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Passive Fire Protection in Building

Construction
1. Introduction
1.1 Fire prevention
 Fire prevention is a crucial consideration for
those who are responsible for the design,
specification, and construction of new and
refurbished buildings. It also plays a significant
consideration in the ongoing maintenance of
occupied premises. As causes of fire are often
unpredictable, design measures are taken to
influence the formation and spread of fire, smoke
and toxic gasses.

 Fire safety in buildings covers the safety of oc-

cupants, fire fighters, building and contents to-
gether with the buildings in the vicinity. It is nec-
essary to reduce to within acceptable limits the
potential threats to occupants during the course
of evacuation. It is also necessary to reduce the
fire damage to the building and its contents;
therefore it is essential to contain the fire as
much as possible within the vicinity of its origin.

Effective firefighting in a building is often achieved through a combination of

Active and Passive systems, and they should be designed and used in conjunction
with each other to create a balanced approach to fire protection

1.2 Active systems

 Active systems are designed to react on the Both systems usually depend on a reliable power
outbreak of a fire, heat or smoke. These systems source and must be regularly inspected and
are primarily in the form of detection and maintained to remain effective during the life cycle
suppression. of the building.

 Detection systems such as smoke or heat are

designed to activate relevant systems as well as
alerting occupants in the building, starting the
evacuation process.

 Suppression systems are designed to prevent

the growth of the fire by means of sprinkler
systems, halogen installations, fire extinguishers
or other proactive mechanical systems.
1.3 Passive systems
Passive fire prevention is an integral component which is designed to be built into the fabric of the structure,
and require no additional energy or human intervention to act.

Passive protection includes elements of the building construction such as structural protection,
compartmentation and can also support smoke management systems by providing fire resistance to smoke
extract ducts.

1.4 Structual fire protection

Fire resistance of structural elements would ensure that they are structurally
stable when exposed to fire and therefore occupants and fire brigades are not
exposed to the risk of a collapse of the structure.

Many building material suffer from loss of strength when exposed to high
temperatures and the behavior of such materials differ greatly.

1.5 Smoke management system

Smoke behaves very differently depending on building design, but the primary
objective is to reduce the hazard due to smoke by controlling its movement, and
by reducing its concentration to increase visibility.

1.6 Compartmentation
 There is one globally applied prin- viding protected escape routes, ex-
ciple for fire safety which forms tending the evacuation & response
the basis for controlling the spread times, and minimising building
of fire, smoke & toxic gasses. It is damage.
compartmentation, also known as
fire cells/compartments.  This is achieved by dividing or
sub-dividing the building into a
 Fire cells/compartments are gener- series of zones separated with fire
ally included in the building design rated elements such as walls and
to limit the spread of fire, smoke & floors.
toxic gasses by containing the fire
in a certain vicinity of the building,
for a set period of time, thus pro-
The fire resistance of an element is determined by its ability to resist fire by maintaining its stability
(load capacity), integrity and insulation which is normally expressed in hours of resistance. The three
requirements can be defined as:

 Stability (load bearing capacity) – is the ability of  Insulation – is the ability of the element to
the element to maintain the load without collapse. prevent heat transfer from one element face to
another.
 Integrity – is the ability of the element to resist
the development of cracks or voids allowing the
passage of flames, smoke or toxic gasses to pass.

2. Basic knowledge
2.1 The fire triangle
 Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the
EN

exothermic chemical process of combustion,

HE
YG

emitting heat, light, flame and the emission of

AT
OX

sound.There are three elements, heat, fuel and

oxygen which form a fire triangle and each
element needs to be present to sustain the
oxidation process. Therefore the principle to
extinguish or control a fire would be to remove FUEL
one of these elements.

