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Enhanced Fire Severity in Modern Indian Dwellings


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1 Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar - 382 355, India
 

The present study focuses on assessment and probabilistic characterization of fire load, a key input to performance-based fire design, in office and dormitory buildings in India. A survey using combined inventory- weighing method was conducted and the results analysed with respect to several parameters such as room use, type of combustibles, etc. Probabilistic models based on the generalized extreme value and gamma probability density functions have been proposed for fire load energy density. It has been found that, on an average, the fire load present in modern buildings is about three times greater than what is reported by earlier studies and prescribed by building codes. Thus, the severity of potential fires that can occur in a compartment has increased considerably. Parametric fire curves have been developed and compared with standard fire curves to assess the increase in severity. The developed fire curves possess a greater growth rate and predict a greater temperature within the first one hour, when compared to the standard curves, showing that there is a greater fire risk.

Keywords

Design Fire, Enhanced Fire Risk, Fire Load Energy Density, Fire Load Survey.
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  • Enhanced Fire Severity in Modern Indian Dwellings

Abstract Views: 450  |  PDF Views: 139

Authors

Nasar Ahmad Khan
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar - 382 355, India
Gaurav Srivastava
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar - 382 355, India

Abstract


The present study focuses on assessment and probabilistic characterization of fire load, a key input to performance-based fire design, in office and dormitory buildings in India. A survey using combined inventory- weighing method was conducted and the results analysed with respect to several parameters such as room use, type of combustibles, etc. Probabilistic models based on the generalized extreme value and gamma probability density functions have been proposed for fire load energy density. It has been found that, on an average, the fire load present in modern buildings is about three times greater than what is reported by earlier studies and prescribed by building codes. Thus, the severity of potential fires that can occur in a compartment has increased considerably. Parametric fire curves have been developed and compared with standard fire curves to assess the increase in severity. The developed fire curves possess a greater growth rate and predict a greater temperature within the first one hour, when compared to the standard curves, showing that there is a greater fire risk.

Keywords


Design Fire, Enhanced Fire Risk, Fire Load Energy Density, Fire Load Survey.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv115%2Fi2%2F320-325