FIRE SAFETY AND PREVENTION

Guided by –Prof. Svetlin Antonov

Presented by- Karan Sarvade

Sujit Shelke

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction2. Fire Statistics3. European Standards4. Fire Safety Devices5. Fire Simulation Model6. Recommendation7. Conclusion8. References

Introduction:Fire is an important phenomenon and it has been useful to man since Stone Age. Even though fire is useful for us in our day to day life, it has many drawbacks too.

The accidents occurring due to fire in a residential building or offices are common to everyone now-a-days. Such accidental fire inside a building or houses may result into damage of human lives as well as of properties.

In Europe, huge deaths are occurring due to such fire and around 70,000 people are hospitalized & 4000 people die each year due to these fire accidents. Around half of the deaths due to fire accidents happen because of smoke, rather than fire. The smoke being toxic to human health, leads to severe disorders causing breathing problems and may even result in death.

Along with the loss of human lives, which is a threat to any nation around the world, there is also a loss of property occurring due to damage of the buildings and houses due to the fire. The European Union is suffering a yearly property loss of about €126 Billion, which contributes to about 1% of its GDP. Such kind of loss of property & lives is not good for the financial strength of any country.

Various standards have been made by the European Union to for the prevention of loss of property as well as lives. Fire Safe Europe is a firm established by the European Union in order to prevent the fire accidents and to take the required actions whatever necessary.

In case of fire emergencies, firefighters need to be aware of the blueprint of the building or the house which has caught fire. Also they need to locate the source of fire, as well as the safer places inside a building, so that they can evacuate the people inside the building more easily.

Various software are available now-a-days to simulate the fire, which will tell us exactly the situation in case of fire like the temperature at various points inside the room, the pressure created inside a room due

to fire, the velocity of spreading of smoke etc. All this parameters we will be analyzing in this case of fire further.

Fire StatisticsThe graphical representation of the deaths occurring due to fire accident

worldwide is shown below:

Graph 1. Report based on year 2011

Graph 2. Report from the year 2000 to 2008

Fire Safe Europe:

Considering the loss of human lives as well as the properties of the European countries, the European Union has established a firm Fire Safe Europe which checks for the preventive measure of the fire and ensure fire safety of various buildings and houses across Europe

The safety measures vary from country to country. All the countries in EU may not have the same safety measures but they have the measures as suggested by Fire Safe Europe. In many countries across Europe, the some buildings are outdated and do not have enough safety measures in case of fire emergencies.

Research has revealed that more than half of the death occurring due to fire accident is due to the smoke itself. The humans trapped inside a

building which has caught fire, inhale the smoke which is hazardous to human health. This causes death of many people inhaling smoke

Fire Safe Europe does not have measures to check for the toxicity of the smoke inspite of more deaths occurring due to the smoke itself.

To reduce impact and possibility of fire-

1 .Buildings are designed to separate and enclose areas.

2. Includes fire prevention devices, alarm, smoke detectors, exit signs, smoke absorber.

3. Isolate fire cause element and material.

4. Fire retardant building materials have also developed such as paints and chemical used to coat and impregnate combustible material such as wood and fabric.

5. Height and width of window should be small.

6. Use of exhaust fan in corridor.

7 .The distances for human evacuation should be less (not greater than 10-15m).

8. Elevator must have emergency exit.

9. Use of smoke vents inside a room so that all the smoke must be thrown out of the room.

The physics of fire development has not changed over long time. Factors including home size, geometry, position of doors, size of window and construction material have changed significantly over past few years.

Each of these factors will be examined in detail as they concern to the safety of occupants and the fire service.

Windows-

Windows play an important role in fire safety of buildings. As the size of window increases the flow of air (oxygen entering in the room) also increases in the room, which causes more fire in the room. In modern architecture the window size is large for more attractive and aesthetic looks.

Windows may be of following types:

1. Wood Frame: The frame of the window is made up of wood. Wood is more likely to cause fire, so there is more chance of the breakage of the glass window.

2. Vinyl Frame: The frame of this type of windows is generally made up of PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) which has more chances of melting at low temperature. The melting point of PVC is about 413 Kelvin and the minimum temperature of fire inside a room goes up to 800 kelvin. So it will also cause the breakage of the glass window.

