Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1298
W. Chow, X. Ni
Experiments with burning cooking oil in open kitchen fires are reported in this paper. Heat release rate, flame temperature, burning duration and heat fluxes of cooking oil fires were measured. Performances of water mist and gas-solid composite dry powders in suppressing cooking oil fires were evaluated by experiments. Reduction in gas temperature distributions, changes in heat fluxes and suppression time were then measured. Experimental data will provide necessary information for hazard assessment of open kitchen in the residential units of tall buildings.
{"title":"Experimental Evaluation on Performance of Open Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems","authors":"W. Chow, X. Ni","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1298","url":null,"abstract":"Experiments with burning cooking oil in open kitchen fires are reported in this paper. Heat release rate, flame temperature, burning duration and heat fluxes of cooking oil fires were measured. Performances of water mist and gas-solid composite dry powders in suppressing cooking oil fires were evaluated by experiments. Reduction in gas temperature distributions, changes in heat fluxes and suppression time were then measured. Experimental data will provide necessary information for hazard assessment of open kitchen in the residential units of tall buildings.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"75 1","pages":"1298-1311"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75382461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1208
Y. Xin, K. Meredith
An experimental study was conducted to investigate fire suppression behaviors of an idealized commodity using uniform water fluxes. The objectives of this work are to better understand the physics of sprinkler suppression and to provide validation data for numerical fire modeling. The commodities used in the experiments consisted of corrugated cardboard boxes with a metal liner inside. The cardboard boxes were supported by steel beams to maintain the rack storage geometry similar to the standard commodity where wood pallets supported the cardboard boxes. The uniform water fluxes were generated by a water application apparatus (WAA), and adjusted to achieve uncontrolled and controlled fire scenarios. All fire tests were carried out in rack storage configurations with controlled fuel moisture content to minimize its impact on fire growth. The key measurements included heat release rate (HRR), fuel surface temperature, incident heat flux to the fuel surface and water flow rate transported to the bottom of the fuel array. The test results show that the measured heat release rates under various experimental conditions are very repeatable, and thus are suitable for model validation purposes. The fire test outcomes, i.e., controlled vs. uncontrolled fires, are directly correlated with the amount of water collected during the suppression stage, indicating that the sprinkler suppression mechanism is dominated by water transport in the fuel array. The idealized commodity exhibited fire growth rates similar to the standard commodity, largely due to the impact of the beam support on the fire spread. Furthermore, the critical delivered flux (CDF) that can prevent fire growth is very close between the idealized and the standard commodity. The similarities in fire growth and suppression characteristics suggest that it may be feasible to use the idealized commodity in numerical simulation of fire suppression, as an alternative to the more complex real fuel.
{"title":"Characterization of Fire Suppression of an Idealized Commodity Using Uniform Water Fluxes","authors":"Y. Xin, K. Meredith","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1208","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1208","url":null,"abstract":"An experimental study was conducted to investigate fire suppression behaviors of an idealized commodity using uniform water fluxes. The objectives of this work are to better understand the physics of sprinkler suppression and to provide validation data for numerical fire modeling. The commodities used in the experiments consisted of corrugated cardboard boxes with a metal liner inside. The cardboard boxes were supported by steel beams to maintain the rack storage geometry similar to the standard commodity where wood pallets supported the cardboard boxes. The uniform water fluxes were generated by a water application apparatus (WAA), and adjusted to achieve uncontrolled and controlled fire scenarios. All fire tests were carried out in rack storage configurations with controlled fuel moisture content to minimize its impact on fire growth. The key measurements included heat release rate (HRR), fuel surface temperature, incident heat flux to the fuel surface and water flow rate transported to the bottom of the fuel array. The test results show that the measured heat release rates under various experimental conditions are very repeatable, and thus are suitable for model validation purposes. The fire test outcomes, i.e., controlled vs. uncontrolled fires, are directly correlated with the amount of water collected during the suppression stage, indicating that the sprinkler suppression mechanism is dominated by water transport in the fuel array. The idealized commodity exhibited fire growth rates similar to the standard commodity, largely due to the impact of the beam support on the fire spread. Furthermore, the critical delivered flux (CDF) that can prevent fire growth is very close between the idealized and the standard commodity. The similarities in fire growth and suppression characteristics suggest that it may be feasible to use the idealized commodity in numerical simulation of fire suppression, as an alternative to the more complex real fuel.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"36 1","pages":"1208-1221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73301623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-626
Michael Klippel, C. Leyder, A. Frangi, M. Fontana, F. Lam, A. Ceccotti
Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels are relatively new engineered wood products that can be used as load bearing walls, floors and roof elements in innovative and high quality modern timber structures. The fire behavior of cross-laminated timber panels requires careful evaluation to allow the expansion of CLT elements usage in buildings. A University of British Columbia study has been conducted at the Trees and Timber Institute CNR-IVALSA in San Michele all’Adige, Italy to experimentally evaluate the fire performance of Canadian CLT panels. In total, ten loaded fire tests were performed using standard fire curves (ULC/ASTM and ISO) to study the influence of different cross-section layups on the fire resistance of floor and wall elements and to investigate the influence of different anchors on the fire behavior of wall elements. This paper presents the main results of the experimental analyses and discusses in particular the charring rate, one of the main parameters in fire design.
