Passive Fire Penetration Systems - General Principles
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Passive Fire Penetration Systems - General Principles
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To provide protection to people and property, the NCC requires buildings to be designed to contain fire to allow time for the evacuation of people and for fire brigade response.
This requires the creation of Fire compartments in buildings as required to achieve NCC compliance for the many factors that determine the need for compartments including maximum size (m2) and/or volume (m3)
Fire compartment means -
a) the total space of a building; or
b) when referred to in -
i) The Performance Requirements - any part of a building separated from the remainder by barriers to fire such as walls and/or floors having an appropriate resistance to the spread of fire with any openings adequately protected; or
ii) the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions - any part of a building spearated from the remainder by walls and/or floors each having an FRL not less than that required for a fire wall for that type of construction and where all openings in the separating construction are protected in accordance with the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of the relevant Part.
Fire compartments are created using various means including;
• concrete/masonry structure that is designed to a minimum FRL as per AS1170 (structural code)
• Lightweight wall and ceiling systems like plasterboard, speedwall, hebel, which are non-loadbearing but are designed for impact and wind loads and may encapsulate the loadbearing structure where required.
Fire wall means a wall with an appropriate resistance to the spread of fire that divides a storey or building into fire compartments.
In creating fire compartments with fire walls or ceilings with an FRL (fire resistant level) – a solid barrier is constructed which inevitably is dissected by other building elements such as steel structure, ductwork/cabling/pipework services and the like
Where building elements penetrate a fire compartment, the penetration needs to be protected with a specialised fire system that prevents fire spreading from the fire compartment. Passive fire systems
Because different materials react differently under fire - water filled metal pipes perform differently to bundles of cables, which are different to plastic water pipes, which are different to sewerage and stormwater pipes - specialised systems have been developed for each - each with very specific applications and limitations for use.
The identification of fire compartments (see Topic 16) and the selection and installation of suitable Passive Fire Penetration Systems is critical to the performance of the fire compartment and compliance to the NCC + relevant standards.
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