3. Double glazed designs: It consist of double glass separated by a vacuum or gas filled between to glass pane of single window. It reduce the heat transfer across the room. The thickness of a glass 3 to 10 mm. Due to double glass pane the temperature difference of about 343k between heated glass and edge glass temperature is created which decrease the chances of breakage of glass pane at high temperature.

*3 mm normal window glass will break at 360 degrees Celsius

*4 - 6 mm normal window glass will break at 460 degrees Celsius

*Double glazed window of thickness 6 mm will break at 600 degrees Celsius.

*Tempered glass will break after the room flashover has reached.

OUR RECOMANDATION:

Use double glazed tempered glass window design.

Fire safety equipment-

Sprinkler system –According to 2009 American housing survey automatic sprinklers are the most effective and reliable elements for protection from fire in buildings.

There are four types of sprinkler system-1 Pre Action- Pre action fire sprinkler systems are filled with water and air. Which allowed to pass through when the smoke alarm or detector detects smoke.Use- This type of sprinkler system are use in location where accidental activation is undesired. For eg –historic libraries, data center for computer protection from accidental water discharge .These sprinklers have double interlock system. 2. Dry pipe- Dry pipe sprinkler use pressurized air in the pipe which exits before water discharge. Which is ideal for buildings with low temperature ,so the pipe do not freeze.Ex-warehouses located in north are good example of dry pipe sprinkler system.

3. Wet pipe- Modern high buildings or more than 10 floors building uses the wet pipe system.As name suggest wet pipe fire sprinkler system contained water constantly. These allow for a quick action to a fire and are the most common sprinkler installed in buildings.

4. Deluge - A deluge fire sprinkler system is similar to pre action system except the sprinkler heads are open and the pipe is not pressurized. The system is operated by the operation of smoke or heat detection system .This system use in places such as aircraft hangers, power plant and chemical storage

(Fire sprinkler systems are extensively used worldwide over 40 million sprinkler heads fitted each year over 96% of fire are controlled by fire sprinkler alone).

Smoke vents: Smoke vents are situated at the roof top of any building or hall, so that the smoke which is produced due to the fire caused in the building, is released from the vents, which in turn is hazardous for humans inside that building or hall. Smoke has the property of flowing upward therefore most of the smoke vents are located at the roof top. Smoke is an unwanted byproduct of fire which contains various toxic particles, which if inhaled by any human, can be hazardous to their health and may even cause their death, if inhaled in larger amount.Such kind of smoke should be thrown outside the building or hall as soon as possible. Therefore, smoke vents are necessary in such cases as they throw the smoke out to the surroundings thus preventing the damage caused due to fire. Types of smoke vents: Smoke vents are generally categorized in two type -

1. Mechanically opening vent : These types of vents open mechanically, with the use of motors, springs to bring back to their original position, hydraulic or pneumatic actuators.

2. Drop out vent : These type of vents are made up of plastic, which shrinks when heated and allow the smoke to pass through them.

Our recommendation -

There is no any type of fire sprinkler system in the building, this is really a big mistake which not avoidable. According to above explanation of fire sprinkler system, the most suitable and economical fire sprinkler system is dry pipe sprinkler system for our building.

Smoke vents are also not use in construction of building which is again dangerous for building.So we recommend that also.

Problem statement-

We are working on a model of TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOFIA, BULGARIA. We have chosen 2nd block of the university. The 2nd block consists of 5 floors. We have given the source of fire at the Hydrodynamic Laboratory, which is located on the 1st floor. Since the laboratory is not in use now, it has been used as a storeroom, to keep books inside it. Also there are machines inside the room. There are various furniture like the wooden chair, table and book shelves. These furniture as well as the cables of the machines and electrical switch boards which are in open condition will cause the fire to increase rapidly. Pictorial top view of our model is as shown below.

Dimensions of room are as follows-Room is (12m*12m*3.5 m) in length .Door is (There are 5 windows in which W1, W2 & W3 are (3.3m*0.3m*2.5 m) in length and W4 &W5 are (5.3m*0.3m*2.5 m) in lengthNo. of columns: 6 each of (0.7m*0.7m*3.5m)

LABORATORY (Source of fire in our model):

( Img-1. Fire source room)

This room is the source of fire. There are lots of books piled up on each other, which will cause the fire to ignite more. Also there is furniture, electric supply board which will contribute more to the fire.The area of the room is 144 m2, and the height is 3.5 m so there is sufficient amount of oxygen which will cause dangerous fire in the room. Also the room is so congested that there is not enough space to enter or exit the room. The way to enter and exit is too narrow.If someone is trapped inside this room when it has caught fire, there will be a trouble for that person to exit the room due to the above mentioned reason.