{"title":"Fire Tests on Loaded Cross-laminated Timber Wall and Floor Elements","authors":"Michael Klippel, C. Leyder, A. Frangi, M. Fontana, F. Lam, A. Ceccotti","doi":"10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-626","url":null,"abstract":"Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels are relatively new engineered wood products that can be used as load bearing walls, floors and roof elements in innovative and high quality modern timber structures. The fire behavior of cross-laminated timber panels requires careful evaluation to allow the expansion of CLT elements usage in buildings. A University of British Columbia study has been conducted at the Trees and Timber Institute CNR-IVALSA in San Michele all’Adige, Italy to experimentally evaluate the fire performance of Canadian CLT panels. In total, ten loaded fire tests were performed using standard fire curves (ULC/ASTM and ISO) to study the influence of different cross-section layups on the fire resistance of floor and wall elements and to investigate the influence of different anchors on the fire behavior of wall elements. This paper presents the main results of the experimental analyses and discusses in particular the charring rate, one of the main parameters in fire design.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"60 1","pages":"626-639"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79548330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-612
P. Summers, B. Lattimer, S. Case
Aluminum alloys are increasingly being used in lightweight transportation applications such as naval vessels and light passenger rail. The aluminum alloys considered include 5xxx-series (Al-Mg) and 6xxxseries (Al-Mg-Si) alloys due to their mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and weldability. A major concern in the use of aluminum alloys in lightweight structural applications is fire exposure. Aluminum mechanical properties are significantly reduced at 300°C. After fire exposure, structural damage will vary due to the local thermal history which is governed by the fire size and proximity and other environmental factors. It is paramount to understand the nature of this structural damage in terms of residual (post-fire) constitutive behavior so as to allow for informed damage assessment. AA5083-H116 and AA6061-T651 residual constitutive behavior was characterized using quasi-static tension tests. The alloys were exposed to elevated temperatures at controlled heating rates using an induction heater to simulate the varying conditions in a fire environment. The thermal history dependence of residual constitutive behavior was elucidated in terms of the microstructural strengthening mechanisms. The primary strengthening mechanisms of AA5083 and AA6061 evolve at elevated temperatures due to recrystallization and precipitate coarsening, respectively. Strengthening mechanism evolution has been shown to be kinetically dependent which explains the thermal history dependence of residual constitutive behavior. Structural damage from a wide range of fire scenarios may be understood using these underlying strengthening mechanisms which govern residual constitutive behavior.
{"title":"Residual Constitutive Behavior of Aluminum Alloys after Fire Exposure","authors":"P. Summers, B. Lattimer, S. Case","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-612","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-612","url":null,"abstract":"Aluminum alloys are increasingly being used in lightweight transportation applications such as naval vessels and light passenger rail. The aluminum alloys considered include 5xxx-series (Al-Mg) and 6xxxseries (Al-Mg-Si) alloys due to their mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, and weldability. A major concern in the use of aluminum alloys in lightweight structural applications is fire exposure. Aluminum mechanical properties are significantly reduced at 300°C. After fire exposure, structural damage will vary due to the local thermal history which is governed by the fire size and proximity and other environmental factors. It is paramount to understand the nature of this structural damage in terms of residual (post-fire) constitutive behavior so as to allow for informed damage assessment. AA5083-H116 and AA6061-T651 residual constitutive behavior was characterized using quasi-static tension tests. The alloys were exposed to elevated temperatures at controlled heating rates using an induction heater to simulate the varying conditions in a fire environment. The thermal history dependence of residual constitutive behavior was elucidated in terms of the microstructural strengthening mechanisms. The primary strengthening mechanisms of AA5083 and AA6061 evolve at elevated temperatures due to recrystallization and precipitate coarsening, respectively. Strengthening mechanism evolution has been shown to be kinetically dependent which explains the thermal history dependence of residual constitutive behavior. Structural damage from a wide range of fire scenarios may be understood using these underlying strengthening mechanisms which govern residual constitutive behavior.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"28 1","pages":"612-625"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79558173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-584
Alexander L. Brown, K. Metzinger, G. Wagner
A continuing concern involves transportation accident fires involving liquid fuel vehicles. These can be highly energetic, with the most significant sources of energy typically being the energy of motion (kinetic energy) and the chemical energy in the fuel (fire combustion energy). Recent work has focused on coupling a transient structural dynamics code to a fire computational fluid dynamics code to be able to predict the outcome of such an event. New methods have been developed to permit conservation of mass and momentum between the codes. Other coupling approaches have been developed and are described. This capability has been used to simulate three scenarios. Results from the various test cases suggest discretization accuracy for problems of this class. Validation efforts suggest the accuracy of the methodology, and provide confidence in the predictive capability. These cases also help provide guidance for future application of these methods.
