Compartmentation: for fire containment

Submitted by: Parinita choudhary,

VIII Sem, ABS, B-Arch.

Architectural features for Compartmentation:

 Compartment Sizes
 Construction Requirements
 Openings
 Penetrations and Seals
 External Fire Spread
 Cavity Barriers
 Protection of essential Services

Objective:
Fire compartments are generally included in bldg design to limit the fire and smoke spread so
that people have longer time to escape. With the fire being contained the fire brigades are not
faced with an acceptable large fire, and building is not subjected to extreme damage.

Factors affecting Compartmentation:

 Occupancy Load
 Building type or purpose
 Fire load
 Height
 Active fire systems

For buildings higher than 60m, external fire fighting becomes difficult and thus it is very
important to incorporate built in fire protection measures in the bldg itself to limit the spread
of fire and smoke.

Compartment sizes:
Compartment walls and floors are
constructed to separate areas in a
bldg with different users, and to
reduce the max likely size of fire.
This places a limit on the quantity
of materials which can be
consumed by a fire.

Figure: The concept of Fire

Compartmentation
It has been realized that not only thickness of construction materials of the compartment and
boundaries determine the temperature attained in a fire but the geometry of the compartment
also has effect on the severity of the fire.

Factors governing size and shape of Compartment:

 More combustible contents, smaller the size of compartment.
 Deeper or high ceiling compartments tend to produce severer fires than shallow or
low ceiling compartments.
 To base compartment limits on floor area rather than volume; Storage buildings being
an exception.
 Escalator presents a special problem and whilst it is possible to contain them within a
shaft enclosure

In this way, large atria and shopping malls are free from unnecessary restrictions on their size
due to their well defined use and fire load. An atrium of a given area is usually safer than a
2.5m ht room of the same area, as there is larger surface area for dissipation of heat and
because smoke cools as it rises, it is often impossible to reach flash over temperatures at the
atrium roof which means that fire severity is limited.

It is common to divide compartments on a floor to floor basis. Then the exit from each floor
to lifts, staircase, or any other escape routes should have an equivalent level of fire and smoke
resistance as the compartment.

Compartment floor, walls, separations and lobbies should be constructed so that all joints are
completely filled with non-combustible material to prevent passage of smoke or flame.
It shall be provided in bldg over 30m where phase evacuation is the philosophy.

Construction requirements-
It is specified in its fire resistance period. Fire resistance of an element is determined by its
ability to resist fire by retaining its load bearing capacity, integrity and insulation, and is
measured in hours of resistance.

Load bearing capacity: capacity to carry load without collapse.

Integrity: ability to resist development of cracks.
Insulation: ability to resist heat transfer from one face to the other.

Figure: load bearing capacity, integrity and insulation.

These are important for:
1. Load bearing capacity: As a str. element
2. Insulation: To subdivide the bldg
3. Integrity: horizontally & vertically

The design of bldg and materials used are important factors for making the bldg resistant to
complete burn out and preventing the rapid spread of fire, smoke or fumes. Compartment will
also depend on the function, purpose and classification of bldg type. For ex, a storage ware
house would require more fire resistance than office due to comparatively high fire load
content.

As per NBC for bldg above 15m, non-combustible materials are used for construction.

The insulation requirement of a bldg is important as:

1. If the bldg element is insulated any services or combustible material will not be
ignited.
2. It will allow passage of human beings without damage on other side of separating
element

Figure: continuity of fire resistance

in construction joints.

For a compartment to be effective there should be continuity at the junctions of the fire
resisting elements enclosing the compartment, such as construction joints and any openings
from one to another.
Openings:

The main principle is that the floor and walls of the compartment must be maintained. There
should be no weak points or cavities within the fire and smoke barriers. All compartment
openings should be sealed.
The use of fire resistant door is important but it is equally important that all components to be
used must have relevant fire test evidence. It is important that material used for sealing must
be fire resistant.

Penetrations and seals:

The HVAC and mechanical trades interferes with Compartmentation any time their system
penetrates them. All penetrations must be sealed and protected to maintain the integrity of
fire separation. This is done by fire stopping around the penetrations, and in case of ducts, by
providing fire dampers that will contain the fire on one side of separation.
Any service ducts which pass thru compartment walls or floor must be designed to provide
equal level of fire resistance. Any small gaps or imperfections must be stopped.
As per NBC, openings in floor and walls for services must be protected by enclosures having
FR more than 2hr. Further, the space between the conduits and wall shall be filled with filler
material.

External fire spread:

External flaming can allow fire spread to
upper floors. It also poses threat to the
stability of external structural members.
Convective and radiation heating
may break windows and ignite
combustible material on the floor above.
Fire could spread from one
compartment to neighbouring to involve
entire bldg and other bldg in vicinity.
The construction and behaviour
of external walls and roof
therefore is important in
preventing external spread
of fire.

The risk of ignition and flame spread between adjoining areas of same bldg or surrounding
bldgs can be omitted with the use of fire rated glazing system.

Cavity barriers:
Fire and smoke often spread within ceiling voids, wall cavity or under raised floors from one
compartment to other. Barriers which coincide with the position of a compartment wall or
floor should provide the same fire performance with respect to integrity and insulation.

Cavity barriers between compartment

walls need 30 min integrity, 15 min
insulation. If they coincide with the wall,
then they should have same insulation and
integrity as the walls.

Protection of essential services:

These include:
 Cables for lift, pump, smoke detector, fire alarm.
 Computer cables
 Telecommunication cables
 Wet risers
 Gas pipe

Adequate fire resistance protection should be provided to these services. They can be
enclosed in a fire resistant ductwork made of fire protection material such as calcium silicate
linings. In case of cables fire resistant cable ducts are tested in order to ensure that the
temperature rise inside duct will not exceed 120 degrees C.

Fibre-optic cables will fail at lower temperature and require thicker fire protection lining.