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Author
Ferreira, M. J.
Title
Barrier Performance Utilizing Normalized Heat Load, as Part of an Engineering Based Building Fire Protection Analysis Method.
Coporate
Worcester Polytechnic Inst., MA
Report
Thesis, December 1993, 133 p.
Keywords
barrier analysis | barriers | fire protection | fire safety | building design | construction
Abstract
The objective of this thesis is to examine the methods of barrier analysis used in the Building Fire Safety Engineering Method (BFSEM), and to develop the areas of the analysis which currently rely almost exclusively on subjective judgement rather than quantitative measures. The use of the Normalized Heat Load to quantify heat energy impact on a barrier is examined in detail. Procedures are developed which apply the properties of a normal statistical distribution to barrier failure times, for use in simplofying the construction of barrier catalog curves. A framework is also developed to help standardize the selection of barrier effectiveness factors. Finally, this thesis outlines the procedure for developing barrier performance curves to allow easy implementation of the barrier analysis into the general framework of the BFSEM. A design example is presented to illustrate the analysis procedures.