Optimized fire protection of cultural heritage structures based on the analytic hierarchy process

Mine fire is one of the major mine disaster. If a fire occurs, it will be very harmful to the life of miner, mine equipment, mineral resources and surface environment and so on. Mine fire occurred (including threatening ground fire underground), often incurring casualties, loss of equipment, mine shutdown, resource damage, and even cause gas and coal dust, or sulfide ore dust explosion. Performance-based design of mine fire is based on the principles and methods of fire safety engineering. The development of performance-based design methods and promote the development of performance-based specifications. In this paper, the performance of the design in accordance with the mine fire resistance design theory, combined with the specific assumption of mine were studied. Accordance with the specific performance-based fire design steps, first determine the goal of performance-based fire protection design and safety criteria and to simulate the airflow, pollutant-specific factors, such as fire, and compared with actual data, and finally carry out a safety assessment. Thus completing the mine fire performance-based design.

The purpose of the conducted research was to identify unsolved issues regarding the assessment of the required fire protection thickness for steel structures under conditions of fire exposure at different fire temperature-time curve and to determine directions for further research. In order to achieve this goal, the task of determining and analyzing the current requirements for the fire resistance of steel structures, the applicable methods for assessing the fire resistance of these structures and the required thickness of their fire protection, the available data on the significance of this thickness, obtained for different fire temperature-time curve, was solved. According to the results of the research, it was found that in accordance with European and national standards and state building codes, fire resistance requirements and fire resistance classification of load-bearing structures without enclosing functions, such as beams and columns, are established only for conditions of fire exposure under a standard temperature/time curve. At the same time, Eurocodes 1, 3 and national standards provide for assessing the fire resistance of such steel structures also according to the temperature-time curves of hydrocarbon and external fires. Methods of determining the required minimum thickness of fire protection for steel structures are implemented in European and national standards also only for conditions of fire exposure under a standard temperature/time curve. The procedure for determining this thickness for the conditions of fire exposure according to the temperature-time curves of hydrocarbon and external fires is uncertain. Also uncertain is the issue of dependencies regarding the required minimum thickness of fire protection for steel structures that are subject to fire exposure at other than the standard temperature-time curve, nominal fire temperature-time curves, as well as data on the relationship between the values of this thickness obtained under different nominal temperature-time curves. Such uncertainty gives rise to potentially interesting areas of further research, which are focused on identifying the influence of nominal fire temperature-time curves on the required minimum thickness of fire protection for such steel structures as beams and columns, for wide ranges of changes in the thermophysical properties of applicable fire protection materials, the critical temperature of steel, the cross-section coefficient and the time interval of preservation of fire resistance.

Fire safety aboard Coast Guard cutters is an important part of their design. In 1987, a pro ject was completed that involved a developmental application of the Ship Fire Safety Engineering Methodology (SFSEM) to the firesafety analysis of the Polar Icebreaker Replacement (PIR) design. The passive and active fire protection was analyzed for every compartment on the PIR in the integrated framework provided by SFSEM. Conventional fire protection engineering was used whenever information necessary for SFSEM was not avail able. Recommendations for alternative solutions to accomplish performance-based fire safety objectives, as well as guidelines for selected fire protection systems on the PIR, were provided.This paper describes the framework for the firesafety evaluation, techniques for quantifica tion, and the advantages and limitations identified by this application of the SFSEM for ship firesafety design. The quantification integrated available statistical data with case study analysis, inspection of the op...

