Design of Structures for Fire Loading and Understanding Fire/Life Safety System Interdependencies

Fire and life safety in buildings is typically provided through several interrelated fire safety systems and features. These include egress, detection and alarm systems, suppression systems, smoke management systems, and compartmentation, as well as protection of structural elements. When designing buildings, these systems are intended to work in conjunction with each other to provide a certain level of safety, both to life, as well as to property. However, due to the interrelationships in fire safety design, as well as the role of the design fire(s), the failure of a fire protection system or feature, or the introduction of a design fire hazard that is different (i.e. larger, faster, etc.) than anticipated in the original design, may compromise the effectiveness of other systems. This includes the design of the structural system and its integration with the other fire protection systems. Failure to understand characteristics of the building occupants, as well as the characteristics of the credible design fire hazards and performance of the building, fire protection systems/features, and structural systems may lead to further difficulties in achieving stakeholder's goals and objectives in the event of a fire. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the overall performance of the structural and fire protection systems in concert, and to determine whether they will meet their intended objective(s). To accomplish the objectives and meet design performance criteria, it is also important to understand the interaction of various components such as the structural response, the response of occupants, and fire protection systems, as well as to what degree these systems may be damaged by an event. The "SFPE Engineering Guide to Performance Based Fire Protection Analysis and Design of Buildings" and "Introduction to Performance Based Fire Safety" are used as general guides for the overall approach discussed in this paper.