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Fire & Life Safety Evaluation of the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building
Get PDFThe purpose of this report is to practically apply the information conveyed in the Cal Poly Fire Protection Engineering Master of Science program by selecting a building and analyzing prescriptive and performance-based design features that accomplish the building’s life safety strategy. The selected building is the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building is a three-story educational facility with business, education, and assembly occupancies. The fire safety strategy of the building depends on a fire alarm communication system, wet pipe sprinkler system, structural fire protection components, and egress elements to protect and safely evacuate the building’s 1,289 occupants. Egress elements analyzed included occupancy classifications and characteristics, occupant loads, exit quantities, qualities and capacities, and regulatory requirements for egress systems. Other topics discussed included human behavior in fire, emergency movement, and toxicity analysis. The main compliance issues identified during the egress analysis were occupancy misclassification, inadequate exit signage, and fire barriers not extending far enough.
The Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building has a wide variety of components as a part of its complex fire alarm system. The principal component is the Simplex fire alarm control panel. The fire alarm system has many kinds of initiation devices including smoke and heat detectors, manual pull stations, duct detectors, and the integrated sprinkler system. These devices trigger both audible and visual notification devices used in the building, which include strobes, and combination horn-strobes. The installed mass notification system also functions as an emergency communications system. This fire alarm system has a dedicated primary power supply and a secondary power supply to keep it running at all times. Finally, a rigorous inspection, testing, and maintenance program is in place to ensure a constant state of readiness. With only a few exceptions, the Goff Health Sciences Building met code requirements, proving that it has effective fire detection, alarm, and communications systems.
The fire suppression system in the Goff Building consists of a single wet pipe sprinkler system adequately supplied by the City of Oak Ridge public water system. Different aspects of this sprinkler system include the riser and its associated components, the different kinds of sprinkler piping and heads located in the building, and how they are supported using hangers and seismic bracing. Hydraulic calculations were performed and evaluated, confirming that the city water supply meets the demand of the existing sprinkler system. Finally, inspection, testing, and maintenance requirements were laid out and compared to the known upkeep of the system. Issues identified include the hydraulic calculation sheet not being properly secured, a possible change in hazard classification in Room 245, an obstructed sprinkler head located in the 3rd- floor hallway, the unsprinklered spaces above the lower hallway ceilings, and the misapplication of window sprinklers on the interior stairwell glass. Also, significantly problematic was the lack of a robust IT&M program or at least a lack of documentation of activities performed.
The Goff Health Sciences Building is steel-framed, built with Type IIB construction that does not require many structural fire protection elements. A detailed analysis of the different structural and architectural components indicates that the Goff Building is well within the structural code requirements in place when it was built, with the exception of some of the fire barriers separating the vertical exit stairways.
A performance-based design approach was also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Goff Building’s fire protection features. This was done by selecting specific performance criteria and using a comparison of Available Safe Egress Time (ASET) to Required Safe Egress Time (RSET) to determine if the building achieves its goal of life safety.
Design fire scenarios were presented to model when specific tenability limits are reached so a value for ASET can be assigned. Tenability limits were selected from Chapter 63 of the SFPE Handbook. They include a maximum allowable temperature of 121 °C and a smoke layer below 6 feet impinging on egress paths. The smoke criterion was selected for concerns of carbon monoxide poisoning and visibility reduction.
The first design fire selected occurs in a small office on the ground floor. The fire will initially start in a wastebasket and will proceed to ignite the contents of the room. The contents will be typical for an office space consisting of a desk, filing cabinet, computer, phone, a couple of chairs, and a reasonable amount of paper. It is assumed that the door has been left open. The technical justification for this fire is based on NFPA 101 “Design Fire Scenario 3”. This design fire would be directly across the hall from the largest lecture hall in the building. Regardless of whether the fire spreads into that space, a large fire coming out of the room would block egress out of the main emergency exit for the southeast wing. Additionally, a fire in this space would make access to the FACP in the adjacent electrical room difficult. With the compartment open to the hall, it was found to experience flashover conditions if no sprinkler activation occurs. This situation significantly affects both the egress and emergency communication aspects of the fire safety strategy.