{"title":"Predictions of Transport Accident Fires Using Coupled Structural Dynamics and Computational Fluid Dynamics","authors":"Alexander L. Brown, K. Metzinger, G. Wagner","doi":"10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/IAFSS.FSS.11-584","url":null,"abstract":"A continuing concern involves transportation accident fires involving liquid fuel vehicles. These can be highly energetic, with the most significant sources of energy typically being the energy of motion (kinetic energy) and the chemical energy in the fuel (fire combustion energy). Recent work has focused on coupling a transient structural dynamics code to a fire computational fluid dynamics code to be able to predict the outcome of such an event. New methods have been developed to permit conservation of mass and momentum between the codes. Other coupling approaches have been developed and are described. This capability has been used to simulate three scenarios. Results from the various test cases suggest discretization accuracy for problems of this class. Validation efforts suggest the accuracy of the methodology, and provide confidence in the predictive capability. These cases also help provide guidance for future application of these methods.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"16 1","pages":"584-597"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77505782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-640
Reuben Costello, A. Abu, P. Moss, A. Buchanan
This paper describes a simplified calculation method that can be used to predict the fire performance of post-tensioned timber box beams. Despite being a combustible material, timber beams can perform well in fire. However, post-tensioned timber box beams need to be carefully designed if an undesirable shear failure mode is to be avoided. A simplified calculation is proposed which can be used to design these beams while giving the designer the ability to predict when and how the beam is likely to fail. Two beam geometries have been used as examples to demonstrate the ability of this calculation method to predict the likely mode and time of failure. Finally, potential improvements that may be made to the method as well as experimental tests that will be conducted to verify the model are discussed.
{"title":"Simplified Calculation for Fire Performance of Post-Tensioned Timber Box Beams","authors":"Reuben Costello, A. Abu, P. Moss, A. Buchanan","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-640","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes a simplified calculation method that can be used to predict the fire performance of post-tensioned timber box beams. Despite being a combustible material, timber beams can perform well in fire. However, post-tensioned timber box beams need to be carefully designed if an undesirable shear failure mode is to be avoided. A simplified calculation is proposed which can be used to design these beams while giving the designer the ability to predict when and how the beam is likely to fail. Two beam geometries have been used as examples to demonstrate the ability of this calculation method to predict the likely mode and time of failure. Finally, potential improvements that may be made to the method as well as experimental tests that will be conducted to verify the model are discussed.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"26 1","pages":"640-651"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80673906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-499
T. Beji, F. Bonte, B. Merci
The objective of this work was to evaluate the capabilities of a widely used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code in the fire community, namely the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS 5.5.3), in the simulation of a large-scale, well-confined and mechanically ventilated multi-room fire scenario. The CFD analysis focuses on the effect of pressure build-up induced by the fire on the ventilation network. The measured heat release rate (HRR) was therefore prescribed as input in the simulations. Computational results were compared to measurements obtained for one of several experimental scenarios performed at the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN). The overall trend was well reproduced by FDS. Quantitative comparisons for respectively the total relative pressure, ventilation flow rates and gas temperature (in the fire room) at the steady-state combustion regime have shown underestimations of 18 to 22 %.
