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Introduction to specific fire engineering design of buildings. Active and passive fire protection. Severity of post-flashover fires. Fire resistance of steel, concrete and timber structures.
Structural Fire Engineering introduces graduate students and engineering professionals to performance-based design of structures for fire situations. It covers general fire safety principles, fire resistance and the behaviour, analysis and design of structures at elevated temperatures. In exploring the available fire engineering design methods, the course examines prescriptive approaches, simple calculations and advanced calculation methods. It is aimed at enhancing structural engineering practice for the design of structures exposed to fires.
At the end of this course, participants will have an understanding of the fundamental behaviours of individual structural elements and structural systems in fires. Students should be able to distinguish between conditions where tabulated and simplified calculations of fire resistance of structural elements are applicable, and where advanced calculations are either the only alternative or a better option. Principally, they will be able to make calculations of:Heat release rates of materials and items of furnitureTemperatures in post-flashover firesFire spread by radiation from building to buildingEquivalent fire severityTemperatures in structural assemblies using hand calculation methods and finite element softwareLoads and safety factors for structural fire designFire performance of steel and concrete structures using hand and advanced calculation methodsFire resistance of heavy timber and light timber frame structures
Subject to approval of the Head of Department.
The course is based on guided self-study, using the textbook Structural Design for Fire Safety and other references on structural fire engineering. It is delivered in ‘Block Mode’, with two three-day blocks at the University of Canterbury. To adequately guide students through the course, and to adequately prepare them for the assignments and final exam, the first block course offers lectures, which are designed to introduce basic concepts and ideas of structural fire engineering. The course textbook and other references cover the material in greater detail, and should be consulted for completeness. There are weekly tutorials to reinforce the ideas discussed in the lectures and referenced materials. The second block reviews the assignment problems and introduces advanced structural fire engineering concepts amongst discussions of current problems in this field.Tutorials• A tutorial session is offered every other week. All students are expected to partake in these tutorials. Students resident in Christchurch should be physically present, while those outside Christchurch would participate live (online), by accessing the University of Canterbury Adobe Connect link at http://connect.canterbury.ac.nz/~ (link to be released).• The tutorials are at 9.00 am every Friday, starting 14th March 2014.• During each session there will be a discussion on selected topics (from the textbook and other reference material). Questions will be posted on LEARN one week before the Tutorial. Each student will answer a number of questions (at random) from the listed questions, and additional questions that may arise through the discussion.• Any significant items covered in the tutorials will be put on LEARN during the week before the next tutorialPresentations• There will be two presentations during the course (one for each block course). You may self-select teams on LEARN on a first come – first served basis for the first presentation. Partners for the second presentation will be assigned during Block Course 1.
Anthony Abu
• The deadlines for all assignments are displayed on the Course Schedule and on LEARN• Any changes to course dates or other details will be communicated through LEARN. It is the responsibility of each student to check the LEARN website regularly• Assessments must be submitted by the due date on LEARN. Marks will be posted online as soon as they are available. Late assignments are unacceptable, and will not be marked.• Our aim is to provide feedback on assessments within 2 weeks. Where this is not possible, it will be communicated to you.• All submissions should be single (typed) PDF documents• Unless specifically stated, assessments should not exceed 8 pages of typed text (4000 words). Illustrations are helpful, but should be appropriately explained. Items that do not directly contribute to an argument being made in the main body of the text should be put in an appendix.Final Exam• The final exam will be an ‘open book’ take-home exam, to be submitted on LEARN.
Buchanan, Andrew Hamilton; Structural design for fire safety ; Wiley, 2001.
Lennon, Tom; Structural fire engineering ; ICE Publishing, 2011.
National Fire Protection Association. , Society of Fire Protection Engineers; SFPE handbook of fire protection engineering ; 4th ed; National Fire Protection Association ;Society of Fire Protection Engineers, 2008.
Purkiss, J. A; Fire safety engineering design of structures ; Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996.
Wang, Y. C; Steel and composite structures : behaviour and design for fire safety ; Spon Press, 2002.
Domestic fee $988.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .