Research project NO/B/006 (Research action NO)
The objectives of the project are as follows:
- to support and promote standardization by filling in certain gaps in the area;
- to remove certain commercial barriers resulting from fire safety regulations and decrease construction costs;
- to support Belgian authorities in order to accelerate the effective application of the European directives.
Achieving these objectives will require the development and application of digital simulation models. The effort to establish international standards and regulations is developing rapidly from empirical studies towards a more scientific and technical approach based on mathematical modelling applying the basic laws of physics. Such models have been validated in experimental results.
Most of the models applied come from the following families:
- heat transfer models used to measure temperature distribution in solid materials;
- model calculations based on fluid dynamics (CFD) which make it possible to calculate flux and heat transfer in fluids.
Specifically, the study will attempt to:
- fill in several significant gaps in the fire resistance section of the Eurocodes which are currently in the process of becoming ENVs. The SAFIR modelling programme will facilitate predicting temperature distribution in construction materials and the appropriate structural response. The programme will require some adaptation. We will also proceed to experimental verification on the basis of a limited number of full scale tests.
- apply the CFD model (model calculations based on fluid dynamics) to certain are as such as:
. the selection and validation of a number of simple models to predict the effects of heat on steel structures in industrial buildings where
the risk of fire is limited;
. the validation of Belgian standard NBN S 21-208 Section I, smoke and heat conduction;
. the verification of the existing sub-models of the propagation of flames over surfaces in the area of reaction to fires.
Summary of the final report:
See Dutch version or French version
Programme d'appui à la normalisation nationale et européenne en sécurité incendie : Rapport final
Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2003 (SP1168)
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