The second design fire will occur in the main lobby on the first floor. The fire will start from a thrown cigarette and will ignite lobby furniture and spread to the other items in the space. This scenario assumes that the interior doors to both stairways are propped open. The technical justification for this design fire selection is based on NFPA 101 “Design Fire Scenario 2”. The special consideration for this fire determined that the smoke layer descended to the point that it hinders egress from the main level and the stairways. Calculations for temperature and smoke levels on the design fires were done using both manual methods and the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling program. They found that the Available Safe Egress Time to be approximately 4.7 minutes.
RSET was determined by summing together detection time, warning time, premovement time, and travel time. Detection and warning time are functions of the fire detection and alarm system within the Goff Building and were calculated using Zukoski plume correlations and FDS. Premovement was selected to be 74 seconds based on findings in a research paper about students in a 3-story educational building with similar occupant demographics. Emergency movement time for the Goff Building was calculated using the hydraulic model found in Chapter 59 of the SFPE Handbook. There are several assumptions made when using this model, including optimal use of exits, no interruptions in flow, and simultaneous beginning of egress. The model predicts total evacuation of the Goff Building in about 8 minutes.
For the proposed worst-case design fire scenarios, it was determined that RSET\u3eASET, demonstrating a weakness in the fire safety strategy, given the specific assumptions made. This fire safety evaluation for the Goff Building shows how much the fire safety strategy depends on the sprinkler system and stairways being maintained. The main recommendations for this report would be for the stairway fire resistance issues to be addressed and for the Emergency Management problems to be corrected, particularly regarding staff training and the upkeep of the sprinkler and alarm systems.
In conclusion, if the stairways and the sprinkler system function correctly, the Goff Health Sciences and Technology Building should be capable of accomplishing its fire safety strategy goal of life safety
The Mathematics Of Financial Portfolio Optimization Incorporating Environmental, Social, And Governance Score Information
Get PDFWe numerically investigate the effects that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores have on portfolio optimization with Modern Portfolio Theory assumptions and how ESG scores correlate with the market returns of a rated company\u27s stock. Additionally, we review and analyze a research paper published in the Journal of Financial Economics regarding ESG investing titled “Responsible investing: The ESG-efficient frontier” by Pedersen, Fitzgibbons, and Lukasz. Our overall goal is provide insight for socially responsible inclined investors, to help them understand what ESG scores tell us and how those scores may effect their overall investment returns
Little Free Library Project
Get PDFLittle Free Library is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting reading and literacy through community involvement by providing free book exchanges all over the world. The project was comprised of three phases, including design, construction, and installation. I began by identifying potential homeowners interested in hosting a library so that together we could come up with acceptable designs. This required close collaboration with the homeowners and resulted in unique, personalized designs for each library. Next came the construction phase, during which each library presented with its own challenges: the first library tested me with fundamental construction techniques; the second on intricate joinery and architectural elements; and the third pushed my creative problem-solving with its curved roof and mosaic tile exterior. Through this project, I gained valuable experience in client communication, design iteration, and project management. It was very rewarding to gain practical experience in project management while simultaneously leaving behind tangible improvements for the Cal Poly community
Fire and Life Safety Evaluation Western School of Science and Technology
Get PDFThis report evaluates the fire and life safety systems of the Western School of Science and Technology utilizing the prescriptive, and performance-based approach.
The Western School of Science and Technology is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The two- story building is 41,896 square feet and was designed and constructed with Type VB per a prescriptive based approach. The primary use of the building is for educational purposes for students grades 7 through 12 and classified as Educational (E) Occupancy.
