Building Fire Safety - Report Example

Design Assignment Name Institution Course Instructor Date Design Assignment Part A What is fire resistance testing? Fire testing refers to the process of measuring the product’s minimum criteria of protection against fire, particularly, with regards to its fire protection performance criteria as documented in the building code or any other authentic legislation, therefore, fire resistance testing is the process of determining through measurements, the ability of a system or rather product to prevent, limit and resist the fire’s passage from one particular area to another. The fire resistance testing is effectively conducted in a laboratory that meets the national standards of holding fire tests and is accredited to certify the given system or product if it meets the building code conditions. Therefore, the laboratory testing and certification of various products leads to the creation of the certification listings. The listing contains the fire resistance values of the tested products and it is meant to provide primary confirmatory information to the public on the resistance abilities of given products. However, the product’s test report is issued to the test sponsor to serve provide confidential proprietary information on the tested products. What is reaction to fire testing? Reaction to fire testing is commonly confused with fire resistance testing based on the fact that the two are both aspects of fire testing. However, there is a distinct difference between the two, whereby; reaction to fire testing refers to the determination by measurement the contribution abilities of a system or a product to the development, spread and progression of fire at the on-start level of fire. The on-start level of fire represents the, first, the instance when the fire starts and the initial stages when evacuation of people from the vicinity of fire is a crucial necessity. As such, terms such as single-flame source test (SFI), ignitibility, single burning item (SBI), and flame classification and surface spread are usually used in contextual description of reaction to fire tests. The reaction to fire tests is important in determining the product’s easiness of combustion, rate of energy production and flame spread susceptibility. Moreover, by obtaining accurate measurement values of reaction to fire tests of products, the test sponsor is able to predict with precision the easiness of evacuating people from the vicinity of fire without creating stampedes. Discuss the term “flammability limits”. Discuss the effects of temperature on flammability limits. Include diagrams The term ‘flammability limits’ or ‘explosive limits’ refers to the determinant concentration limits (ranges of concentration) of flammable gases that subsequently results in the on-start of fire in the presence of an ignition source. The flammable gases in this case encompass vaporized, gaseous or dust-like fuels mixed together with atmospheric air. Therefore, the lower flammability limits represents the least amount of gas mixed with air that is ignitable (Sankaran & Im 2002, p.77). On the contrary, the upper flammability limit indicates the highest amount of gas mixed with air that is enough to start a stable fire (see diagram 2). The flammability limits of many products are well documented in the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Flammability limits are influenced by other extrinsic factors such as temperature, concentration of oxygen and pressure, among others. For instance, high temperature lowers flammability limits and increases the upper flammability limits thereby making a flammable gas easier to ignite or explode, alternatively, the vice versa applies to low temperatures (see diagram 2). Diagram 1: summarizes flammability limits Diagram 2: summarizes influence of temperature on flammability limits Discuss heat release rate in relation to fire hazards. Heat Release Rate (HRR) is a term that describes the speed at which fire generates heat. In this regard, the Standard International (SI) unit of HRR is Joules per Second (J/s). Since 1 J/s is equal to 1 Watt, most times HRR is quantified in Watts, Kilowatts or Megawatts. HRR is an important fire variable that determines the degree of fire hazards. First, the HRR, as confirmed by scientific research, is the major force or engine that drives the fire (Ingason & Lönnermark 2005, p. 646). Whereby, the heat and the fire share a positive feedback relationship. This means that the heat produced by the fire creates more heat which in turn increases the combustion rate (increases fire). Second, the HRR correlates or tends to increase the severity of other fire hazard variables such as increase in temperature, concentration of toxic gases, and smoke, among other fire hazard variables. Finally, unlike other fire hazard variables, HRR is directly related to life threats. The increase in HRR results an increase in the lethality of fire. Discuss the factors which will influence the fire development and the rate of fire growth within a compartment. Fire development and growth within a particular compartment occurs in three main levels that include the growth s, the completely developed and the decay levels. In all the levels, there are common factors that influence the fire’s growth. The main common factors include, first, the supply of fuel. The supply of fuel refers to the materials that support fire which include furniture, paintings, and surface linings, among other building components. The rate of fire development and growth depends on the distance between fuel supplies in addition to the flame surface spread and resistance of the supplies. Second, in the location of fire, the growth characteristics of fire situated in the middle of the compartment is different from the one on the walls. Third, the compartment’s geometry based on its shape and size determines the severity of fire development. Fourth, the ventilations of a compartment determine the amount of oxygen present to support fire development. Finally, the properties of the construction materials (thermal properties) play a major role in determining the growth and development of compartmental fire. Part B What are the 5 functional requirements of Approved Document B? The five functional requirements of Approved Document B include escape means, intrinsic fire linings, intrinsic fire structures, extrinsic spread of fire and accessibility facilitations for the services of fire. Give a definition for the terms means of escape from fire. Outline the main requirements of a safe means of escape from a building. Means of escape refers to the appropriate structures or devices erected adjacently to the building such as outside staircase to allow emergency evacuation of people in an event of fire occurrence. The requirements for means of escape include ensuring sufficiency of escape routes, protection of escape routes, adequate lighting of escape routes, suitable signing of escape routes and sufficiency of facilities to limit development of fire (Stollard & Abrahams 1999, p.130). What is the maximum recommended compartment size for each of the following cases: a single storey shop with sprinkler protection and a single storey industrial unit? It is 12,000 m3 maximum floor area and 18m maximum storage height and 2,000m3 maximum floor area and 15m maximum storage height respectively. What is the maximum size of an opening (unprotected area) that can be discounted when considering space separation between buildings? References Ingason, H & Lönnermark 2005, ‘Heat release rates from heavy goods vehicle trailer fires in tunnels,’ Fire Safety Journal, vol. 40, no. 7, pp. 646-668. Sankaran, R & Im, HG 2002, ‘Dynamic flammability limits of methane/air premixed flames with mixture composition fluctuations,’ Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 77-84. Stollard, P & Abrahams, J 1999, Fire from first principles: A design guide to building fire safety (3rd ed.), Routledge, New York, NY. Read More