( Img-2 Full view of fire source room )

OUR RECOMMENDATION: The books should not be spread on the floor; it should be properly arranged and kept inside a book shelf. Also, the book shelf must be of metal instead of wood, which catches fire easily.

The electric switch boards should be properly covered, so that they are not exposed to fire.

(Img-3 corridor)

In front of the laboratory, there is a corridor. The smoke arising from the fire will spread to this whole corridor. There need to be proper arrangements made in the corridor to exit the smoke from the building.

OUR RECOMMENDATION:There should be a door in the entrance of this corridor so that the smoke will not be spread along the corridor, as there are people inside the room, who need to be evacuated safely from the building.

(Img-4 Door )

There is a door at the end of the corridor, which will be of no use to exit the smoke as the smoke has to travel along the length of the corridor, which will create a trouble for the people inside the rooms. Therefore, there should be a door at the entrance as suggested earlier.

If there is a door at the entrance of the corridor, then the people can be evacuated from this door safely as long as the door at the entrance will not break.Also since this door closes automatically, there will be a trouble for the evacuation of the people.

Automatic Door Closing: The door shown in Img. 4 has an automatic closing system shown above. Due to this it will create a trouble for the people inside the building to evacuate safely outside the building.If there are more people, there will be a rush at the exit, causing more trouble for the people to exit.

Our recommendation-

The arrangement of the room is shown below, which is safe from fire

Img. 5

Simulation of fire using software:

In order to reduce the number of deaths occurring due to fire, we have to predict its nature.

We have various software available to simulate the fire, which will be of great help for the firefighters to extinguish the fire. These include;

1. PYROSIM

2. EXTENDSIM

3. FLAMESIM

4. FLUENT

We are using PYROSIM for the simulation of fire.

I mg. 6

The model of Technical University of Sofia block 1 which we are analyzing and simulating using Pyrosim

Img. 7 Back view Img. 8 Front view

Img. 9 Fire Source(Red) Img. 10 Side view

By using Pyrosim, we created a model of the block 2 of Technical University of Sofia. We measured the dimensions of the laboratory as well as the corridor and built an exact replica of the block 2 in Pyrosim. The material used for building the walls and pillars of the block is Concrete.Inside the room we have 2 book shelves which are made up of wood. So the material used for building the shelves in Pyrosim was Yellow pine wood.We choose the fire source to be near the shelf. The material used is Burner, which is the fire source.

Different views of the block are shown in Img.7, Img.8, Img.9 and Img.10.

For New Model-

Run PyroSim.

1. on the File menu, click New.

2. Also check View menu, click Units and select SI to display values in SI system.

3.Save the model. On the File menu, click Save and choose a folder. Name the file building-fire.psm.

4.Click OK to save the model

Create the Mesh

1.On the Model menu, click Edit Meshes .

2.Click New, Figure 1.

3.In the Min X box, type -2 and in the Max X box, type 12.

4.In the Min Y box, type -2and in the Max Y box, type 55.

5.In the Min Z box, type 0 and in the Max Z box, type 18.

6.In the X Cells box, type 24.

7.In the Y Cells box, type 110.

8.In the Z Cells box, type 36.

9.Click OK to save changes and close the Edit Meshes dialog.

How to give Reaction-

Reaction –A reaction assumes a fuel vapor that reacts with oxygen to deliver energy and form ignition products.

First we define the reaction for this simulation.

1.On the Model menu, Edit Reactions.

2.Click the Add From Library button, select POLYURETHANE

reaction,and shift it to the Current Model. Click Close.

3.Click OK to close the dialog.

( Img 1- creating the mesh )

TO ADD MATERIAL-

To add material see the figure shown below

In our model we select two material,1.concrete for wall,and yellow pine for furniture in lab.

Figure -3 Shift of materials from the library into the current model.

Create the Burner Surface

Surfaces are used to define the properties of objects.