The prescriptive based design evaluated the provisions of the building code and compliance with the egress, fire suppression, fire alarm, structural, and flammability requirements. The building was designed and constructed in 2015 per the 2012 International Building Code (IBC), and 2012 International Fire Code (IFC) with Phoenix amendments. The egress analysis was reviewed and determined that the occupant load, exit capacity, common path of egress travel, number of exits, arrangement of exits, and exit access travel distances met the code requirements. The building is protected with the automatic sprinkler system designed and installed per the 2013 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 13 Standard (Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler System.) The fire flow, water supply, and sprinkler system design were reviewed. The fire flow met the code requirements. The water supply for the onsite fire hydrants and sprinkler system followed the NFPA 24 (Standard for the Installation of Private Mains and their Appurtenances). The sprinkler system was hydraulically designed and complied with the NFPA 13. The building is also equipped with a fire alarm system designed and installed per the 2013 NFPA 72 Standard (Standard for National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code). and a voice alarm communication system. The location, spacing, and placement of initiating devices, notification appliances, mass notification systems, power requirements for fire alarm systems, and sequence of operation were evaluated, and it was found that the location and spacing of smoke detectors in some areas were insufficient and shall be redesigned. The provisions of the building code for the materials, systems, and assemblies used for structural fire resistance and fire-resistance-rated construction including allowable height and the number of stories, allowable floor area, fire resistance rating, smoke control, and interior finishes were reviewed, and complied with the code.
The other approach for the design and construction of the building\u27s structural elements, systems, and assemblies is a performance-based design method. In this design, alternative means and methods, typically through rational engineering analysis, tests, and simulations, will be used to show code compliance. The key element for this method is to define the objective and provide the calculations, simulations, models, and test results to evaluate the Available Safe Egress Time (ASET) and Required Safe Egress Time (RSET). ASET shall exceed RSET with a reasonable safety factor.
Two potential fire scenarios will be assessed to follow the performance-based design guideline and assess the fire safety objective for the building, gymnasium storage room fire, and office fire. The gymnasium storage room fire will be evaluated for ASET and RSET analysis in this report because of the high fuel load and proximity to the gymnasium which has the highest anticipated occupant load in the building.
Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model used to simulate the heat release rate, fire growth, detection time, and ASET. The 5 MW fuel load used for gymnasium storage room fire simulation. The visibility of a minimum of 10 m and a temperature of a maximum of 60°C will be used for tenability criteria thresholds. The ASET has been determined as 717 seconds, and the RSET has been calculated as 434 seconds.
The main goal of the Life Safety Code is occupant protection. A 20 percent safety factor in ASET/RSET analysis indicates that the performance-based design goal has been achieved, and occupants could evacuate the building without exposure to untenable conditions. The margin of safety of 283 seconds and the safety factor of 1.65 have been determined for ASET/RSET analysis which are very conservative safety measures for performance-based design egress analysis.
This report has been prepared to address both prescriptive and performance-based design methods for fire resistance, fire protection, and egress analysis for the building. The fire protection engineering evaluation is limited to passive systems, such as fire resistance rating and primary structural elements. The performance-based evaluation assesses the ASET/RSET analysis.
The gymnasium has a high ceiling in comparison with the remainder of the 1st floor. The smoke and hot gases shall fill all the void spaces before descending to 1.8 m above the floor. This building feature increases the ASET. Installation of heat and smoke vents or mechanical exhaust fans in the gymnasium would significantly enhance the ASET and margin of safety in ASET/RSET analysis
Bird Trail Stairway Access Replacement
Get PDFDana Adobe & Cultural Center, a non-profit organization in Nipomo, California, seeks to restore access to the Bird Trail located on their site. This project aims to design and manufacture a replacement stairway for safe creek bed crossing on the trail. Within this document, we have detailed our system design, function, and justification for our design. The procurement, manufacturing, and assembly plan have been outlined along with tests we completed.
One of the most important functions of our design is for the structure to be retractable so that it can be removed from the creek bed when needed. To address this, our design consists of a wooden staircase that retracts via an archway, pulley, and winch system. The testing of our final prototype was successful, and we were able to retract the structure per the required specifications. While we did have to adjust our design slightly due to testing location constraints, our final design would consist of a permanently cemented steel archway to ensure minimal deflection of the arch when the staircase is retracted.
Based on our calculations, our staircase system had a factor of safety of 1.5 at its weakest point of operation. We would recommend increasing the strength of the pulleys so that a factor of safety of at least 2 could be achieved at all points of operation. While a lower factor of safety is sufficient, to ensure safe, long-term usage, above 2 is ideal. Following the testing of our final prototype, we feel confident in our design and are optimistic that it can serve our sponsor and the community well
