A proposed fire safety ranking system for karaoke establishments and its comparison with the NFPA-fire safety evaluation system

A fire safety ranking system (FSRS), excluding the fire safety management at the moment, is proposed for assessing the fire safety provisions for existing karaoke establishments in Hong Kong. The objective is to investigate how far existing karaokes deviate from the expectation of new codes. Suitable fire safety management can then be worked out based on the scores. There are three attributes in the FSRS grouped as the key parameters for local fire safety requirements, passive building design and active fire protection systems. From the results of a survey carried out in May 2000, fire safety of 19 karaokes is rated by studying their architectural features and interior details. The results are compared with those by the National Fire Protection Association-Fire Safety Evaluation System (NFPA-FSES) on the part on fire safety parameters. Apart from dealing with fire spreading for interior finish, the proposed FSRS and NFPA-FSES are similar. The study of 19 of the existing karaoke establishments shows that the assessed level of fire safety is similar to the result of an assessment using the modified American system of evaluation.     

Fire safety engineering: comparison of a new degree programme with the model curriculum

The curriculum design of a new degree programme in Building Services Engineering with Fire Engineering Specialism for the local fire engineering professionals in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is reported. The programme was approved by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and offered in September 1997 with an intake of 25 students per year. The aims are to train fire engineers who can handle not only ‘traditional’ fire engineering systems, but also perform the ‘new’ procedure of fire safety engineering hooked up with the development of ‘performance-based fire codes’ in an ‘engineering approach’. Subject contents to be included in a fire safety engineering degree programme are proposed. A comparison of this new scheme with the model curriculum in Fire Safety Engineering is made. Coverage of topic areas on fire engineering and teaching hours are compared. Differences in the curricula have been identified and discussed.     

轨道交通枢纽消防安全设计研究

通过分析轨道交通枢纽工程中的消防设计难点,结合天津站综合交通枢纽工程建筑消防安全设计的实例,阐述了消防安全设计中存在的主要问题以及消防性能化设计的解决思路和方法,提出在类似轨道交通和客流量集中的工程项目中,采用消防性能化的设计方法可有效解决建筑消防安全设计问题。     

Building safety and human behaviour in fire: A literature review

The most crucial aspect of a building's safety in the face of fire is the possibility of safe escape. An important precondition is that its fire safety facilities enable independent and adequate fire response performances by the building's occupants. In practice, it appears that the measures currently required by law do not always provide the support that people in burning buildings need. Consequently, understanding how individuals behave in the case of fire and fire evacuation is essential if we are to bring fire safety measures into line with occupants’ needs during an incident. This paper contains a review of the available literature on human behaviour in a fire so far as building safety is concerned. The findings are presented as an overview of the critical factors which determine occupants’ fire response performances, namely the characteristics of fire, human beings and buildings. The study highlights that some of the assumptions about the existing paradigm of fire safety in buildings are not consistent with the knowledge set out in the literature. The key observation is that psychonomics appear to have significant influence on occupants’ fire response performances. Accordingly, the traditional approach to fire safety will have to be supplemented by scientific knowledge from this field. Hence, there is a need for a new approach to fire safety design in buildings, which is set out herein.     

建筑防火的性能设计及其规范

建筑防火的性能化设计是建立在火灾安全学基础上的一种全新的理性化的设计思想。它运用现代科学的方法，对建筑防火设施系统应该达到的性能目标和工作状况，以及火灾的危险和导致的后果进行定性，定时地预测与评估，以使建筑物得到最佳的防火设计方案和最好的防火保护。本文综述了性能化设计的概念，性能设计的框架体系体系和评估方法等问题。     

我国开展建筑性能化防火设计技术研究的思路

建筑物性能化防火设计方法是目前国外消防科学研究中的一个前沿的热门研究领域。性能化设计思想是以危险性和经济性评估为手段,利用现代科技成果来指导建筑防火设计,根据建筑物的火灾发展特性、建筑及其使用人员的特征来确定建设防火设计,从而实现消防安全和投资等的统一。我国也正积极开展这方面的技术研究并向实用化方向努力,目前正在编制“建筑物性能化设计导则”及开展相关评估模型的研究。在总结国内外有关建筑物性能化研究阶段性成果的基础上,提出了我国开展建筑物消防安全工程设计技术研究的一些基本思路。     

The role of modelling in structural fire engineering design

This paper discusses structural fire engineering modelling, and how modelling techniques have allowed practicing engineers to learn lessons about global structural fire performance. Some of these lessons have been adopted in the design of new buildings, and some are also being fed-back into the design process to improve structural performance in fire and mitigate known structural vulnerabilities. The complexity of this modelling has permitted structures to be designed and lessons to be learned about whole frame behaviour in response to fire. This paper examines how the lessons learned from finite element modelling may be further disseminated to the structural engineering community through the creation of full frame design guidance. The benefits of this would be to improve the delivery of structural fire safety by increasing the impact of the discipline across structural engineering, while facilitating and encouraging the use of more in-depth structural fire models as appropriate.     