{"title":"Numerical Simulations of a Mechanically-Ventilated Multi- Compartment Fire","authors":"T. Beji, F. Bonte, B. Merci","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-499","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-499","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this work was to evaluate the capabilities of a widely used Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code in the fire community, namely the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS 5.5.3), in the simulation of a large-scale, well-confined and mechanically ventilated multi-room fire scenario. The CFD analysis focuses on the effect of pressure build-up induced by the fire on the ventilation network. The measured heat release rate (HRR) was therefore prescribed as input in the simulations. Computational results were compared to measurements obtained for one of several experimental scenarios performed at the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (IRSN). The overall trend was well reproduced by FDS. Quantitative comparisons for respectively the total relative pressure, ventilation flow rates and gas temperature (in the fire room) at the steady-state combustion regime have shown underestimations of 18 to 22 %.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"24 1","pages":"499-509"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90361480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1368
C. Zak, J. Urban, V. Tran, A. Fernandez-Pello
The ignition of combustible material by hot metal particles is an important fire ignition pathway that remains relatively unstudied. In this work, the flaming ignition behavior of powdered cellulose fuel beds by hot steel and aluminum spheres of various diameters and initial temperatures was studied. Understanding ignition in this scenario could offer insight into the mechanisms by which metal particles initiate wildland fires and fires in industrial settings. Earlier work on this topic has shown that ignition propensity has a relationship with the temperature and diameter of the sphere. However, little is known about the physical processes governing this relationship. This work provides further information regarding the conditions required for ignition, and useful observations for the development of a theoretical framework for predicting ignition propensity of combustible fuel beds. For the conditions tested, powdered cellulose ignition appears to exhibit limiting behavior in two regimes: for larger spheres, temperatures below 600 C did not ignite the cellulose and spheres with diameters below 2.38 mm for steel or 2.03 mm for aluminum and temperatures up to 1100 C did not ignite the cellulose either. We also observed that in the range of sphere diameters from 4-8 mm, aluminum spheres of a given diameter are more likely to cause ignition than their steel counterparts. This seems to be due to the fact that the aluminum spheres are molten at temperatures greater than 657.2 C; melting contributes to a spheres bulk energy through the latent heat of melting and allows for sphere deformation and splatter during impact. Furthermore, qualitative analysis of high speed schlieren videos shows differences in pyrolysis and ignition behavior and suggests that, different controlling processes may be at work for spheres of different sizes and for molten versus solid spheres.
{"title":"Flaming Ignition Behavior of Hot Steel and Aluminum Spheres Landing in Cellulose Fuel Beds","authors":"C. Zak, J. Urban, V. Tran, A. Fernandez-Pello","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1368","url":null,"abstract":"The ignition of combustible material by hot metal particles is an important fire ignition pathway that remains relatively unstudied. In this work, the flaming ignition behavior of powdered cellulose fuel beds by hot steel and aluminum spheres of various diameters and initial temperatures was studied. Understanding ignition in this scenario could offer insight into the mechanisms by which metal particles initiate wildland fires and fires in industrial settings. Earlier work on this topic has shown that ignition propensity has a relationship with the temperature and diameter of the sphere. However, little is known about the physical processes governing this relationship. This work provides further information regarding the conditions required for ignition, and useful observations for the development of a theoretical framework for predicting ignition propensity of combustible fuel beds. For the conditions tested, powdered cellulose ignition appears to exhibit limiting behavior in two regimes: for larger spheres, temperatures below 600 C did not ignite the cellulose and spheres with diameters below 2.38 mm for steel or 2.03 mm for aluminum and temperatures up to 1100 C did not ignite the cellulose either. We also observed that in the range of sphere diameters from 4-8 mm, aluminum spheres of a given diameter are more likely to cause ignition than their steel counterparts. This seems to be due to the fact that the aluminum spheres are molten at temperatures greater than 657.2 C; melting contributes to a spheres bulk energy through the latent heat of melting and allows for sphere deformation and splatter during impact. Furthermore, qualitative analysis of high speed schlieren videos shows differences in pyrolysis and ignition behavior and suggests that, different controlling processes may be at work for spheres of different sizes and for molten versus solid spheres.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"1 1","pages":"1368-1378"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90784760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1049
Lin Xiong, M. Ball, D. Bruck
Drawing upon interviews of 183 people who have survived accidental residential fires, this study adopted the basic concepts (human, agent, environment) of the Haddon Matrix to organize factors associated with survived accidental residential fires where there was no fire death or serious injury with extended hospitalization involved. Human activities during a fire were also identified, including how people first alerted to the presence of a fire and how they attempted to extinguish a fire. Electrical failure and unattended cooking were found to be the leading causes of survived fires. Kitchens and bedrooms were reported as the main rooms of fire origin. The study revealed four important new findings. These new findings are: 1) people’s knowledge of fire safety and awareness of unsafe fire behaviours was extremely limited; 2) an overwhelming majority of hosts had previous fire experiences at the time of the survey; 3) risk factors that are documented elsewhere to be highly related to fire fatalities were found not to be closely related to survived fires, such as alcohol, drugs, smoking, and being asleep; and 4) the majority of hosts took proactive actions when facing a fire, such as calling fire brigade, attempting to extinguish a fire, and trying to alert others. The Haddon Matrix was found to be a useful tool for organizing a wide range of relevant accidental residential fire variables, with the current paper presenting important new information about the frequencies of such variables where no fire death or serious injury has occurred.
