03 PAPER - FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING Principles and Application
03 PAPER - FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING Principles and Application
03 PAPER - FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING Principles and Application
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an en-
dorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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1 INTRODUCTION
Fire safety engineering is a relatively young engineering discipline when compared to the more tradi-
tional disciplines such as mechanical and structural engineering. Despite its relatively young age it
requires a high level of interdisciplinary knowledge, since it combines various engineering and scien-
tific disciplines, for example:
thermodynamics;
structural mechanics;
fluid mechanics;
mechanical engineering;
chemistry…
In addition to the above “hard” disciplines a significant portion of fire safety engineering relates to
“soft” disciplines, such as:
human and crowd dynamics;
human behaviour;
toxicology;
risk perception…
Due to the interactions this also means that fire safety engineering requires a team of experts in the
above disciplines, particularly for more complex project, in which an in depth analysis is required.
The fire safety design approaches may be divided in the following categories:
prescriptive approach – involves the application of a series of prescribed measures, relating to
fire resistance, widths and lengths of escape routes, compartment areas, etc. If the design com-
plies with all the prescribed requirements it is considered safe and satisfactory from the fire
safety perspective.
flexible-prescriptive approach – is similar to the prescriptive approach, but gives the designer
the option to take into account more building design specifics, e.g. ceiling heights, ventilation
openings etc., and/or exchange one fire safety measure for another, e.g. reduce fire resistance if
sprinkler protection is provided, or extend travel distances if a voice alarm system is provided.
performance-based approach – also known as fire safety engineering, which takes into ac-
count very detailed building and occupant specifics, however, also requires the most effort and
knowledge. The design involves the application of the underlying principles which are general-
ised to a various extent in prescriptive approaches.
There is no hard boundary between the fully prescriptive and flexible-prescriptive approaches and the
degree of flexibility depends on the national approach. It could be said that the more prescriptive the
fire safety design approach is the easier is to apply and to check, however, may be more difficult and
less appropriate for more complex projects, requiring specific attention. So while prescriptive ap-
proach is a good solution for low- to medium-rise office, residential and retail buildings with simple
layout it is not appropriate for large assembly places, designs involving atria, large-volume industrial
buildings, etc. In the latter cases fire safety engineering is more appropriate.
Fire safety engineering (FSE) is therefore considered an advanced system for designing and assessing
fire safety of buildings, technologies and systems. FSE involves application of advanced calculation
methods, professional knowledge and engineering judgement.
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ISO 23932-1:2018 Fire safety engineering – General principles – Part 1: General defines FSE as
application of engineering methods based on scientific principles to the development or assessment of
designs in the built environment through the analysis of specific fire scenarios or through the quantifi-
cation of risk for a group of fire scenarios [1].
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From Figure 1
Deterministic
analysis
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Figure 3 Interaction between deviations from pre-accepted solutions and affected fire safety objectives [2]
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Fire hazard may be categorised as follows, for individual hazard examples, refer to Figure 6:
Precipitating hazards – are conditions which themselves do not cause fires however are pre-
cursors for further hazards, mainly fuel and ignition hazards. For example a forklift driver may
damage a barrel with flammable liquid which then discharges onto the floor, creating a fuel spill
susceptible to ignition- This precipitating hazard materialised (accident occurred) and created
fuel hazard (fuel spill), i.e. a set of conditions which may materialise into an ignition event
should a sufficient ignition source be present.
Ignition hazards – a set of conditions of sufficient thermal or other energy potential to cause
ignition of present fuels.
Fuel hazards – the presence of fuel in form and configuration capable of ignition.
Enabling (promoting) hazards – conditions or circumstances, which are capable of promoting
(or not hindering) the development and/or spread of fire and thereby creating greater exposure
potential.
Vulnerability hazards – conditions or circumstances which make exposed persons, structures
etc. more vulnerable to the exposure from fire.
By combining various fire hazards into a chronological sequence design scenarios are constructed.
