Research Agenda for the Next Generation of Performance-Based Design Tools.
Research Agenda for the Next Generation of
Performance-Based Design Tools.
(98 K)
Grosshandler, W. L.
Volume 2;
Interflam 2007. (Interflam '07). International
Interflam Conference, 11th Proceedings. Volume 2.
September 3-5, 2007, London, England, 1219-1230 pp,
2007.
Keywords:
fire safety; safety engineering; building codes; fire
codes; regulations; design applications; fire
protection; fire growth; combustion products; risk
analysis; building design; occupants; fire research;
computational fluid dynamics
Abstract:
Performance-based design (PBD) is practiced in many
parts of the world today, and our current tools and
level of understanding are adequate to support certain
classes of fire safety designs; however, other
significant applications exist that exceed the
capabilities of these tools. Representatives from the
FORUM* and invited technical experts attended a workshop
to develop a vision for the next generation of
performance-based design tools. Five areas were
identified at the top of the list of research priorities
to support this vision: (*) improvement of our ability
to predict the impact of active fire protection systems
on fire growth and fate of combustion products; (*)
estimation of uncertainty and the means to incorporate
it into hazard and risk analyses; (*) the relationship
between aspects of the building design and the safety of
building occupants; (*) the impact of material and
geometry changes on fire growth and the fate of
combustion products; (*) the prediction of the response
of a structure to full building burn-out. A summary of
the workshop that led to these research priorities are
contained in this paper.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899