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The proposed use of unlatched, reverse swing flappy doors is becoming widespread in the design of residential common corridor smoke control systems. This article explores the conceptual arguments for and against the use of these systems.

This article relies on industry experience, with reference to relevant building design practices, standards and research literature, to categorise arguments. These are collated into four common areas of concern relating to compartmentation, reliability, depressurisation and modelling practices. A final comparison is made between different common corridor smoke control system types for these four areas.

The article highlights several concerns around the use of flappy door systems, including the enforced breaches in stair compartmentation, uncertainties around system reliability, the reliance on door closers as a single point of failure, the impact of day-to-day building use on the system performance and the false confidence that modelling assessments can provide in demonstrating adequacy. The article concludes in suggesting that alternative smoke control options be considered in place of flappy door systems.

Discussion on the use of flappy door smoke control systems has been ongoing within the fire engineering community for several years, but there is limited public literature available on the topic. By collating the common arguments relating to these systems into a single article, a better understanding of their benefits and pitfalls has been provided for consideration by building design and construction professionals.

The current fire protection measures in buildings do not account for all contemporary fire hazard issues, which has made fire safety a growing concern. Therefore, this paper aims to present a critical review of current fire protection measures and their applicability to address current challenges relating to fire hazards in buildings.

To overcome fire hazards in buildings, impact of fire hazards is also reviewed to set the context for fire protection measures. Based on the review, an integrated framework for mitigation of fire hazards is proposed. The proposed framework involves enhancement of fire safety in four key areas: fire protection features in buildings, regulation and enforcement, consumer awareness and technology and resources advancement. Detailed strategies on improving fire safety in buildings in these four key areas are presented, and future research and training needs are identified.

Current fire protection measures lead to an unquantified level of fire safety in buildings, provide minimal strategies to mitigate fire hazard and do not account for contemporary fire hazard issues. Implementing key measures that include reliable fire protection systems, proper regulation and enforcement of building code provisions, enhancement of public awareness and proper use of technology and resources is key to mitigating fire hazard in buildings. Major research and training required to improve fire safety in buildings include developing cost-effective fire suppression systems and rational fire design approaches, characterizing new materials and developing performance-based codes.

The proposed framework encompasses both prevention and management of fire hazard. To demonstrate the applicability of this framework in improving fire safety in buildings, major limitations of current fire protection measures are identified, and detailed strategies are provided to address these limitations using proposed fire safety framework.

Fire represents a severe hazard in both developing and developed countries and poses significant threat to life, structure, property and environment. The proposed framework has social implications as it addresses some of the current challenges relating to fire hazard in buildings and will enhance overall fire safety.

The novelty of proposed framework lies in encompassing both prevention and management of fire hazard. This is unlike current fire safety improvement strategies, which focus only on improving fire protection features in buildings (i.e. managing impact of fire hazard) using performance-based codes. To demonstrate the applicability of this framework in improving fire safety in buildings, major limitations of current fire protection measures are identified and detailed strategies are provided to address these limitations using proposed fire safety framework. Special emphasis is given to cost-effectiveness of proposed strategies, and research and training needs for further enhancing building fire safety are identified.

Community centers play a socio-economic and urban role of combining different communal necessities, that serve inhabitants, at different neighborhoods in cities. Their role emerged in importance as being a hub for improving and customizing quality of life experiences of the public. This research presents a code-based risk assessment tool for evaluating fire safety measures that can be adapted in the context of community centers. It also provides an exemplary case study to demonstrate its application.

The study identified the factors that render community centers as a high-risk type of facilities in fire events. Various fire codes and standards were reviewed to describe the relevant fire safety measures. A code-based fire risk assessment tool was developed and implemented, through a case study. A set of recommendations were developed to improve the fire safety conditions of the case study facility.

Several violations to fire safety were identified in the case study building. The findings led to identifying a set of recommendations to improve its fire safety conditions.

This research introduced a systematic approach to raise awareness about fire incidences and consequences in community centers, and provides facilities managers with a tool, to assess compliance based on international fire code requirements.

In fire events, community centers are considered as high-risk facilities that may lead to significant losses of human lives and damages to assets. It is significant to study the causes of fire, for ensuring effective prevention and safe operations.

Isolated steel columns, when exposed to high temperatures, lose strength in a few minutes due to the high thermal conductivity of its constituent material. When these structural elements are embedded in walls, the response to exceptional action is altered so that the compartmentation offers an increase in the fire resistance of the columns. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the behavior of steel columns inserted in walls subject to thermal action in a numerical context.

For this purpose, the computational code ABAQUS version 6.14, which applies the finite element method formulation to solve engineering problems, was used.

