There are several classifications of fire resistance, and fire resistance can be calculated using standardized tests as well as advanced numerical methods, said Octavian Lalu, Senior Fire Safety Scientist at BRE – Building Research Establishment, during the webinar “Fire safety – prevention solutions”, organized by Energynomics.
“In fire resistance tests all products are subjected to a standardized curve that is the same throughout Europe. Tests take place in horizontal and vertical ovens, and we also have the possibility to perform tests on a natural scale, but these are not very common. There are advanced numerical methods, validated by the two methods above,” he said.
CFD, or Computational Fluid Dynamics, provides solutions for the study of fire development and propagation, smoke and gas movement, smoke toxicity and impact on occupants, vegetation and wind effects studies, and the study of fire development in tunnels and underground parking lots.
“CFD helps us understand the mechanism of fire development and spread. It is a very complex method, which requires considerable resources. There are other methods, such as FEA or Finite Element Analysis, which help us understand the overall behavior of the building, to define or calculate heat transfer in very complex geometries, and based on heat transfer we can understand the physical-mechanical behavior for different construction elements”, he added.
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Octavian Lalu recommended that simplified numerical methods (Eurocodes 199X-1-2) should be used for elementary construction details.
The webinar “Fire safety – prevention solutions”, was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners: Eaton Electric and Rockwool Romania. The #better Association was our strategic partner.
