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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.

House fire risk would be minimised if fire safety principles were incorporated at the design stage. This issue is rarely addressed in the literature. The purpose of this study is to propose a multi-criteria decision-making framework to evaluate fire risk of detached house designs in the United Arab Emirates and countries of similar cultural background.

The framework was developed based on function areas where (detached) house fires start, expert opinion and recommendations derived from the published literature on residential fire safety. This framework was applied to a sample of ten public detached house designs to check the applicability of the framework and to determine how safe these designs are from a fire safety perspective.

The proposed framework is proven to be an effective preliminary fire risk evaluation tool of detached house designs, and more research is needed in this area.

The proposed framework is an encouraging first step in incorporating fire risk minimisation at the design stage of detached houses based on determining the preferred location of function areas but requires further development and validation, especially in other design settings.

The proposed framework is an initial endeavour in helping designers of detached houses to minimise fire risk and its potential effects on residents.

This research proposes a way to minimise fire risk at the design stage of detached houses.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the design and operation factors that affect the provision of fire‐safe student housing facilities, and to present the development of a proposed operational framework for fire safety evaluation of student housing facilities.

The paper identifies the causes of fire accidents in student housing facilities and classifies the factors that make it a high fire‐risk type of facility. It identifies several common design deficiencies contributing to student housing fires and reviews measures to prevent fires in student housing facilities. The paper also presents a series of guidelines for use by facility managers for the provision of safe facilities.

The proposed operational framework for fire safety evaluation in student housing facilities consists of five sequential processes, namely: archival and document evaluation; development of an audit worksheet; commencement of the walk‐through inspection; reporting of inspection findings; and development of a plan for remedial actions.

This paper serves to increase the awareness about fires and their devastating effects in residential university facilities. The paper provides practical value to the design professional of student housing projects, student housing administrators, and facility managers responsible for the daily operation of student housing facilities.

The purpose of this paper is to present the development and implementation of a qualitative, code-compliance framework for property managers of student housing facilities.

The paper identified the fire safety code requirements for student housing facilities and arranged these requirements in the form of a checklist, which was further validated by professional experts. Additionally, the paper presented an IDEF₀ (Integrated Definition for Function Modeling) framework model that illustrates a stepwise process for the deployment of the checklist. A case study was conducted on three similar student housing facilities in a university campus to demonstrate the application of the framework. Furthermore, the findings from the case study were reported along with recommendations to improve the degree of compliance with the requirements of fire safety codes.

The developed framework was validated by professional experts and through a case study. Fire safety provisions were mostly found to be adequate in the case study building. The authors proposed several actions to improve the current status of fire safety in the building.

The paper serves to disseminate awareness about the occurrence of fires, their severe consequences and precautionary measures in student housing facilities. It also provides a standardized checklist for ease of use by property managers who may be unable to understand the technical terminologies found in fire safety codes and standards. Thus, the developed framework is of tangible value to property managers, building specialists and student housing administrators.

Despite recognizing the significance of risk-based frameworks in fire safety engineering, the usual approach in structural fire design is largely member/component level, wherein effect of uncertainties influencing the fire resistance of structures are not explicitly considered. In this context, a probabilistic framework is presented to investigate the vulnerability of a reinforced concrete (RC) members and structure under fire loading scenario.

The RC structures exposed to fire are modeled in a finite element (FE) platform incorporating material and geometric nonlinearity, in which the transient thermo-mechanical analysis is carried out by suitably incorporating the temperature variation of thermal and mechanical properties of both concrete and steel rebar. The stochasticity in the system is considered in structural resistance, thermal and fire model parameters, and the subsequent fragility curves are developed considering threshold limit state of deflection.

The fire resistance of RC structure is reported to be significantly lower in comparison to the RC members, thereby illustrating the current prescriptive design approaches based on studies of structural member behavior to be crucial from a safety and reliability point of view.

The framework developed for the vulnerability assessment of RC structures under fire hazard through FE analysis can be effectively used to estimate the structural fire resistance for other similar structure to enhance safety and reliability of structures under such extreme threats.

The paper proposes a novel methodology for vulnerability assessment of three-dimensional RC structures under fire hazard through FE analysis and provides comparison of the structural fragility with fragility developed for structural members. Moreover, the research emphasizes to assume 3D behavior of the structure rather than the approximate 2D behavior.

This paper aims to develop a framework to assess the reliability of structures subject to a fire following an earthquake (FFE) event. The proposed framework is implemented in one seamless programming environment and is used to analyze an example nine-story steel moment-resisting frame (MRF) under an FFE. The framework includes uncertainties in load and material properties at elevated temperatures and evaluates the MRF performance based on various limit states.

Specifically, this work models the uncertainties in fire load density, yield strength and modulus of elasticity of steel. The location of fire compartment is also varied to investigate the effect of story level (lower vs higher) and bay location (interior vs exterior) of the fire on the post-earthquake performance of the frame. The frame is modeled in OpenSees to perform non-linear dynamic, thermal and reliability analyses of the structure.

