Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 7: Fire Engineering 7 - 11 4.2 Choice of optimum design approach The choice of the design approach depends on the type of building (storage building, industrial building, commercial building, etc.), the requirements specified in the corresponding national fire regulation and the acceptance or not by the regulatory authorities of applying a performance-based approach as an alternative to prescriptive rules. Some suggestions on the choice of fire design approach are given below. With the diversity of requirement, the most important first step is to answer the following:  What is the required fire resistance rating, if any?  Is it possible to carry-out a performance-based approach? When a prescriptive approach is to be used (with reference to standard fire design):  It may be appropriate to use simplified calculation models where low fire resistance ratings (R15 or R30) are required for structural members  Advanced calculation models must be used where structural members are not covered by the simplified calculation models. They can also be employed with some economic benefits for steel structure where high fire resistance ratings (higher than R60) are required, reducing the thickness of fire protection on steel members. Where the performance-based approach is accepted by the regulatory authorities and structural stability is needed:  A performance-based approach is most likely to be beneficial where the structure is unusual and may not be well covered by traditional prescriptive methods  Localised fire protection may be needed, considering the overall behaviour of the whole structure in a real fire, to ensure adequate life safety for the building occupants and firemen. National fire regulations may require the use of the performance based approach for single-storey buildings with significant fire risks (high fire loads). National fire regulations may allow a performance-based fire safety design to refer to simple rules and design recommendations for single-storey buildings. Such approaches are given in §5.4 and Appendix A. Other design guidance and recommendations can be found in reference [12] . Active fire protection measures (installation of sprinklers, fire detectors, fire alarms, smoke exhaust systems) and passive fire protection measures (compartmentation, egress facilities, etc.) are usually implemented in buildings in accordance with the requirements in fire national regulations.