When charging most types of industrial lead-acid batteries, hydrogen gas is emitted. A large number of batteries, especially in relatively small areas/enclosures, and in the absence of an adequate ventilation system, may create an explosion hazard. This paper describes full scale tests, which demonstrate conditions that can occur in a battery room in the event of a ventilation system breakdown. Over the course of the tests, full scale hydrogen emission experiments were performed to study emission time and flammable cloud formation according to the assumed emission velocity. On this basis, the characteristics of dispersion of hydrogen in the battery room were obtained. The CFD model Fire Dynamic Simulator created by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was used for confirmation that the lack of ventilation in a battery room can be the cause of an explosive atmosphere developing, and leading to, a potential huge explosive hazard. It was demonstrated that different ventilation systems provide battery rooms with varying efficiencies of hydrogen removal. The most effective type appeared to be natural ventilation, which proved more effective than mechanical means.

Modern fire safety engineering seeks to ensure buildings are safe from fire by applying optimum levels of fire safety and protection resources without the need to overprotect. Similarly, the principles of sustainability aim to ensure resources are suitably applied to meet social, economic, and environmental objectives. However, there is a mismatch between the actual application of fire safety and the sustainability objectives for buildings, typically caused by the highly prescriptive historical approaches still largely adopted and legislated for in many countries. One solution that is increasingly adopted is the more flexible, “performance-based” fire engineering approach that bases fire safety and protection provisions on the development of key performance objectives, some of which could be influenced by sustainability engineering propositions for buildings, but very often this does not appear to be enough. The proposed new concept prompts separate assessment and scoring of the eight most important fire safety factors, allowing for calculation of the fire strategy risk index (FSRI). By comparing the FSRI of the actual submitted strategy against the baseline strategy, enforcement agencies or other interested stakeholders will have a methodology to determine optimal fire safety solutions for buildings.

No abstract

There is a mismatch between the desire to introduce greater levels of sustainability in engineering design and in the need to provide effective engineering solutions, particularly where issues of human safety and asset protection are involved. Sustainability engineering typically incorporates economic, environmental, and social factors, all of which are highly relevant and applicable to fire safety and the design of fire protection systems. The term fire strategy denotes a documented methodology to encapsulate a full range of such systems, within a single framework, for more complex risks such as those found in the process industry. The subject of fire safety is emotive and its application within building design may not change unless we refocus on a holistic and strategic approach, especially for complex building profiles. Fire is a recognized critical safety issue for most types of industrial plants. Due to the complexity of the processes, even a relatively small fire accident can lead to a chain of events that could be devastating, resulting in huge asset and continuity losses, damage to the local environment, and of course, the threat to life. More complex processes require a more flexible and relevant approach. The use of fire safety engineering and performance-based evaluation techniques, instead of prescriptive rules, continues to grow in prominence because of this. This is the case when specifying fire protection and safety for modern power generating plants. However, when it comes to critical infrastructure, such as is the case with power plants, it is sometimes not clear whether optimum fire safety engineering solutions have been applied. One of the ideas specifically developed for evaluating the most appropriate fire safety strategies and systems, especially for such infrastructure examples, is a method based upon the British Standard Specification PAS 911. This method is captured in a diagram and identifies eight main elements for fire safety and protection. The idea presented in this article is to allow assessment of a submitted actual fire strategy for a building or other form of infrastructure, against what has been predetermined as a standard baseline fire strategy for, in this case, a power plant building. The assessment makes use of a multi-level questionnaire, in this case specifically formulated for power plant fire safety needs. By comparing the actual fire strategy diagram against a baseline fire strategy, enforcement agencies, or other interested stakeholders, can recognize which fire safety factors play the most important part in the fire strategy, and determine whether proper levels of fire safety and protection have been applied. The fire strategy evaluation is realized by a team of engineers, which consists of independent fire strategist from a consultant office, internal fire and technical experts from the industrial plant, such as the person responsible for fire safety, person responsible for explosion safety, person responsible for housekeeping, and building manager. Additionally, there should be representatives of insurance companies and independent fire experts. Typically, the group consists of 7 to 12 people.

The task of fire pressure differential systems in a building is to prevent smoke from entering protected spaces such as stairwells and areas that should remain smoke-free in the event of fire. The required overpressure must consider leakage within the protected space. This article presents the results of testing to determine the impact of leakage of the protected space on the conditions for maintaining overpressure. The research was conducted in accordance with draft standard N161-prEN12101-6. The pressure distribution as a function of time was obtained for stairwells with different levels of leakage, using a constant flow aeration fan as well as systems with a variable airflow. Practical application: Designers of differential pressure smoke control systems are required to calculate aeration fan airflow volume. The leakage level of protected spaces should be taken into consideration given that European Standard EN12101-6 suggests that gap areas should be minimal. Consequently, modern building design and construction requires estimation of the leakage area in such protected spaces. The objective is to improve safety of buildings and reduce the system reaction time during a fire.