Fire Safety Engineering for a Multi-Occupied Building - Coursework Example

Name: Course: College: Course Tutor: Date: 10th March 2008 Fire safety engineering is an integral part in the building and construction, if not taken care of buildings pose a major risk of not being easily accessed in the event of fire outbreak and this may mean a fatal incident in the making for the building occupants. It is therefore very important that buildings are put within the fire engineering regulations for this will safe lives and property in within the building. The efforts of trying to achieve fire safety are often viewed as trying to make the building in consideration fire restrictive and also as a way of facilitating a speedy evacuation process for the occupants of the building in the event of fire in the building. These are generally some of the design concerns. Many buildings however contain a variety of fire protection and fighting devices and systems. This paper therefore explores the some of the fire safety construction methods and materials, fire safety systems and also the fire extinguishing agents and materials that are required for this multi-occupied storey building. Building construction methods and materials Building and construction structures for fire protection are the insulation materials, coatings, they are the structures used to prevent or even hindrance to fire-induced heat rise in structural members. Among some of the materials or some of the forms the fire protection materials come in are among them; typical spray-applied fire resistive materials, gypsum board, Intumescing/mastic coatings not forgetting the concrete and masonry.  Building and construction methods and the use of various materials for fire protection can be classified in the passive fire protection. This class normally acts as an enhancement for the active protection which includes; automatic sprinklers, smoke and fire detectors and alarms, human fire(fighters) suppression intervention this is as t s required by the building codes of legislation Fire safety strategies and design Fire strategy is a very important function in fire safety. The fire strategy serves the function of explaining how a building functions, that is the preparedness of the building for an event of fire in terms of fire safety. The strategy is generally used to fulfill the provisions that are available in respect of fire safety; this also supports the building approval process. A building of this kind requires an integrated design/regulatory approach which will be aimed at addressing the life and property hazards in buildings. In accordance to the regulatory codes, fire safety is expressed in three components: The means of escape. Controlling the spread of fire this is in both the internal and the external to the building. Accessing to and out of the building and to the facilities for fire fighting. A fire safety strategy aims to examine all variables in detail bringing them together in order to have a cost-effective solution. The building should be equipped with active fire protection that includes fire alarms and automatic water sprinklers. These will be of help to warning and alerting the occupants of the building the event of fire. The fire alarms these should include smoke detectors and heat detectors. Optical smoke detectors should be installed in the youth room, lobby area, the hall, the staging room, and entrance lounge and lobby area. Non-optical smoke detectors should be installed in the kitchen and bathrooms. Heat detectors with high sensitivity should be installed in the infants’ room, youth room, store, entrance lounge and future room and future store. Heat detectors should not be installed in the bathrooms if the bathrooms are going to be equipped with hot water taps. The smoke alarms should comply with BS-5839-6:2004 requirements. The alarms should have standby power supply that is either rechargeable or non-rechargeable or use capacitors and either should conform to BS-5839-6 clause 15. The infants’ room should be equipped with optical or photo-electric smoke detectors that should meet requirements of BS-5446-1. The smoke alarms should be installed at a distance of 7.5 meters in every circulation space. There should be an alarm for catering for persons with audio or visual disabilities that should conform to BS-5839-1:2002. A vibrating paging system should be installed for persons with visual disabilities. Vibrating paging system should be installed at a distance of 7.5 meters in the hall, the chapel, youth room, and infants’ room, lobby area and entrance lounge. The fire alarm should be able to make an automatic call to fire rescue service department and nominated ambulance agencies. This should be followed by a manual call to the same agencies to confirm the fire outbreak incident. Access building and fire fighting facilities As part of the fire safety strategy, the building should have at least five fire fighting enactment areas. The stages location should be at the balcony, lobby room, entrance lounges, future room and the office room areas of this building. These areas need to be fully fitted with all facilities for fire fighting as these areas act as the bases of suppressing the fire. In the event of outbreak of fire resulting from oil explosion in the oil storage room, the building requires to be installed with exterior ladders and rails which would be used by fire fighters and evacuators. The building requires to be installed with wet and dry standpipes for delivering oxygen and water to the fire fighters and evacuators. Delivery of oxygen and water supplies through wet and dry pipes would increase the rate of extinguishing the fire and evacuating users instead of delivering manually water and oxygen which can easily put rescue team at risk. Controlling smoke movement in this building The need to control smoke in the event of fire in this storey building is very important. Smoke in most cases is a hindrance to fire safety and at many times make it hard for the first responders, fire fighters and also the occupants of the building move/act fast in this event. In order to have the fire safety and control work efficiently there is need to have the smoke control system for easy, visual expediency for first responder, the smoke control system is an easily read panel which includes floor layouts, diagrams and is ideal for emergency responders to manually override and control remote air handling equipment - quickly controlling smoke during an emergency situation. Fire extinguishing agents Several fire extinguishing agent are required in the building in order to suppress fire/fight fire incase of an outbreak. Fire extinguishing agents used on fire vary depending on the class of fire for every class of fire has its own extinguishing agent. Carbon dioxide (B, C) is a fire extinguishing agent required for this building; carbon dioxide is an agent whose use is usually on contamination-sensitive places which include computer rooms which in this