A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Upward Flame Spread for Fire Risk Classification of High-Rise Buildings
External fire spread has the potential to breach vertical compartmentation and violate the fire safety strategy of a building. The traditional design solution to this has been the use of non-combustible materials and spandrel panels but recent audits show that combustible materials are widespread and included in highly complex systems. Furthermore, most jurisdictions no longer require detailing of spandrel panels under many different circumstances. These buildings require rapid investigation using rational scientific methods to be able to adequately classify the fire risk. In this work, we use an extensive experimental campaign of material-scale data to explore the critical parameters driving upward flame spread. Two criteria are outlined using two different approaches. The first evaluates the time to ignition and the time to burnout to assess the ability for a fire to spread, and can be easily determined using traditional means. The second evaluates the preheated flame length as the critical parameter driving flame spread. A wide range of cladding materials are ranked according to these criteria to show their potential propensity to flame spread. From this, designers can use conservative approaches to perform fire risk assessments for buildings with combustible materials or can be used to aid decision-making. Precise estimates of flame spread rates within complex façade systems are not achievable with the current level of knowledge and will require a substantial amount of work to make progress.
Upward Flame Spread for Fire Risk Classification of High-Rise Buildings
External fire spread has the potential to breach vertical compartmentation and violate the fire safety strategy of a building. The traditional design solution to this has been the use of non-combustible materials and spandrel panels but recent audits show that combustible materials are widespread and included in highly complex systems. Furthermore, most jurisdictions no longer require detailing of spandrel panels under many different circumstances. These buildings require rapid investigation using rational scientific methods to be able to adequately classify the fire risk. In this work, we use an extensive experimental campaign of material-scale data to explore the critical parameters driving upward flame spread. Two criteria are outlined using two different approaches. The first evaluates the time to ignition and the time to burnout to assess the ability for a fire to spread, and can be easily determined using traditional means. The second evaluates the preheated flame length as the critical parameter driving flame spread. A wide range of cladding materials are ranked according to these criteria to show their potential propensity to flame spread. From this, designers can use conservative approaches to perform fire risk assessments for buildings with combustible materials or can be used to aid decision-making. Precise estimates of flame spread rates within complex façade systems are not achievable with the current level of knowledge and will require a substantial amount of work to make progress.
Upward Flame Spread for Fire Risk Classification of High-Rise Buildings
McLaggan, MS (author) / Gupta, V (author) / Hidalgo, JP (author) / Torero, JL (author)
2021-12-01
International Journal of High-Rise Buildings , 10 (4) pp. 299-310. (2021)
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Facade , Cladding , Risk , Fire , Upward flame spread
DDC:
621
Curbing fire spread on high-rise buildings
British Library Online Contents | 2001
Fire Spread in High Density High-Rise Buildings
| NTIS | 1971
Upward Flame Spread on Composite Materials
| British Library Online Contents | 1999
Pyrolysis efficiency in upward flame spread
| British Library Conference Proceedings | 1996
Width effect on upward flame spread
| British Library Online Contents | 2009