Fire resistance design in Europe Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland 1
Description Europa has started to use Eurocodes EN standards include principal and application rules for fire design of buildings including also performance based design Scope of this study: What is the state of art for applying the EN standards for fire? Especially, what is the state of art in performance based fire design? For which kind of applications exist experiences? These were the main questions sent to the members of COST C26 during spring 2008 Total 12 answers were got from 10 countries. Three different answers were got from UK The summary of the results follows 2
National fire codes include performance based fire design Czech, UK, Finland, Hungary, Italy Possible: Belgium (if agreed by Ministry of Interior), France (partially) Use of fire Eurocodes in Europe Year 2008 means typically: expected to be published France is waiting for shifting from ENV to EN UK has used the final Eurocodes for the longest time 3
The question dealing with the use of EN 1991-1-2, Annexes (fire loads) gave a wide range of answers, meaning: There exist very many ways to define the fire loads in buildings in Europe, allthough EN standards are used! Examples (details in the text): Five countries do not allow the use of the Annex F dealing with equivalent time of fire exposure. There are limitations to use of Annex E (fire load densities), and one for Annex C (localised fire). In two countries the Annex A (parametric temperature-time curves) is allowed to be used only in the preliminary i design stage. In France the use of Annexes C and D need to have a peer review of the assessment report according to clause 15 of decree 22 March 2004. In these 10 countries ONLY the Annexes B (thermal actions for external members simplified calculation method) and G (configuration factor) are accepted as they are. 4
The detailed question dealing with the EN 1991-1-2, clause 4.3.1(2) dealing with the representative values of variable actions in fire: ψ > ψ 2 = 0 Just to remember: 1 ψ 2 and often for e.g. wind load Italy, Romania: ψ 2 France, Portugal (Spain, Estonia, Slovenia from Difisek+): ψ1 ψ 2 UK: for EQU and for STR Belgium (Netherlands, Luxembourg):, but for wind ψ 2 ψ1 ψ 2 ψ1 Czech:, but for wind and snow ψ ψ 2 1 Finland:, but for wind, snow and ice ψ 1 This means that there exist e.g. wind loads in fire in almost every country in Europe => You must read carefully all the NA s when exporting products => You must look at national codes and national rules to define fire load details in many countries in Europe when applying Eurocodes 5
However: Faculty of Built Environment, Dept. of Structural Eng. Performance based fire design has been used to the following tasks: fire resistance of structures, evacuation calculations, smoke control, risk i k analysis, optimization the fire protection requirements in structures, studies of local fires, studies of external flames, studies of equivalent times of exposures, demonstration of adequate fire fighting g provisions, demonstration of extended travel distances, demonstration of an acceptable standard of safety in complex buildings with large numbers of people and/or large open spaces. 6
And projects: shopping centres, office buildings, airports, hospitals, residential buildings, stadiums, music halls, underground facilities, industrial buildings, historical buildings, high rise buildings, car parks, libraries, churches, monumental buildings, warehouses, cruiser ships. Examples Fire resistance, evacuation: Terminal Mošnov, (Czech) Fire resistance: Storage hall Mnichovo Hradiště, (Czech) All the major shopping centres in the Helsinki region as well as in other parts of Finland, Office buildings (e.g. Nokia headquarters, the Sanomatalo in Helsinki, Finland), Bucharest Tower Center Evacuation calculations: East London Line Stations, BSF School, Birmingham, Smoke flow analysis: Feature Tower at the ADNEC site, Abu Dhabi, Larnaka Airport, Cyprus, Structural t l fire protection ti calculations: l River Quarter II Residential Building, Sunderland, Sports Pavilion, Bradford Grammar School, Thermal radiation analyses: Bold Lane Development, Derby, Finzel s Reach, Residential Re-development, Bristol, Heathrow H Terminal 5, New Air Traffic Control Tower at London Heathrow Airport, Redevelopment of the historic Spitalfields Market in Central London, New research building for Queen Marys, University of London, Project P j t Emma, HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, th Alnwick Castle, Lloyds Registry of Shipping, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, Queen Q Mary s New School for Dentistry t and Medicine. i Typically in large project, BUT increasingly also in other projects 7
Need of approval of third part for performance based fire design 8
Requirements of documentation 9
Programs used for performance based fire design 10
Problems when applying performance based fire design Lack of experience and confidence of authorities How to define design fires in some cases Lack of design tools Lack of education (at very low level in 10 countries involved) Some progress have started e.g. in Chech, France, Poland, Finland Special certificates required for designers by the authorities in some countries enforce the educational institutes to come to this area in the future! 11