A New Methodology of Design Fires for Train Carriages Based on Exponential Curve Method

Design fires have great influences on the fire safety concepts and safety measures, and are the basis for any assessment and calculation in tunnel fire safety design. A new methodology of design fires for individual train carriages is proposed based on the exponential design fire curve method and state-of-the-art fire research. The three key parameters required for construction of a design fire are the maximum heat release rate, time to maximum heat release rate, and energy content. An overview of the full scale train carriage fire tests is given and the results show that the maximum heat release rate is in a range of 7 MW to 77 MW and the time to reach the maximum heat release rate varies from 7 min to 118 min. The method could be employed to one single train carriage or several carriages, and alternatively one carriage could be divided into several individual sections. To illustrate the use of the methodology, several engineering applications are presented, including design fires for a metro train carriage with a maximum heat release rate of 77 MW, a double-deck railway train carriage with a maximum heat release rate of 60 MW and a tram carriage with a maximum heat release rate of 28 MW. The main objective is to provide practicing engineers with a flexible and reliable methodology to make design fires for individual train carriages in performance-based tunnel fire safety design.     

建筑防火性能化评估设计若干问题的分析

对现行建筑防火性能化评估设计在运用中的一些具体技术环节，分析其运用过程中出现的一些不足，旨在希望建筑防火性能化评估与设计在适当的范围内使用，以避免出现消防安全隐患的现象，也希望建筑防火的有识之士都来关注建筑防火性能化评估与设计的研究和应用，使其能更加健康地发展和应用。     

Enhancing Building Fire Safety Performance by Reducing Miscommunication and Misconceptions

Building fire safety is driven by regulations and technical building codes, at least as a minimum requirement. As fire protection engineers (FPEs) design fire safety measures based on requirements in the regulations, they are often viewed as the primary agents in ensuring the fire safety of buildings. However, their mission often starts with given building design features, such as interior spatial layout, exterior shape, site plan, and so forth, which are mostly determined by architects. The only exception is where the FPE is invited to assist in the project planning, feasibility and early concept design stages of a project. Regardless, architects also can influence building fire safety performance, whether or not they explicitly acknowledge or understand this. Although architects design buildings within the boundaries of the regulatory requirements, the architect’s focus is often related to the visual and spatial aesthetics of buildings linked to building form and functionality, which are not subject to the regulations. These aesthetics can sometimes compete with fire safety objectives. As such, buildings can be unsafe in certain situations due to unintended effects of building design features on actual fire safety performance. This research describes the relationship between architecturally conceived building design features, design expectations for fire safety systems, and the actual or conceivable fire safety performance of the building. Steps are proposed that FPEs can take to identify and address potentially competing objectives and deliver increased fire safety performance.     

超高层公共建筑消防电气系统设计问题探讨

随着经济高速的发展,使得建筑不断的向着高层趋势前进,其消防安全事项也获取了群众的关注。消防电气设计在用现行的规范约束时,难免会出现问题。本文介绍了具体工程例,子用以引入可行的建议或方案,并作了简要分析。     

基于突变理论的高层建筑火灾安全综合评价

针对当前高层建筑火灾频发情况,本文基于突变理论研究此类建筑火灾的安全综合评价方法。首先,基于Delphi方法,建立了高层建筑火灾的评价指标体系;其次,基于突变理论,研究并提出了高层建筑火灾安全综合评价模型。通过此模型的应用,获得高层建筑的火灾安全综合评价结果,并通过对模型评估结果的分析,提出降低高层建筑火灾隐患的整改措施及管理方案。最后,本文通过实例验证了本文理论的有效性。     

Fundamentals of performance-based building design

The paper formulates some fundamental principles of performance-based design (PBD), suggesting a conceptual framework and systematic approach suitable for application in most areas of building design, and in the development of simulation tools and performance test methods required in the design and assessment processes. A schematic algorithm, which has been developed for the common engineering approach, was helpful in identifying the inter-relation with the required knowledge-based databases and tools that are needed for proper implementation of PBD. It is also shown that this schematic algorithm can serve not only as a conceptual model but also as the basic framework for developing or adapting simulation tools that are intended for PBD and assessment. The last part of the paper demonstrates the application of the fundamental approach in several areas of building performance (fire safety, acoustics, moisture safety, indoor air quality, and durability), outlining in each area the main user needs, ensuing performance requirements, and the most significant capabilities required of adequate simulation tools, with an emphasis on input/output.     

大空间建筑人员疏散问题的性能化设计

通过对大空间建筑火灾特性的研究,结合目前许多大空间建筑的消防设计无法满足现有规范要求的现实问题,分析大空间建筑中火灾状态下人员的具体情况,结合建筑实际情况采用性能化方法,解决大空间、大体量建筑的人员安全疏散的问题,并列举了工程实例进行说明.