Purpose: This paper explores the quality and flow of facade product information and the capabilities for avoiding the risk of facade fires early in the design process. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study using the process tracing method is conducted in two stages. First, a thematic analysis of reports and literature identified two categories for the problems that caused fast fire spread across the Grenfell Tower facade. This enabled classifying the identified problems into four stages of a facade life cycle: product design and manufacturing, procurement, facade design and construction. Second, the capabilities for avoiding the problems were explored by conducting in-depth interviews with 18 experts in nine countries, analyzing design processes and designers' expertise and examining the usability of three digital interfaces in providing required information for designing fire-safe facades. Findings: The results show fundamental flaws in the quality of facade product information and usability of digital interfaces concerning fire safety. These flaws, fragmented design processes and overreliance on other specialists increase the risk of design defects that cause fast fire spread across facades. Practical implications: The findings have implications for standardization of building product information, digitalization in industrialized construction and facade design management. Originality/value: This research adds to the body of knowledge on sustainability in the built environment. It is the first study to highlight the fundamental problem of facade product information, which requires urgent attention in the rapid transition toward digital and industrialized construction. © 2022, Soheila Bahrami and Davood Zeinali.

The possibility to subdivide a deck of a ro-ro ship to contain heat and smoke by means of a fabric curtain descending from the ceiling (i.e., the deckhead) is studied experimentally using a reduced-scale experimental setup. As an important part of the study, the requirements of the international convention of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) are investigated for so-called ‘open ro-ro decks’ in comparison with ‘closed ro-ro decks’. To analyse the experiments, sensors are used to measure the opacity levels as well as the gas temperatures and concentrations. These measurements helped quantify the degree of stratification of the smoke, its concentration of soot, and carbon monoxide levels, making it possible to analyze the effects of containment induced by the fabric curtain. The results show that the fabric curtain considerably reduces the gas temperatures and the soot concentration upstream of the curtain if it descends completely (i.e., to the floor level), while it does not disturb the stratification of smoke. The containment of smoke is more enhanced when multiple fabric curtains are used, and a comparison with a water curtain shows that the fabric curtain offers better smoke containment. Finally, the most optimal containment effect is achieved using a system that combines a fabric curtain with a water curtain. 

Every year, fires aboard roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ships result in costly damage to ships and their cargo and, fortunately less frequently, in tragic loss of life. On the other hand, statistical studies have shown that a large proportion of major fire accidents originated in the vehicle decks. To improve the issue of vehicle-deck fires on board ro-ro ships, a performance-based simulation tool was developed to quantify the consequences of these fires on people, ship, and cargo. This tool combines a deterministic computational fluid dynamics model to assess the fire consequences in the vehicle decks and open areas of the ship; a stochastic network model in the accommodation spaces; and a deterministic evacuation model to evaluate the consequences of fire to people on board. This article briefly presents the numerical tools used and their extension to ro-ro ships, then the results obtained for selected fire scenarios on two generic ro-ro ships, varying the location of the fire source, wind conditions, and including one accidental situation due to a loss of integrity of the insulation at the ceiling of the deck from which the fire originated and one scenario where some openings of this deck were closed. People evacuation was simulated for the accidental scenario. Fire consequences are further evaluated in terms of human survivability, in compliance with the life safety performance criteria of the International Maritime Organization, damage to the ship and cargo. A qualitative comparison with reported accident data is presented to assess the consistency of model results.

Experiments have been conducted at LEMTA to evaluate the containment of thermal radiation using water curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship’s cargo deck with a scale of 1 to 12.5, providing data for future numerical simulations. The water curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the radiation source is an electric black body at 550ºC. The containment effect in terms of radiative attenuation is evaluated by comparing the radiation levels with and without water curtains measured using a multispectral infrared camera.

Experiments have been conducted to evaluate the containment of smoke and heat using water mist curtains in a model setup of a ro-ro ship's cargo deck with a scale of 1:13, providing practical insights into the application of such fire protection systems in the cargo deck as well as valuable data for future numerical simulations. In this regard, the requirements of the international convention of Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) are studied for the side openings of so-called ‘open decks’ in comparison with ‘closed decks’, especially to examine the feasibility of using water mist curtains for creating isolated subdivisions in the ro-ro space as a fire management strategy. The water mist curtains are created with one or two rows of water mist nozzles at pressures ranging from 3 to 8 bar, while the source of smoke and heat is a liquid pool fire, and inert cargo items are used in some experiments. Correspondingly, the interaction between the water mist curtain(s) and the fire is evaluated in terms of its heat release rate, and the containment effect is quantified via measurements of smoke flow through the deck and through the windows, concentrations of gaseous species, as well as gas temperatures at various key locations. The study shows that water mist curtains have a strong effect on fire dynamics and smoke propagation, but containment is dependent on the configuration of side openings and the location of fire, among other important factors.

The present document is the result of a study led by the Fire Research and Innovation Centre (FRIC), aiming to help enhance the fire safety of new technologies in buildings. Accordingly, the study firstly evaluates the technology of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) to identify its related fire risks for buildings and to propose fire safety measures that allow mitigating the identified risks. V2G is an alternative technology for enhanced energy storage and the use of renewable energy in buildings. This technology uses the batteries of Electric Vehicles (EVs) to store energy and then returns an optimal amount of the stored energy to the power grid when needed. The present document evaluates the fire hazards of EV batteries integrated with V2G technology and provides an overview of the existing regulations as well as developing standards in this area. Secondly, the study evaluates the technology of smart ventilation systems, i.e., systems that employ sensors to improve indoor ventilation quality and its efficiency in terms of energy consumption. The present document evaluates the influence of such systems on fire safety in buildings, especially from the perspective of their interaction with fire suppression systems.