Engineering Design Project - Assignment Example

@2016

Abstract

This report details the design of a fire protection system for a residential building with the dimensions of twenty five meters high with a single staircase. The report entails the procedure of selection of the most suitable fire protection system from the available systems in the market. The key components of the available systems as well as their design is also described in detail herein. The report also discusses in details the advantages as well as the disadvantages of each fire protections system in accordance to its application for the residential building under consideration. The report seeks to determine, prove and recommend the best fire protection system by use of critical analysis of the existing systems.

Objective

The report under consideration is intentioned to achieve the following objectives;

• To give a detail review of how each of the fire protection systems under consideration works.
• The components and key design specification and features of each components of the fire safety systems under consideration.
• To discuss in details the advantages as well as the disadvantages of each of the systems under consideration.

Scope

The report is only limited to design of a fire protection system for a building that is 25 meters high. The design is also limited to a building with a single stair case as well as an extended corridor that is approximately 25 meters in length. The fire protection system is also limited to a space with an open plan arrangement.

Introduction

Fire protection for every building is an important parameter during design. Every building is required by law and standards governing the design of structures to have a fire safety systems that is an integral part of the building’s design. Such an arrangement is put into place in order to enable the building to counteract and suppress the effect of fire hazards if it occurs. It is therefore design to act as a safety mechanism for fire occurrence3.

There are two main fire protection systems that are mainly in use for most buildings especially the residential buildings. The two systems vary in their design as well as their mode of operations. Consequently, they also have variation in their performance based on the nature of the building and the nature of fire as well as the circumstances of occurrence5.

The two main fire protection systems under common use include the sprinkler fire protection systems and the water mist fire protection systems. Both of these systems uses water to suppress the fire protecting the building from a probable fire hazard7.

The use of the portable canned fire extinguishers are slowly being phased out especially in the most recent designs of the modern building more so residential buildings. The decrease in the use of fire extinguishers is attributed to the need for a manual fire extinguishing by human beings during its occurrence. Thus, this would end up exposing the occupants of the buildings to a risk of injury or possible death during the firefighting session. Thus, the use of the new automatic technologies like the one`s mentioned above are in the rise8.