case represents the offices in this storey building the best agent for that matter is the carbon dioxide, food storage areas is the other, for this case there are hotels in this building and for the reason of contamination carbon dioxide is best for this building. Disadvantages: a) This gas is 35% concentration by volume required for total flooding system b) Carbon dioxide is toxic to human beings at 4% by volume c) It is not the best agent for smoldering deep-seated fires which last a maintained concentration for more than 20 minutes. d) Has a cooling/chilling effect on some electronic components Vapor density = 1.5 which collects in pits and low areas. Multipurpose Dry chemical (A, B, C) This fire extinguishing agent is ideal for the offices in this building; it has been approved for computer rooms for and the telecommunications areas. This is because it leaves no residue which will require to be cleaned after the event of fire. This chemical is non-conductive too. Disadvantages a) This chemical however is said to obscures vision where people don’t see properly upon its use. b) additionally the chemical is more irritating o the eyes than ordinary dry chemical c) due to the high nozzle pressure, the gas may cause burning liquids to splash posing another threat on the nearby buildings Conclusion and recommendations Fire Safety should always come first while considering safety in the workplace for there are many buildings that have caused major accidents in our city and to avoid a repeat of the same incidents, it is important for the buildings to be efficiently fit with fire fighting equipments and also be up to the fire regulations. From research on the causes and the consequences of fire in building, it has been reported that deaths of the occupants of a given building results from the smoke that emanates from the building and also the toxic fumes. It is therefore important for this building to consider putting up an automatic opening roof or even wall vents which will help draw off the smoke and fumes/gases considering however that these may also increase the intensity of the fire. For real safety effectiveness, these considerations need to be done and use of experts in this is highly recommended. It is important that the persons with disabilities be considered by putting up the ways and means of escape in the building like wheelchairs. Part 2 1.  Find the flame height of the fire involved plastic materials of 0.3 m2 circle area with burning rate approximately 10.5 g/s at a heat of combustion of 23 kJ/g. What should be a critical diameter of the fire area that the fire reaches ceiling on height of 2.5 m? Flame height Now to find the critical diameter where the flame reach the ceiling: [10 marks] 2. Mixed fuel is composed by methane (volume percent is 0.55), carbon monoxide (0.25) and hydrogen (0.20). Calculate the lower flammable limit concentration for the mixture and the concentration of each component in the mixture with air. Lower flammable limit for methane  Lower flammable limit for carbon monoxide  Lower flammable limit for hydrogen  [10 marks] 3. Consider a 1 m diameter pan fire of petrol with heat release intensity of about 400 kW/m2 of surface area. Calculate the flame height under the normal atmospheric conditions. Diameter (D) = 1m Heat release intensity (”) = 500 kW/m2 Surface area of the fuel (A) =  =  Heat release rate (” A Flame height [10 marks] 4. Calculate the wavelength for infrared thermal radiation with frequency 1014 Hz and compare with the wavelength for BBC Radio 4, 93.0 MHz (Preston). Speed of light = [5 marks] 5.  A person with initial speed of 1.15 m/s is moving to fire exit as described on the Fig. 1. His travel consists of two parts (AB and BC). In the first part (AB) he is moving with constant speed of 1.15 m/s. When he has achieved the point B, he will start to move with constant deceleration of 0.01 m/s2 due to the crowd in the second part of his trip. What time is needed for the person to achieve the fire exit? Assume that AD is 7 m, BC is 8 m and α = 30o. Initial speed =1.15 m / s Deceleration from B to C (a) = 0.01 m / s To find AB To find the travel time we need to divide the distance for AB from the velocity find travel time the point from B to C So the total travel time from A to C [15 marks] 6.  A person is moving to a fire exit through a corridor (Fig. 2). His speed is 1.1 m/s and constant during his travel. In the corridor there is a strong air movement. Speed of air movement is 0.3 m/s and width of the corridor is 12 m. Find the minimum time needed to reach the fire exit. Explain your answer and indicate the right direction for his evacuation? [15 marks] Figure 2 7. How different is the result for the previous question, if air movement changes its direction on opposite (U = - 0.3 m/s). [15 marks] 8. Compare the chemical reaction rates at three temperatures – 300, 600 and 900 K. The activation energy is 120 kJ/mole. Make your conclusion how temperature affects chemical reaction rate. Apply the formula for comparison: Comparison between -300 and 600 Comparison between -300 and 900 Comparison between 600 and 900 [5 marks] 9. A compartment is fully involved in fire. The flame inside the room is dull red. Calculate thermal radiation emission [W/m2] from the compartment considering the gray body model with ε = 0.8. [5 marks] 10. Explain nomenclature of halon and freon systems (use examples of Halon 1211 and Freon CFC 11). Make a definition of environmental damage potential of halons and freons. Compare environmental damage potentials and atmospheric lifetimes of Halon 1211 and CFC 11. Halon 1211 has one carbon atom, two fluorine atoms, one chlorine atom and one bromine atom. A single carbon only has four bonds, all of which are taken by the halogen atoms, so there is no hydrogen. Halon 1211 is typically used in hand-held extinguishers, in which a stream of liquid halon is directed at a smaller fire by a user. The stream evaporates under reduced pressure, producing strong local cooling, as well as a high concentration of halon in the immediate vicinity of the fire. In this mode, extinguishment is achieved by cooling and oxygen deprivation at the core of the fire, as well as radical quenching over a larger area. After fire suppression, the halon diffuses away into the surrounding air, leaving no residue. Works Cited Hughes Associates, Inc. "Structural fire protection." Edited by Nestor Iwankiw. 2009. http://www.haifire.com/modeling_structural_fire_protection.html (accessed March 26th, 2009). Marsden Fire Safety . "fire safety strategies." Marsden Fire Safety . 2007. http://www.marsden-fire-safety.co.uk/fire_strategies.htm (accessed March 23rd, 2009). National Institute of Building Sciences. "Plan for Fire Protection." Whole building Design. 2009. http://www.wbdg.org/design/fire_protection.php (accessed march 24th, 2009). Stroup, David W. "Smoke control." PDH Engineer.com. may 2006. http://www.pdhengineer.com/pages/M-2028.html (accessed March 26th, 2009). Read More

