Determination of fire load and heat release rate for high-rise residential buildings

Abstract

In recent years, high-rise residential building fires are drawing more and more concerns. It was reported that a large number of fire accidents occurred in residential buildings which resulted in casualties and damage to properties. In some buildings, large amounts of combustibles are stored in units of small area. Fire safety provisions are not adequately provided as required in public buildings. Performance-based design has been introduced in many places and the determination of design fires is one of the most important steps in the design process. Fire load and heat release rate are important inputs to a design fire. In order to assess the fire risk of high-rise residential buildings, possible fire scenarios should be identified. There is an urgent need to collect data on fire load and identify the heat release rate for this type of buildings. In this paper, a literature review was made on design fires and fire load survey methods for buildings. Characteristics of heat release rate in the fire growth stage and post-flashover stage were explored. Issues that should be considered for high-rise residential buildings were presented. Then, the advantages and limitations of different fire load survey methodologies were summarized and a fire load survey method suitable for residential buildings and the data needed to be collected were recommended. Finally, conclusions were made.