Abstract:
The present study focuses on assessment and proba-
bilistic characterization of fire load, a key input to
performance-based fire design, in office and dormito-
ry buildings in India. A survey using combined inven-
tory-weighing method was conducted and the results
analysed with respect to several parameters such as
room use, type of combustibles, etc. Probabilistic
models based on the generalized extreme value and
gamma probability density
functions have been pro-
posed for fire load energy density. It has been found
that, on an average, the fi
re load present in modern
buildings is about three times greater than what is re-
ported by earlier studies and prescribed by building
codes. Thus, the severity of potential fires that can
occur in a compartment has increased considerably.
Parametric fire curves have been developed and
compared with standard fire curves to assess the
increase in severity. The developed fire curves possess
a greater growth rate and predict a greater tempera-
ture within the first one hour, when compared to
the standard curves, showing that there is a greater
fire risk.