Fire safety assessment of high-rise residential buildings

Abstract

In the present work, the risk of a high-rise residential building fire has been framed in terms of the safety of its occupants. The two parallel processes taking place during a building fire evacuation have been analyzed. The total escape time of occupants during a fire was evaluated based on multiple empirical sources collected worldwide and data specifically on Istanbul high-rise residential occupancy. The evacuation of occupants from a high-rise building was simulated using an agent-based model. Parametric studies were also carried out using a detailed description of the model in order to investigate the influence of certain egress variables on the total egress time and egress performance of high-rise residential buildings. The relative time the evacuees spent in queues on the stairs was used as the standard for measuring the effect of changing a variable on egress performance. Pre-flashover hazard assessment was also performed using a CFD model and the tenability limit was used to analyze the allowable safety egress time and threat posed by fire to the high-rise building occupants. Using the results, a framework for risk characterization of high-rise residential buildings has been presented. This approach can be useful as an aid in quantitative risk analysis of high-rise buildings under fire conditions as well as for other fire safety procedures and building design for fire safety.