- Author
-
Narayanan, P.
- Title
- Fire Severities for Structural Fire Engineering Design.
- Coporate
- Building Research Association of New Zealand, Judgeford
- Report
-
Study Report 67
December 1995
44 p.
- Keywords
-
structural engineering
|
structural design
|
building fires
|
fire load
|
fire resistance rating
|
fire severity
|
statistical analysis
- Identifiers
- methods for the prediction of fire severity in firecells; field survey - results and analysis; data collection; statistical analysis of data; engineering analysis of data; building contents
- Abstract
- Traditional fire safety design of buildings has been based on the concept of a "fire resistance rating" (FRR). The FRR of part of a building is the period of time for which it does not collapse or spread fire, and is determined in a standard fire resistance test. The required FRR of a construction is specified in building codes and depends on building height, amount of combustible fire load present and other factors. A standard fire test may not always be representative of an actual fire in a building. There are alternative methods of estimating what the real gas "time-temperature" exposure is more likely to be, based on the principles of energy and mass conservation. In the prediction of fire severity using these methods many designers in New Zealand rely greatly on fire load data from Europe and the United States. A survey of the fire loads in several New Zealand insurance offices has been carried out for comparison with data from overseas. Recommendations have been made in this report, based on the findings from this survey. A methodology for carrying out fire load surveys that can be applied to other types of occupancy has also been identified.