United States, NFPA 654 requires that the design of the fire and explosion safety provisions shall be based on a process hazard analysis of the facility, process, and the associated fire or explosion hazards. In this paper, we will demonstrate how applying such techniques as SCRAM (short-cut risk analysis method) can help identify potentially hazardous conditions and provide valuable assistance in reducing high-risk areas. The likelihood of a dust explosion is based on the ignition probability and the probability of flammable dust clouds arising. While all possible ignition sources are reviewed, the most important ones include open flames, mechanical sparks, hot surfaces, electric equipment, smoldering combustion (self-ignition) and electrostatic sparks and discharges. The probability of dust clouds arising is closely related to both process and dust dispersion properties. Factors determining the consequences of dust explosions include how frequently personnel are present, the equipment strength, implemented consequence-reducing measures and housekeeping, as risk assessment techniques demonstrate the importance of good housekeeping especially due to the enormous consequences of secondary dust explosions (despite their relatively low probability). The ignitibility and explosibility of the potential dust clouds also play a crucial role in determining the overall risk. Classes describe both the likelihood of dust explosions and their consequences, ranging from low probabilities and limited local damage, to high probability of occurrence and catastrophic damage. Acceptance criteria are determined based on the likelihood and consequence of the events. The risk assessment techniques also allow for choosing adequate risk reducing measures: both preventive and protective. Techniques for mitigating identified explosions risks include the following: bursting disks and quenching tubes, explosion suppression systems, explosion isolating systems, inerting techniques and temperature control. Advanced CFD tools (DESC) can be used to not only assess dust explosion hazards, but also provide valuable insight into protective measures, including suppression and venting.

Ways of providing fire safety of aviation materials

Influence of various fire-retardant additives, as well as thermostability and chemical structure on polymer flammability is analyzed, and nonfire-resistant and fire-resistant polymer materials are compared. An essential influence of these factors on flammability, smoke density, heat release rate, and limit oxygen index is shown.