FIRE ENGINEERING DESIGNAndrew Macilwraith ME

Senior Executive Fire Officer – Cork County Fire & Building Control Department

CAREER SUMMARY

Andrew Macilwraith ME – Chartered 1986 / Member I Struct E 1994

Consulting Engineers 1983 to 1995 – Paul Twomey & Arup

Fire Department 1995

CIT (Visiting Lecturer & Research Supervisor)

Committees (NSAI, DHPLG)

COST (European Action – Fire & Timber)

CONTENT

• Summary Fire Safety Legislation

• Common Onsite Fire Safety Problems

• Core Elements of Fire Safety Design

• Innovative Fire Safety Design

FIRE BASICS

• Carbon Monoxide 1.3%

• Immediately Unconscious

• Dead in ( 2 to 3 mins)

• Chemical Reaction• Speed Doubles every 100C

National Research Council

FIRE SAFETY LEGISLATION

CORE LEGISLATION

• Fire Services Act 1981 & 2003

• Building Control Act

• Building Control Regulations

• Building Regulations• Technical Guidance Document B

• Prima Facia links• BS5588 (S/S UK)

• Building Bulletin 7 (100)

• HTM 81 (05-02)

• Semi-Fire Engineering UK Codes• BS9999

• Fire Engineering Design• PD 7974

• Testing Standards

• BS476

• IS EN 1363 - 1366

CIT (180kN) Fire Testing Kiln

18(2) - FIRE SERVICES ACT

• It shall be the duty of every person having control over premises

• … to take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire on such premises,

• and to ensure … the safety of persons on the premises in the event of an outbreak of fire.

19(1) - FIRE SERVICES ACT

• A potentially dangerous building

• Would constitute a serious danger to life for any of the following reasons—

• Large numbers

• Absence of appliances or fittings

• Flammable materials

• Inadequate means of egress

• Inadequate notices

• Fire would be likely to spread rapidly

• defective power supply or lighting system

• defective heating or ventilating system

• any similar reason

20(1) - FIRE SERVICES ACT

• A fire safety notice in relation to a building may

• (a) prohibit the use of the building

• (b) prohibit the use of the building unless or until specified precautions are taken

TYPES OF CERTIFICATES

• Fire Safety Certificate

• Revised Fire Safety Certificate

• 7 Day notice

• Regularisation Certificate

• Disability Access Certificate

• Revised Disability Access Certificate

7 DAY NOTICE – STATUTORY DECLARATION

• pursuant to Article 12 … I/We solemnly declare that the application has been completed in full and complies in all respects with the relevant provisions of the Building Control Regulations - Valid FSC Application –BCR 20(a)(2)

• I / We further solemnly declare that any works that have commenced before the grant of the Fire Safety Certificate will comply fully with the building regulations

• I / We will, within such period as may be specified by the Building Control Authority, carry out any modification of such works that is required by or under the Fire Safety Certificate, including any condition(s) attached to the Fire Safety Certificate when granted by the Building Control Authority.

• Warning: It is an offence for a person to knowingly or recklessly make a Statutory Declaration that is false or misleading in a material respect.

COMMON ONSITE FIRE SAFETY PROBLEMS

Plasterboard Fixings & Joints

Poor Compartmentation

Penetrations

Rescue/Escape

Windows

CORE ELEMENTS OF FIRE SAFETY DESIGN

FIRE SAFETY DESIGN

• Prescriptive

• TGD B 2006 + Linked Codes

• Semi- Prescriptive

• BS9999 suite

• Fire Engineering Design

• PD 7974 suite

TGD B 2006

• Prescriptive

• B1 – Means of escape

• B2 – Linings

• B3 – Compartmentation

• B4 – Space Separation

• B5 – Fire Service

BS 9999

BS 9999

Joule formula: 1 J = 1 N · m = 1 kg · m2 / s2

BS9999

BS9999 (EXAMPLES OF RISK PROFILE)