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) a fire can be classified by the
type of fuel they burn:
 Class A  Class C
Combustible solid material such as wood, Energized electrical fires such as wiring,
paper, fabric, plastic circuit breakers or fuse boxes
 Class B  Class D
Combustible liquids and gasses such as Combustible metals such as magnesium,
oil, gasoline, paint, methane, hydrogen, sodium, potassium, titanium, zirconium
acetylene

2.2 Extinguishing
 For each class of fire there are various options However, caution must be taken to use the
for suppression, these are designed to suit the correct extinguishing method for each class of
characteristic of each class of material, whether fire or it could have an adverse effect.
that be to remove the oxygen flow, cool the heat
being generated or remove the fuel state, which
will extinguish the fire.
2.3 Fire growth
Fire generally starts small and increases with time and undergoes a number of phases from the
ignition to decay by extinguishing or suppression. There are four stages in total:

 Stage 1 – Growth, also known as ignition, in-  Stage 3 – Steady or can be known as stable.
volves bringing together a heat source and a Overall compartment temperature layer at ceil-
suitable fuel in a way that a continuing combus- ing increases.
tion results.

 Stage 2 – Development, a plume of smoke  Stage 4 – Decay or can be known as cooling,

begins to develop, the temperature of fire Heat release declines as fuel is consumed,
gasses increases and begins to move away from volume of fire diminishes, temperature of
centerline of plume. compartment declines, fuel is reduced to mass
of glowing members.
► Flashover – Temperature rapidly increases,
additional fuel packages become available, fuel
packages release combustible gasses, flashover
occurs when compartment temperature reaches
+500 °C.
Active fire protection Passive fire protection

Temperature Time

Initiation Growth „Steady“ state Decay

The illustration shows the four stages
and where active and passive fire Stage 1 - Slow burring Stage 2 - Development of Stage 3/4 - Prevention of fire spread to other compartments.

protection measures will act.

heat and fume Capacity of building elements is maintained

2.4 Spread
Fire could spread from one compartment to another with the loss of integrity of the fire resisting element
such as an open door, or unsealed openings for services such as pipes, cables, ventilation or unsealed
openings around such services. It could also be possible for a fire to spread through external flames
projecting via the façade to the upper floors or adjacent building in the vicinity.

Additionally, when looking at fire protection we need to consider heat transfer or insulation value that
would be required in order to maintain the seal or element as designed.
2.5 Reaction & resistance to fire
The reaction of a material in a fire is often confused with the
resistance of an element in a fire:
 Reaction to fire relates to the  Resistance to fire determines the
combustibility and ignitability likely behavior of an element of
of a material i.e. its contribution construction when subjected to
to fire development and spread, a fully developed fire.
rather than its ability to resist the
passage of fire.

2.6 Areas of application

Fire cells/compartments are generally included in the building design as a requirement
of the buildings functional or intended use. Over the life cycle of the building these
cells/compartments may change, in size shape or requirement. However, the four
application areas which should always be considered and could hinder the compartmentation
principle are:

 Construction joints  Cavity barriers

► A construction joint or movement joint is ► Cavity barriers are usually considered

an assembly designed to safely absorb the between two ’skins‘ separated by a hollow
heat-induced expansion and contraction space (cavity). The skins can be either
of construction materials; it also absorbs masonry brick / concrete block or drywall
vibration and allows movement due to systems. They have been design to divide
ground settlement, thermal expansion or the area into separate spaces.
earthquakes.

 Service penetrations  Membrane barriers

► A service penetration is an opening designed ► Membrane barrier is an opening made

and created to accommodate the passage of through one side of the cavity wall, floor,
a mechanical, electrical service or structural ceiling of an assembly allowing exposure to
element. the cavity.
3. How firestop products work
Firestop products are designed to work in different ways to withstand the thermal and mechanical
pressures applied during a fire, whilst maintaining its functionality as a firestop.

 Intumescent insulating (Char Forming) - is a  Intumescent with pressure (Graphite) – a more

substance that swells as a result of heat or flame substantial charring is generated in conjunction
exposure, it increases in volume and decreases with a quantifiable expansion pressure. The
in density. Upon exposure to heat the material material can be used around nonmetallic service
produces a light charring (Carbon) to its outer penetrations. The expansion closes the void
surface to form an insulating layer. The charred that would have developed once the service
surface is a poor conductor of heat and protects penetration had melted and burned away.
the covered surface.

 Fire Resistant – is a non-burning material which  Endothermic – is a chemical reaction which

does not decompose and remains integral absorbs energy (heat) and releases water vapor
throughout the fire. to cool the surface.

