The philosophy of fire safety engineering in the shaping of civil engineering development

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents modern application of fire safety engineering (FSE) in the shaping of civil engineering development. Presented scientific achievements of FSE become tools used in typical modern engineering workflow. Experience gained through successful implementations of these solutions is then further crafted into prescriptive laws that shape future fire safety. This diffusion of knowledge is limited by law requirements themselves, technical limitations, and yet unresolved challenges that are still being worked on by the researchers in this field. This paper aims to present the achievements of the FSE discipline that may and should be used by civil engineers and other participants of the building process. Explanations given for the choices of fire safety engineers allow a better understanding of their gravity by representatives of other engineering branches. That way it is possible to build empathy between different engineering disciplines, which may significantly improve both the building design process and safety of the buildings itself. The chosen framework of this paper is Appendix A to EU Construction Products Regulation defining basic goals for a fire safe building, with a possible application of FSE given for each of these goals. The current framework of performance-based FSE is presented in relation to the Polish legal system, with recommendations on how to improve both FSE and civil engineering in the future.Key words: fire safety engineering, fire protection engineering, fire protection, performance-based design, prescriptive codes. stakeholders who are not FSEs, may unwillingly influence the fire safety. This bidirectional connection requires a systematic, holistic approach to fire safety of a building, which is the essence of the philosophy of modern FSE. A sample of such approach, in the form of a framework for a good cooperation between fire experts and structural engineers, was presented by Abramowicz and Kowalski in [4]. Despite strict regulations and advanced design methodologies, supertall buildings or large road tunnels that can be considered the pinnacle of modern engineering are still the scene of catastrophic fire incidents. To reach the level of safety in which fires would cause no fatalities and limited damage, urgent problems beyond the quality of the design also have to be resolved, e.g. the slow diffusion of knowledge, the stress on reduction of fire protection cost, and abuse of overcomplicated methodologies, beyond their scope of application.

The discrepancies in energy balance in furnace testing, a bug or a feature?

“…In the 19th century, the world transitioned from wood and stone architecture to modern materials such as concrete, steel, and glass. 1 One of the essential aspects of this transition was the need for the broader provision of fire safety to the occupants-often requested after multiple major fires that engulfed large parts of cities (eg, Great Fire of Pittsburgh of 1845, San Francisco Fires of 1851 and 1906, or The Great Chicago Fire of 1871). With the industrial revolution, the capital invested in factories became more concentrated in space, and more focus was put on protecting it.…”

Review and Validation of the Current Smoke Plume Entrainment Models for Large-Volume Buildings

“…T-squared fires are defined through fire growth rate coefficient α [kW/s²] and the time of their growth. The standardized growth rates are described by NFPA 92 [1] and are widely used in various fire protection engineering applications [64,65]. The change in HRR = f(t) will also cause a change in the diameter of the fire (if HRR per unit of area is assumed constant) or the change of HRR per unit of area (if the diameter of fire is assumed constant).…”

Civil Engineering – Ongoing Technical Research. Part I

“…Particular problems of the building performance: sustainability [6], fire threat [7,8] and frost durability [9]. R. Geryło [6] presents conditioning for sustainable building relevant to energy consuming.…”

“…Each of the papers included in this Special Section consists of two components: science and engineering balanced in various ways. One of the dilemmas of the civil engineering is the following contro-L. Czarnecki and D. Van Gemert (W. Węgrzyński, P. Sulik) [8] illustrate a dynamically developing sub-discipline -fire safety engineering. How fire safety requirements shape the development of civil engineering has been considered and documented.…”