BS9999(TD)

BS9999(CEILING HEIGHT)

PD 7974• Evacuation Design from First Principles

• Fire Design in the Enclosure of Origin

• Smoke Spread beyond the Enclosure of Origin

• Structural Response & Spread of Fire beyond the Enclosure of Origin

• Fire Safety Systems response times & reliability

• Fire Service Intervention Design

PD 7974

• Fire Load Density in the Enclosure

CIT RESEARCH TESTING - CALORIFIC VALUES

Comparison of Observed and Published Fire Loads

0.00

500.00

1000.00

1500.00

2000.00

2500.00C

ante

ens

Cla

ssro

om

s

Fix

ed

Cla

ssro

om

s

Movable

Co

mpute

r

Ro

om

s

Co

rrid

ors

Exam

Halls

Lib

raries

Adm

inis

tration

Offic

es

Lectu

rer

Offic

es

Compartment Type

Fire L

oad D

ensity (

MJ/m

2)

Lower Published Value

Higher Published Value

Observed Value

Graham Doyle & Andrew Macilwraith 2011

PD 7974

• Height of Flame above an Opening

Z = Height of Flame above Opening (m)

R = burning rate (kg/s) - mass loss rate

w = width of the opening (m)hw = Height of Opening (m)

PD 7974

• Smoke Spread beyond the Enclosure of Origin

1/15/2019Fire Safety Engineering - PD7974:2 Smoke in & beyond enclosures 31

PD 7974

• Structural Response & spread of Fire beyond the Enclosure of Origin

PD 7974

• Detector Spacing vs. Response Time

PD 7974

• Fire Service Intervention Times

PD 7974

• Fire-fighting Water Flow Required

FIRE PHOTOGRAPHS

LEISURE CENTRE

STRUCTURAL STEEL POST-FIRE

TIMBER FRAME – POST FIRE

DOORS POST FIRE

STRUCTURAL TIMBER

E3 BUILDING – BERLIN (7-STOREY TIMBER)

• Post & Beam with Solid Facade Shear Walls

• Exposed Timber Ceilings & Walls

• Secondary External MOE

POST & BEAM CONNECTIONS

COMPOSITE FLOOR

CONNECTIONS

Brittle Failure

Ductile Failure

CLT – CROSS LAMINATED TIMBER

CLT - BENDING OUT OF PLANE

In Plane Bending Strength Out of Plane Bending Strength

(Thiel et al , 2016)

TIMBER CHARRING

ZERO STRENGTH

LAYEREffective

Cross

Section

BOARD PROTECTION

Timber Sample 2

- Initially Slab protected

Timber Sample 2

-No Char protection

-Chars at a faster rate

25mm Char

Protection

Chars @ normal

rate

(Klippel, Schmid, Frangi, 2016)

TIMBERTEMP.

PROFILES

(Frangi et al, 2007)

30 minute exposure 60 minute exposure

(University of Edinburgh, 2016)Compartment Lining Test

1 22

3

4

NON-COMBUSTIBLE CONSTRUCTION ?CIT Kiln

FIRE

FIRE

FULL BURNOUT TESTS

•Canadian tests showing CLT capable of surviving full burn out of compartment• 3 sheets Fireline Board Ceiling

• 2 sheets Fireline Board Wall

• Swiss adding slab protected CLT to list of non-combustible elements of structure

PROPOSED LEVEL 8 SPAFIRE ENGINEERING PRACTICE

Special Purpose Award

(Fire Engineering Practice)

Building

Regulatory

Engineering

Fire Safety

Certification

Fire Safety

Engineering

Fire Safety

DesignFire Testing Fire Project

Currently being Delivered

Online & On CampusProposed Level 8 Modules

CIT LEVEL 8 MODULES(ONLINE 13 WEEKS OR 4 WEEKENDS)

Fire Safety EngineeringLevel 8 Module

THANK YOU