Results show that interior bays are more susceptible than exterior bays to connection failure because of the development of larger tension forces during the cooling phase of the fire. Also, upper floors in general are more probable to reach specified damage states than lower floors because of the smaller beam sizes. Overall, results suggest that modern MRFs with a design that is governed by inter-story drifts have enough residual strength after an earthquake so that a subsequent fire typically does not lead to results significantly different compared to those of an event where the fire occurs without previous seismic damage. However, the seismic damage could lead to larger fire spread, increased danger to the building as a whole and larger associated economic losses.

Although the paper focuses on FFE, the proposed framework is general and can be extended to other multi-hazard scenarios.

This paper aims to describe current trends in probabilistic structural fire engineering and provides a comprehensive summary of the state-of-the-art of performance-based structural fire engineering (PSFE).

PSFE has been introduced to overcome the limitations of current conventional design approaches used for the design of fire-exposed structures, which investigate assumed worst-case fire scenarios and include multiple thermal and structural analyses. PSFE permits buildings to be designed in relation to a level of life safety or economic loss that may occur in future fire events with the help of a probabilistic approach.

This paper brings together existing research on various sources of uncertainty in probabilistic structural fire engineering, such as elements affecting post-flashover fire development, material properties, fire models, fire severity, analysis methods and structural reliability.

Prediction of economic loss would depend on the extent of damage, which is further dependent on the structural response. The representative prediction of structural behaviour would depend on the precise quantification of the fire hazard. The incorporation of major uncertainty sources in probabilistic structural fire engineering is explained, and the detailed description of a pioneering analysis method called incremental fire analysis is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of a geographical information system (GIS) testing framework that was used to test a fire prevention support GIS.

A year‐long case study was undertaken concerning the testing of a fire prevention support GIS in a UK fire and rescue service.

The GIS testing framework developed involved testing the different components of a GIS, testing their interactions, and then testing the system as a whole. Since GISs contain different components such as spatial analyses and map‐based output, this supports the adoption of a different testing framework compared to existing types of information systems.

GISs will typically be used by organisations for decision making. Clearly if the information presented by a GIS is inaccurate, unrepresentative, or unreliable, then the decision‐making process can be undermined.

This is particularly important with regard to GISs used by emergency services (such as the fire and rescue service studied) where lives could potentially be put at risk by erroneous information provided by such systems.

Previous research had indicated that GISs may be inadequately tested. The framework developed for GISs testing provided a systematic testing approach, reducing the likelihood of errors in such systems.

The lack of reference architecture for Internet of Things (IoT) modeling impedes the successful design and implementation of an IoT-based production logistics and supply chain system (PLSCS). The authors present this study in two parts to address this research issue. Part A proposes a unified IoT modeling framework to model the dynamics of distributed IoT processes, IoT devices, and IoT objects. The models of the framework can be leveraged to support the implementation architecture of an IoT-based PLSCS. The second part (Part B) of this study extends the discussion of implementation architecture proposed in Part A. Part B presents an IoT-based cyber-physical system framework and evaluates its performance. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper adopts a design research approach, using ontology, process analysis, and Petri net modeling scheme to support IoT system modeling.

The proposed IoT system-modeling approach reduces the complexity of system development and increases system portability for IoT-based PLSCS. The IoT design models generated from the modeling can also be transformed to implementation logic.

The proposed IoT system-modeling framework and the implementation architecture can be used to develop an IoT-based PLSCS in the real industrial setting. The proposed modeling methods can be applied to many discrete manufacturing industries.

The IoT modeling framework developed in this study is the first in this field which decomposes IoT system design into ontology-, process-, and object-modeling layers. A novel implementation architecture also proposed to transform above IoT system design models into implementation logic. The developed prototype system can track product and different parts of the same product along a manufacturing supply chain.

Perforated composite beams are an increasingly popular choice in the construction of buildings because they can provide a structurally and materially efficient design solution while also facilitating the passage of services. The purpose of this paper is to examine the behaviour of restrained perforated beams, which act compositely with a profiled slab and are exposed to fire. The effect of surrounding structure on the composite perforated beam is incorporated in this study using a virtual hybrid simulation framework. The developed framework could also be used to analyse other structural components in fire.

A finite element model is developed using OpenSees and OpenFresco using a virtual hybrid simulation technique, and the accuracy of the model is validated using available fire test data. The validated model is used to investigate some of the most salient parameters such as the degree of axial and rotational restraint, arrangement of the openings and different types of fire on the overall fire behaviour of composite perforated beams.

It is shown that both axial and rotational restraint have a considerable effect on time-displacement behaviour and the fire performance of the composite perforated beam. It is observed that the rate of heating and the consequent development of elevated temperature in the section have a significant effect on the fire behaviour of composite perforated beams.

The paper will improve the knowledge of readers about modelling the whole system behaviour in structural fire engineering and the presented approach could also be used for analysing different types of structural components in fire conditions.