This again highlights the fact that a single design scenario is rarely sufficient in fire safety engineer-
ing. There are usually a number of fire origin locations, different fuel types and configurations within
the building.
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Fire scenarios therefore define the various exposure modes which challenge the fire safety design
elements of the building. It must be pointed out that the exposure should be severe enough, however,
not unrealistic. Therefore a careful consideration of the factors affecting fire development and heat
output (e.g. fuel amount and configuration, ventilation and geometry of the enclosure) is required.
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Their selection depends on the nature and the required level of detail of the analysis. The appropriate-
ness, ease of use, necessary simplifications and approximations, compatibility with defined fire safety
objectives, availability of input data and other factors must also be taken into account when selectin an
appropriate tool.
A detector activation time may be calculated with a simple set of analytical equations, whereas the
location of smoke extraction points in an underground garage with jet fan ventilation may require a
complex CFD simulation. Therefore there is no universal fire safety engineering tool applicable to all
types of problems.
What should be considered very carefully is the appropriateness of input data for the given problem.
Compatibility of data and the degree extrapolation are very important aspects to consider. Even simple
situation such as taking a heat release rate history for an object burned freely and placing it into an
enclosure may result in very inaccurate results. This is because free burning objects are not exposed to
thermal feedback present in an enclosure. Similar care should be taken when combining multiple fuel
items into a design fire; the sequence of their ignition and total combined heat release rate can usually
not be represented by a simple mathematical addition of the partial heat outputs.
Figure 8 Visualization of deterministic and probabilistic approach to load vs. capacity [2]
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It must be pointed out, that it is not possible to design to a zero-failure probability although the deter-
ministic approach may be wrongly interpreted such. It is possible, however, to introduce:
safety margin – additive adjustment applied to calculated values to compensate for uncertain-
ty in methods, calculations, input data and assumptions, or;
safety factor – multiplicative adjustment applied to calculated values to compensate for un-
certainty in methods, calculations, input data and assumptions.
The introduction of a safety margin or factor will further decrease the probability of design failure,
however, will not completely remove it.
It must also be pointed out that in fire safety engineering the prediction capacity of various analytical
and advanced models and calculation methods is not 100% and similarly data may be very difficult to
obtain. Hence, a careful use of safety margins or factors is a necessity.
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The use of a fire safety engineered building requires a sound inspection and maintenance programme.
Since each of the systems contributes to the overall level of safety, some even critically (e.g. sprin-
klers), it is necessary to maintain them in a full working order throughout the lifetime of the building.
In addition to normal function the fire safety management routines should define contingency
measures should a fire system become inoperative due to an accident or maintenance. With systems of
critical importance, e.g. above mentioned sprinklers, it may be necessary to limit or even suspend
operations of the facility.
All modifications must be properly consulted with a fire safety engineer and assessed against the
original design assumptions made. This is especially true for “small or negligible” changes. Periodicall
checks on sum effect of “negligible” changes are vital in order to maintain the original performance of
the design. For example, an atrium which is intended to be a fire-sterile, unobstructed escape route,
may be increasingly filled with various combustible items. This will not only reduce the effective
width of the escape route, but may also contribute to the spread of fire from one side of the atrium to
the other through radiative heat from the intermediate fire in the atrium.
REFERENCES
[1] ISO 23932-1:2018. Fire safety engineering – General principles – Part 1: General
[2] INSTA/TS 951:2018. Fire Safety Engineering — Probabilistic Methods for Verifying Fire Safety
Design in Buildings
[3] ISO 16733-1:2015. Fire safety engineering — Selection of design fire scenarios and design fires
— Part 1: Selection of design fire scenarios
[4] ROSE, S. E., S. FLAMBERG a F. LEVERENZ. Guidance Document for Incorporating Risk
Concepts into NFPA Codes & Standards. Quincy, MA: Fire Protection Research Foundation.
2007.
[5] ISO/TR 16738:2009. Fire-safety engineering — Technical information on methods for evalu-
ating behaviour and movement of people
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