MECH3430

Fire Protection
in Buildings
Dr. Benjamin P.L. Ho
Department of Mechanical Engineering
(contact: [email protected])
 Course Objectives
• To introduce students to the principles of building
fire safety design and fire protection engineering
for modern buildings
• To enable students to design fire service systems
for modern buildings complying with local
statutory regulations under typical real-life
constraints

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 Course Arrangements
• Discipline elective course of ME curriculum
• Lecture Hours
• 3 hours per week
(Tuesdays 12:30 – 13:20, Fridays 12:30 – 14:20)
• Venue: CYP P3 – Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building
• Lecturer
• Dr. Benjamin P.L. Ho
• Assessment
• 65% by written examination (EX) – 3 hour examination
• 20% by in-course assessment (IA) – quiz + assignment
• 15% by practical work (PW) – mini-project (group)
• EA(=EX+IA) mark and PW mark must pass separately
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What is Fire ?

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 Iranian oil tank Sanchi,
South China Sea
14 January 2018

What is Fire ?

Offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon,

Gulf of Mexico 5
21 April 2010
 What is Fire ?

Grenfell Tower,
London, UK 6

14 June 2017
 versus

Controlled fire Uncontrolled fire

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 versus

Outdoor fire Building fire

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Fire Protection in Buildings

Garley Building,
Nathan Road, Jordon
21 November 1996
Casualties: 41

Top One Karaoke,

Prat Avenue, TST
25 January 1997
Casualties: 17 9
 Fire Protection in Buildings

Fa Yuen Street,
Mongkok
30 November 2011
Casualties: 9

SC Storage
Ngau Tau Kok
22 June 2016 10
Casualties: 2 Firefighters
 What is FIRE
• A rapid oxidation process in which combustibles
react with air (oxygen)
• Resulting in the release of heat and/or light and
the products of combustion
• Most materials will be able to burn at appropriate
conditions

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 When will FIRE occur
• Three major components are present:
• Fuel (combustibles)
• Air (oxygen)
• Heat
• When fuel is being heated up to appropriate
conditions, oxidation occurs
• A rapid oxidation process will result in the release
of heat and/or light as FIRE

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 1st Element: FUEL
• A general term about what is burning
• Mostly are carbon-based
• Natural (e.g. cellulose) or man-made (e.g.
polyethylene)
• Can be in gaseous, liquid, or solid states
• When heated up, molecules will form radicals that
react with oxygen radicals in a chemical reaction

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 1st Element: FUEL
• In a macroscopic view, fuel will react with oxygen
in the air, generating products of combustion, and
releasing heat
• The flame, sometimes being observed, is a gas
phase phenomenon where oxidation is occurring

Flame (where oxidation occurs)

Fuel vaporizing and mixes with air

Fuel

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 Gaseous FUEL
• Examples: Hydrogen, Methane, Propane, Butane
• Gaseous fuel will burn directly in the air
• As no conversion of phase is required, it is very
easy for the gaseous fuel to form radicals and
begin the oxidation process

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 Liquid FUEL
• Examples: Methanol, Gasoline, Kerosene
• Upon heating, surface of liquid will have
evaporative boiling, thus forming gaseous phase
of the liquid fuel
• The gaseous fuel will now burn very closely to the
surface of the liquid
• Some liquids with high boiling points (> 250C)
may undergo some form of chemical
decomposition before the products burn (e.g. oil)

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 Solid FUEL
• Example: Most carbohydrates, wood, plastics
• Upon heating, solid fuel will undergo different
ways to form combustible gas
• As much heat is required to increase the
temperature of the fuel for melting or
decomposition, temperature at the surface of the
fuel is typically > 400C

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 Solid FUEL
• Formation of volatiles from combustible solids:
• Sublimation
• Melting and Evaporation (e.g. candle wax)
• Melting and Decomposition, followed by evaporation
of low molecular weight products
• Decomposition to produce molten products which
decompose further to yield volatile species
• Decomposition to produce volatile species directly

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 2nd Element - AIR
• Composition: 21% O2, 79% N2 plus other minor
gases
• The oxygen in the air will take part in the burning
process
• Variations in O2 will affect whether the fuel can
burn
• A low concentration of O2 will result in a fuel-rich
mixture that combustion will not occur
• Typically, an O2 concentration less than 12% will not
facilitate burning
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 3rd Element - HEAT
• Essential in starting a fire and in maintaining a fire
• Can be in the form of a spark, a flame, a heated
fluid, a heated surface, etc.
• The presence of heat increases the temperature of
the fuel (even in a small location) and begins the
fire

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 3rd Element - HEAT
• In order for the fire to continue burning, heat has
to be continuously provided. The source of heat is
usually a feedback from the heat released by the
chemical reaction
• Heat, either from the source or from the
combustion is transmitted in three different ways:
• Conduction
• Convection
• Radiation
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 Conduction
• Occurs in solids, liquids and gases
• Transmission of heat through direct contact
between the flame and the fuel
• Spreading of heat by contact of the fuel and other
materials
• Most of the heat produced by the fire is NOT
transmitted in this way

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 Convection
• Occurs in liquids and gases
• The flow of fluid is due to different in densities
• Heated fluid is less dense, thus rises (buoyancy),
and when heat is transferred, cooler fluid with
higher density, will drop or will fill up the space
from the surroundings, a circulation is thus formed
• About 70% of the heat from fires is released in
this way

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 Radiation
• Heat is transmitted through electromagnetic wave
without the need for having any contacts between
bodies
• Around 30% of the heat from fires is released in
this way
• The effect of radiation is very important in the
forming of flashover in compartment fires

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 Fire Triangle
• The relationship between the 3 elements of a fire
can be presented by a
FIRE TRIANGLE
• All 3 elements must exist in order for the fire to
continue. Therefore, if one of the elements is
taken away, the fire will die down.