These will be of help to warning and alerting the occupants of the building the event of fire. The fire alarms these should include smoke detectors and heat detectors. Optical smoke detectors should be installed in the youth room, lobby area, the hall, the staging room, and entrance lounge and lobby area. Non-optical smoke detectors should be installed in the kitchen and bathrooms. Heat detectors with high sensitivity should be installed in the infants’ room, youth room, store, entrance lounge and future room and future store.

Heat detectors should not be installed in the bathrooms if the bathrooms are going to be equipped with hot water taps. The smoke alarms should comply with BS-5839-6:2004 requirements. The alarms should have standby power supply that is either rechargeable or non-rechargeable or use capacitors and either should conform to BS-5839-6 clause 15. The infants’ room should be equipped with optical or photo-electric smoke detectors that should meet requirements of BS-5446-1. The smoke alarms should be installed at a distance of 7.

5 meters in every circulation space. There should be an alarm for catering for persons with audio or visual disabilities that should conform to BS-5839-1:2002. A vibrating paging system should be installed for persons with visual disabilities. Vibrating paging system should be installed at a distance of 7.5 meters in the hall, the chapel, youth room, and infants’ room, lobby area and entrance lounge. The fire alarm should be able to make an automatic call to fire rescue service department and nominated ambulance agencies.

This should be followed by a manual call to the same agencies to confirm the fire outbreak incident. Access building and fire fighting facilities As part of the fire safety strategy, the building should have at least five fire fighting enactment areas. The stages location should be at the balcony, lobby room, entrance lounges, future room and the office room areas of this building. These areas need to be fully fitted with all facilities for fire fighting as these areas act as the bases of suppressing the fire.

In the event of outbreak of fire resulting from oil explosion in the oil storage room, the building requires to be installed with exterior ladders and rails which would be used by fire fighters and evacuators. The building requires to be installed with wet and dry standpipes for delivering oxygen and water to the fire fighters and evacuators. Delivery of oxygen and water supplies through wet and dry pipes would increase the rate of extinguishing the fire and evacuating users instead of delivering manually water and oxygen which can easily put rescue team at risk.

Controlling smoke movement in this building The need to control smoke in the event of fire in this storey building is very important. Smoke in most cases is a hindrance to fire safety and at many times make it hard for the first responders, fire fighters and also the occupants of the building move/act fast in this event. In order to have the fire safety and control work efficiently there is need to have the smoke control system for easy, visual expediency for first responder, the smoke control system is an easily read panel which includes floor layouts, diagrams and is ideal for emergency responders to manually override and control remote air handling equipment - quickly controlling smoke during an emergency situation.

Fire extinguishing agents Several fire extinguishing agent are required in the building in order to suppress fire/fight fire incase of an outbreak. Fire extinguishing agents used on fire vary depending on the class of fire for every class of fire has its own extinguishing agent. Carbon dioxide (B, C) is a fire extinguishing agent required for this building; carbon dioxide is an agent whose use is usually on contamination-sensitive places which include computer rooms which in this case represents the offices in this storey building the best agent for that matter is the carbon dioxide, food storage areas is the other, for this case there are hotels in this building and for the reason of contamination carbon dioxide is best for this building.

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