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Author
Menke, W. K.
Title
Predicting Effectiveness of Manual Suppression.
Coporate
Worcester Polytechnic Inst., MA
Report
Thesis
May 10, 1994
168 p.
Keywords
fire suppression | effectiveness | fire protection engineering | building design | water | application rate | fire fighting
Identifiers
Predicting Effectiveness of Manual Suppression (PEMS); multistory buildings
Abstract
A significant obstacle in fire protection engineering surrounds the difficulty in quantifying the impact of manual suppression operations. Without actual firefighting experience, engineers and scientists have found it difficult to secure credible estimates on the parameters defining the effectiveness of manual suppression operations. The following thesis is a first attempt at developing a strategy, known as PEMS (Predicting Effectiveness of Manual Suppression), which allows a fire protection engineer, with no practical firefighting experience, the ability to predict performance levels of manual suppression operations by analyzing the design of the building. PEMS, incorporating current research and heuristic data in the fields of science, engineering and practice, evaluates the influence of building designs on the chronological tasks performed by the local fire department in suppressing a fire.