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 Methods of Extinguishing
• By tackling the fire triangle, three different
approaches are developed:
• Cooling (taking away HEAT)

• Smothering (taking away OXYGEN)

• Starvation (taking away FUEL)

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 Ignition Temperatures
• Flash Point
• The lowest temperature at which there is sufficient
vaporization of the substance to produce a vapor which will
flash momentarily when a flame is applied
• Fire Point
• The lowest temperature at which the heat from the
combustion of a burning vapor is capable of producing
sufficient vapor to enable combustion to continue
• Spontaneous Ignition Temperature
• The lowest temperature at which the substance will ignite
spontaneously, that is the substance will burn without the
introduction of a flame or other ignition source
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 Ignition Temperatures
• Spontaneous Combustion
• Certain materials react together under room conditions,
and if the heat given out cannot be dissipated, the heat
being built up will increase the temperature, until
ignition temperature is finally reached and true
combustion commences

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 Limits of Flammability
• A flammable gas or vapor will only burn in air if
the composition lies between certain limits
• Too much the fuel (too rich), there is insufficient
air to carry out combustion
• Too little the fuel (too lean), the heat loss will
result in the flame unable to sustain
• These limits are referred to as the lower and
upper limits of flammability

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 Limits of Flammability
• Limits of Flammability (% fuel/air by volume)
• Hydrogen 4.1% to 74%
• Carbon Monoxide 12.5% to 74.2%
• Methane 5% to 15%
• Butane 1.5% to 9%
• Ethylene 2.7% to 28.6%
• Pressure, temperature, dimensions of test
apparatus, etc. all have some effect on the figures

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 Heat of Combustion
• For a combustion process to occur, the chemical
reaction should be an exothermic reaction
(reaction with release of energy)
• The heat of combustion is the total amount of heat
released when unit quantity of a fuel (at 25 C and
at atmospheric pressure) is oxidized completely.

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 Heat of Combustion
Hc(kJ/g) Hc(kJ/g(air)) Hc(kJ/g(O2))

CO 10.10 4.10 17.69

CH4 50.00 2.91 12.54

C2H5OH 26.78 2.99 12.88

Cellulose 16.09 3.15 13.59

Polycarbonate 29.72 3.04 13.12

Polystyrene 39.85 3.01 12.97

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 Fire Plume
• The burning combustibles (flame),
the products of combustion, and
the entrained air forms the fire
plume
• The temperature and volume of the
fire plume is governed by the
height of the enclosure, where at
the ceiling, the plume will spread
across as ceiling jet

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Fire Plume

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 Temperature / Time History of
Typical Enclosure Fire
Temperature

Time

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 Growth Stage
• From the time when a fire starts to the time of
flashover
• During the growth stage
• Fire develops slowly
• There are plenty of air supply
• The development of fire is dependent on fuel quantity,
heat of combustion and rate, known as Fuel –
Controlled Fire

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 From Growth Stage to Flashover
• As the fire builds up, heat is released by
convection (70%) to the ceiling, and by radiation
(30%) to the fuel bed, evaporating more
combustible vapor to continue burning
• Heat from the fire plume will heat up the ceiling,
while the heat of the flames will radiate to the
surrounding

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 Flashover
• At the whole compartment is being heated up, the
ceiling will radiate heat downwards to the
surrounding combustibles, e.g. furniture
• It comes to a time when the temperature of the
combustibles is heated up to its spontaneous
ignition temperature
• The ceiling temperature reaches 600 C or
radiation heat flux reaches 20 kW/m2

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 Flashover
• Suddenly, everything in the compartment burst
into flames
• The sudden pressure being built up will usually
break the glass windows, and flames will burst out
of the compartment
• This incident is known as flashover

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 Development Stage
• As most of the combustibles are ignited after
flashover, temperature builds up rapidly
• The fire is fully developed and the rate of burning
is governed by the available air that enters the
compartment, known as ventilation controlled
fire

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 Decay Stage
• When the combustibles are consumed, the fire
begins to die out
• When the heat output of the fire has dropped to
less than 70% of the maximum value, the fire
enters into the Decay Stage

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 Temperature / Time History of
Typical Enclosure Fire
Temperature

Time

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 Miscellaneous on Fire Curve
• It can be seen that at the time of flashover, everything
inside the compartment ignited. No living things can
survive after flashover.
• The design of Fire Services Installations should be
targeted at reacting to the fire before flashover, and
they should be aimed at preventing flashover from
happening.
• Fire detection and suppression systems should all be
designed to operate during the growth stage of the fire
• The building compartment should withstand the whole
duration of the fire from growth, development to
decay stages
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