The thermo-mechanical modeling, considering the wall only as a compartmentation element, generated few consistent results, leading to the conclusion that the walls influence the structural response of columns in a fire situation.

There is a lack of both numerical and experimental research works. In numerical modeling, the research works found in the literature had difficulties in developing a numerical model that satisfactorily represented steel columns inserted in walls, not being able to adequately understand their behavior at high temperatures. All of them did not consider the influence of masonry on the thermo-structural behavior of the columns. In this paper, this influence was evaluated and discussed.

There are numerous designers involved in building design, and the various parties need information from each other as a basis for their design decisions. The design co‐ordinator cannot be an expert on all information needs of every design discipline. The various designers, again, focus on their current work only, and neglect the planning of forthcoming design activities. This results in a lack of information, guess‐work, idling and delays in the self‐steering process. The end result is extensive redesign and problems in the construction stage. This article describes a design management system developed to minimize these problems. The system includes operational systematics to be followed by all the actors involved in the design process. Another part of the solution is a reference model on typical information needs by different designers in various stages and tasks of the design process. The system was developed as part of two actual building design processes.

Unbraced one-bay composite frames are an interesting load-bearing structure for buildings with up to three storeys. However, their fire design is demanding given the lack of simplified design methods. This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the load-bearing behaviour of both unbraced and braced frames when exposed to fire.

In a previous paper, a numerical model for the fire design of these frames was established and validated with good agreement against fire tests. In the current paper, this model was used to compare the typical differences between braced, semi-braced and unbraced composite frames under fire conditions. Further studies addressed the effect of different heating regimes, i.e. partial fire exposure of the columns in the frames and varying location of the ISO standard fire.

Numerical investigations showed that it is necessary to take local failure and deformation limits of the fire-exposed frames into account. On this basis, unbraced composite frames can compete with braced frames as they have to endure less thermal restraints than braced frames.

In contrast to other investigations on frames, the numerical model is able to take into account the shear failure, which is especially important within the frame corners. Using this model, it is shown that limited sway is reasonable to reduce thermal restraints and hence local stresses. In this regard, the concept of semi-rigid composite joints with a distinct amount of reinforcement has proven to be very rational in fire design.

Although there is a growing international movement toward the use of engineered or performance‐based fire safety design, current practice is dominated by prescriptive‐based design. In prescriptive‐based fire safety design, only those requirements prescribed by appropriate building regulations, installation standards, or approved documents tend to be applied. Because these requirements typically include fire protection measures, such as fire detection and signaling systems, automatic sprinkler systems, fire compartmentation, and emergency egress systems, there is often an assumption that occupants, employees, and users of a facility will be safe should a fire occur. However, there are a variety of factors that could affect the actual fire safety of a facility that comply with the appropriate regulations. Fuel type, loading, configuration, and location can change, leading to an increase in fire risk. Occupants may not see, hear or understand fire alarm signals as fire alarm signals. Fire detection and signaling systems, fire suppression systems, or smoke management systems may not be 100 percent functional at all times. Fortunately, many of these factors can be controlled for, if they are understood and addressed, within a fire safety management plan. To assist with such planning, this paper discusses various human behavior and response issues that may affect life safety during a fire or emergency, and provides suggestions for integrating these issues into a fire safety management plan.

Considered alone, risk is static; the purpose of this paper is to illustrate risk not as static but as a fluid condition dependent, for example, upon circumstances of its context in changeable vulnerability and behavioural responses of people facing risk.

Psychology provides strong evidence of behavioural response when facing hazards; technological disasters providing more evidence of behavioural responses to hazards and risk than response to disasters assumed to be “natural”. Initial and subsequent behavioural responses may critically affect ultimate outcomes. Post-event inquiries into technological disasters have revealed actions and inactions which created or aggravated subsequent consequences and their aftermath.

Decisions taken at a Japanese school between the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and details of the 2017 fire at a tower-block in London, UK, indicate, in spite of training, that rigidity, uncertainty, hesitation or waver may affect critical decisions and their consequences. Pre- and post-disaster behaviour may not follow preferred patterns. Fear of imagined or real events may induce unanticipated denial of the reality of risk. Physical changes made after assessments of risk may not be recognised as affecting risk.

Few published examples exist of public inquiries following disasters assumed to be from natural causes.

Reports of inquiries into technological disasters provide significant examples of behavioural responses which, if replicated, may influence outcomes of disasters labelled as “natural”.

Awareness of risk as a fluid condition will facilitate realisation of effects upon risk of uncompleted or ongoing works, inappropriate behavioural responses, undeveloped resilience and of the need for regular reassessments of risk.

This study encourages comprehension of risk as an evolving and fluid condition.