4. Fire testing, assessment and certification

In many buildings there is a requirement for Therefore a number of test standards are used to
products and materials to resist the passage of fire show the performance of a product or assembly
and its byproducts. These products and materials under a generalised fire situation. In a generalised
help to control the growth and spread of the fire. fire test, the specimen is exposed to a controlled
As explained above, the location and period of internationally-accepted standard time/temperature
fire resistance required for construction products and pressure regime which is intended to represent
is determined by the relevant legislation, codes of a post flashover condition. Flashover is the point
practice or the accepting authority. at which all objects in the fire test have ignited. In
an actual (real) fire, the time period
to flashover can vary depending on
aspects such as the nature of the fire
load, compartment size and shape
and the available ventilation. The
performance of the test specimen
is monitored on the base criteria as
described in the relevant standard.
 The Test Report: Once a product has been may include other tests such as ambient or low
tested, a report will be issued that will contain temperature smoke leakage tests. The classifica-
all details of the tested specimen, together tion report and a field of direct applications will
with information on the size / configuration give the scope of use of the product.
of the sample. The test report itself is a purely
factual document, stating times to failure of the  Assessment Report: Can be produced to bring
specimen and other relevant information such all items of test data into a single document, the
as observations taken at time of test, graphs Assessment Report will clearly define the full
showing furnace and specimen temperatures scope of the product.
and distortions.

 The Classification Report: A classification re-

port can be written in accordance with BS EN
13501-2 after an EN test or series of tests which

5. Standards
A series of fire standards have been developed and produced for use in different countries over the years,
for example: - UK use the BS476 series (British Standard Institute), while Germany use the DIN 4102 series
(Deutsches Institut fur Normung), and the Americans follow the ASTM series (American Society of Testing
Materials) however with the advent of a harmonised European system EN fire classification is now being
used in preparation for CE Marking of the product.

5.1 European & CE marking

In the case of fire stopping materials, the product It is important to consider that whilst the above test
standard has been produced by EOTA (European methods and classification deal with the resistance
Organisation for Technical Approvals) under to fire requirements, generally this is not enough for
direction for the European Commission, and is CE marking.
known as European Technical Approval The CPR (Construction Products
Guideline, ETAG 026, to which there Regulation) lays out six essential
are three parts. requirements (ER’s) that may need
At the European level, new harmonised to be satisfied before a product can
fire classification systems have been be placed into the European market.
introduced, including BS EN 13501- ETAG 026 will allow a Notified Body to
1 and BS EN 13501-2 for reaction to fire and for produce an ETA (European Technical Approval). This
resistance to fire respectively. The fire classification approval will consider which Essential Requirements
system calls up specific harmonised EN fire tests need to be fulfilled. This may include taking account
for stated applications. These fire tests are BS EN of other test information such as performance under
1366-3 for penetration seals, and BS EN 1366-4 for internal and external exposure conditions, cold state,
linear fire stopping systems. load bearing capacity, impact resistance, durability,
moisture resistance, etc.
5.2 ASTM & UL Listing
The American Society for Testing and Materials, own series.
also known as ASTM International, is a standards Underwriters Laboratory is the most common and
organization that develops and publishes voluntary comprehensive independent testing laboratory
consensus technical standards for a wide range of established to investigate materials, devices,
materials, products, systems and services. products, constructions, methods and systems with
The “E” series relates to the topic of fire protection, respect to hazards affecting life safety. With a similar
ASTM E814 for service penetrations and ASTM purpose to the CE Mark, the UL Mark is a sign of
E1966 relates to fire resistance joints. The ASTM recognition to consumers that the product meets
standards are the basis for such organisations such safety requirements, from the series of testing a
as UL (Underwriters Laboratory) who field of applications is produced in the
have adapted the test standard and form of a listed system - similar to the
added additional aspects to create their EN Assessment/Classification Report.

DISCLAIMER
Although care has been taken to ensure, to the best of our knowledge, that all data and information contained in this document is accurate to
the extent that it relates to either matters of fact or accepted practice or matters of opinion at the time of publication, fischerwerke GmbH &
Co. KG will not be liable for any technical, editorial, typographical or other errors or omissions in or misinterpretations of the data and information
provided in this document. Since this document may be subject to change and updating, fischerwerke GmbH Co. KG reserves the right to
change without any notice.
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