{"title":"Utilization of the Haddon Matrix to Organize Factors of Survived Accidental Residential Fires: Frequencies for Human, Agent, and Environment-related Variables","authors":"Lin Xiong, M. Ball, D. Bruck","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-1049","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing upon interviews of 183 people who have survived accidental residential fires, this study adopted the basic concepts (human, agent, environment) of the Haddon Matrix to organize factors associated with survived accidental residential fires where there was no fire death or serious injury with extended hospitalization involved. Human activities during a fire were also identified, including how people first alerted to the presence of a fire and how they attempted to extinguish a fire. Electrical failure and unattended cooking were found to be the leading causes of survived fires. Kitchens and bedrooms were reported as the main rooms of fire origin. The study revealed four important new findings. These new findings are: 1) people’s knowledge of fire safety and awareness of unsafe fire behaviours was extremely limited; 2) an overwhelming majority of hosts had previous fire experiences at the time of the survey; 3) risk factors that are documented elsewhere to be highly related to fire fatalities were found not to be closely related to survived fires, such as alcohol, drugs, smoking, and being asleep; and 4) the majority of hosts took proactive actions when facing a fire, such as calling fire brigade, attempting to extinguish a fire, and trying to alert others. The Haddon Matrix was found to be a useful tool for organizing a wide range of relevant accidental residential fire variables, with the current paper presenting important new information about the frequencies of such variables where no fire death or serious injury has occurred.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"1 1","pages":"1049-1062"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75928216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2014-01-01DOI: 10.3801/iafss.fss.11-944
M. Tohir, M. Spearpoint
This paper describes a relatively simple probability quantitative risk analysis model to determine appropriate fire scenarios for car parking buildings. The approach introduces a dimensionless measurement defined as fire risk level by multiplying probability by consequence. For the development of fire scenarios for car parking buildings, the key variables for the fire risk analysis are identified as vehicle parking distribution probability and how vehicles then form clusters of neighbours, vehicle classification, vehicle fire involvement probability, and the severity of vehicle fires. The selection of clusters of neighbouring vehicles and whether all vehicles in the cluster catch fire has the probability to affect the fire risk level. An example analysis is performed where a simple two-row, 100 space parking model with a 75 % vehicle occupancy and 0.90 tendency factor weighting is used to obtain the vehicle distribution probability combined with various data sourced from the literature. It is found from the example analysis that fire risk level is largely driven by the vehicle fire involvement probability such that a single vehicle fire presents the worst case scenario in terms of fire risk.
{"title":"Development of Fire Scenarios for Car Parking Buildings using Risk Analysis","authors":"M. Tohir, M. Spearpoint","doi":"10.3801/iafss.fss.11-944","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3801/iafss.fss.11-944","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes a relatively simple probability quantitative risk analysis model to determine appropriate fire scenarios for car parking buildings. The approach introduces a dimensionless measurement defined as fire risk level by multiplying probability by consequence. For the development of fire scenarios for car parking buildings, the key variables for the fire risk analysis are identified as vehicle parking distribution probability and how vehicles then form clusters of neighbours, vehicle classification, vehicle fire involvement probability, and the severity of vehicle fires. The selection of clusters of neighbouring vehicles and whether all vehicles in the cluster catch fire has the probability to affect the fire risk level. An example analysis is performed where a simple two-row, 100 space parking model with a 75 % vehicle occupancy and 0.90 tendency factor weighting is used to obtain the vehicle distribution probability combined with various data sourced from the literature. It is found from the example analysis that fire risk level is largely driven by the vehicle fire involvement probability such that a single vehicle fire presents the worst case scenario in terms of fire risk.","PeriodicalId":12145,"journal":{"name":"Fire Safety Science","volume":"110 1","pages":"944-957"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90401115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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