In this example, we define a burner surface that releases heat at a rate of 1000 kW/m2.

1.On the Model menu, click Edit Surfaces .

2.Click New.

3.In the Surface Name box, type burner, Figure 2.

( Figure 4-creating new burner surface )

4.In the Surface Type list, select Burner.

5.Click OK to create the new default burner surface.

Figure 5- Defining parameters for the burner surface

1.In the Description box, type 1000 kW/m2 burner, Figure 3.

2.Click the Color button to open the Surface Color

dialog, then select a good color (e.g.red) and click OK.

3.In the Heat Release Rate (HRR)box, type 1000

4.Click OK to save changes and close the Edit Surfaces dialog.

Create the Burner Vent

In this example, we use a vent and the previously created

Burner surface to define the fire.

1.On the Model menu, click New Vent....

2.In the Description box, type burner vent, Figure 4.

3.In the Type list, select burner. This specifies that the previously created burner surface will define the properties of the vent.

Figure 6-. Creating the burner vent

4.in the Plane list, select Z and type 0.3.

5.In the Min X box, type 2 and in the Max X box, type 3.

6.In the Min Y box, type 2 and in the Max Y box, type 3.

7.Click OK to create the new burner vent

Add the Wall

In FDS obstructions are used to define solid object in the model. In this example, we will use an obstruction to define a wall.

1.On the Model menu, click New Obstruction.

2.In the Description box, type wall, Figure 5.

3.In the Min X box type 0.0 and in the Max X box type 0.3.

4.In the Min Y box type 0.0 and in the Max Y box,type 17.4

5.In the Min Z box type 0.0 and in the Max Z box type 3.5.

6.Click OK to create the wall obstruction.

Figure-7 side wall

Similarly draw the wall by using the dimension's as shown in figure below

Figure-8 back side wall

Figure-9 side wall

Figure-10 front wall

Figure-11 top ceiling /roof

Figure -12 floor

we created the room,now we have to create the column which support the roof.

First we create one column and then copy that column.

First we have to create first column

Click on the draw block obstruction in the task bar, drag it anywhere and give dimensions as shown in figure

Right click on the obstruction select copy/move. Select the copy option in the translate box type no of copies 2

And in the x box type4.

x y z

min 0 0 0

max 0.7 0.7 3.5

Figure-13 window hole

Similarly by using copy/move option create two windows, spacing between two windows are 0.7 m .

Add the Door

In FDS holes are used to define openings through solid objects. In this example, we will use a hole to define a door.

1.On the Model menu, click New Hole....

2.In the Description box, type door.

3.In the Min X box, type 4.65 and in the Max X box, type7.35.

4.In the Min Y box, type 11.7 and in the Max Y box, type 12.

5.In the Min Z box, type 0.3 and in the Max Z box, type2.35.

6.Click OK to create the door.

`TO GIVE ACTIVATION CONTROL-

Click on the device menu,then click on the edit activation control.

Click on the new in activation control box.Do the procedure as shown in the figure below.

Figure-14 activation control for door and window

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Img. 11 Fire taking place inside the laboratoryThe image shows the room is lit with fire. The fire source situated near the shelf has started burning. After a certain period of time, the shelf will also catch fire as well as the another shelf and the books, furniture will also start to ignite, making the fire more aggressive.

Img. 12 Smoke view This image shows the smoke view of the block. The fire inside the Laboratory has started spreading along the length of the corridor.

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Img. 13 Wall Temperature.This image shows the wall temperature of the block after 470 seconds of starting fire. The

minimum temperature is 20 degrees Celsius, which is shown by blue color and the maximum temperature shown is 170 degrees Celsius.

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Img. 14 Pressure SliceThis image shows the pressure slice at z=2m. The maximum pressure attained inside the

room is approx.3 bar shown by red color and the minimum pressure is approx. 2 bar shown by blue color

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Img. 15 Temperature sliceThis image shows the temperature at a certain plane inside the building. The maximum

temperature attained is 220 degrees Celsius and is shown with red color. The minimum temperature is the room temperature which is 20 degrees Celsius and is shown by blue color.

Img. 16 Velocity sliceThis image shows the velocity of the flame or the smoke flowing along the building. The maximum velocity of the smoke is 2 m/s and is shown by red color.