This report provides a summary of the fire protection and life safety features for UW Medicine Lake Union, a research and laboratory building, in accordance with Seattle Building Code (SBC), International Building Code (IBC), and Life Safety Code (NFPA 101). The objective of this report is to identify if UW Medicine Lake Union meets both the prescriptive and performance based code. The primary fire safety goal is to provide life safety system that reduced the risk of fire-related injuries and loss of life due to fire. The prescriptive analysis is used to identify the building integrity per code. This evaluates the egress capacity, fire detection, fire suppression and structural fire protection. The UW Medicine Lake Union includes numerous laboratories that regularly utilize various hazardous materials. According to the literature in the Architectural drawings, the design team worked with the university does that the chemical quantities in these areas would not exceed the limits set forth in the code. With these limits in place, portions of the facility did not need to be classified as hazardous occupancy, and the special provisions associated with a hazardous occupancy. Although its spaces are used in various ways, the building was able to be classified as business occupancy. Hazardous occupancy areas were not required because hazardous materials were limited to the code-defined exempt quantities. These details helped simplify the overall life safety and egress system, while providing appropriated levels of life safety. UW Medicine Lake Union Building is high rise building with seven story research and development laboratory and two levels of below grade parking garages. It includes testing and research laboratories, laboratory support, offices and conference room. It is approximately 317,382 square feet in gross area and a building height of 109 feet. It is classified as B occupancy classification. The facility is protected throughout by automatic sprinkler and fire alarm systems. The building was constructed in 2011 in accordance with the 2009 Seattle Building Code with a Type 1A construction. See 2.6 Type and Description of Construction. The total occupant load is 2797 occupants. See Table 4: Summary of Occupant Loads. The UW Medicine Lake Union building has six (6) exit discharge. The Main and Back Entrance exit door have 72” doors; P1 (Stair 1), Retail and South exit (stair 3) door have 36” doors, and the garage exit door (stair 4) have 44” door that leads to the public way. See Figure

The purpose of this fire and life safety analysis is to determine whether Cal Poly’s Center for Science and Mathematics (CSM) meets fire safety goals. The primary fire safety goal is to provide building occupants with an environment that is reasonably safe from fire. This goal can be achieved by protecting the occupants not intimate with the initial fire development and improving survivability of those occupants intimate with the initial fire development, (NFPA 101, 2006). A prescriptive-based design approach and a performance-based design approach are used to evaluate building safety. The prescriptive-based approach is used to evaluate the building’s structural fire protection systems, fire detection and alarm systems, fire suppression systems and egress design. The performance-based design approach is used to analyze how the building will perform in the event of a fire. The performance-based approach evaluates the building based on the required safe egress time (RSET) and available safe egress time (ASET) for occupants to evacuate the building safely in the event of a fire. A Smoke Management Study was conducted to predict the effects of fire within the atrium space of the CSM using natural ventilation to control smoke. The study is evaluated in this report using hand calculation methods and two computer software programs, Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and Pathfinder to determine if occupant safety is sufficient. Recommendations to improve building fire safety are discussed based on the results of this fire and life safety analysis.

Heritage buildings represent state of the art at the time of their construction. Materials used that are often viewed critically today concerning fire safety. Preventive measures and any other active systems can prevent untoward incidences to heritage buildings. So, for a sound fire safety concept, several considerations can be made. Hence, by reviewing two heritage buildings that involved in the fire which are Shuri Okinawa Castle and Paris Notre Dame Cathedral, this paper is aimed to establish challenges faced by historical building in the event of a fire by referring to the selected case study and to determine whether minimal intervention imposed in passive fire protection provided in the premises is a good practice so that can be referred by others heritage buildings.Keywords: Fire Safety; Fire Protection; Heritage Buildings; Minimum InterventioneISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v5i13.2091

BACKGROUND: In the context of the progressive movement towards patientcentred care, patient-specific decision support is an important focus of interest. Many diagnostic and treatment patient decision aids (PDAs) are now available to help patients make informed choice decisions. An increasing number of these are software-based, with some available online. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a potentially useful technique on which to base a software-assisted PDA, especially when the decision is complex - as is the case in choosing the best treatment for non-small cell lung cancer – but it has so far been relatively little exploited in this area. The use of any from a number of existing MCDA-based software applications in the development and delivery of a MCDA-based interactive PDA can be an effective way of achieving “best-practice” or normative standards of decision making, such as 1) a well-constructed set of decision criteria or 2) logically consistent patient preferences. However, it also involves the use of resources such as the time and cognitive effort involved in decision-making. The comparative evaluation of alternative MCDA-based software applications in developing and delivering a PDA therefore involves trade-offs between decision effectiveness and decision resource criteria moving from the normative to the prescriptive. MCDA is an ideal tool for this meta-evaluation task as well as for the adoption decision itself. AIM: To analyse, as proof of concept, the use of MCDA for the development, implementation and evaluation of interactive PDAs in routine clinical practice. OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the use with clinicians in the Spanish NHS of two alternative MCDA software applications which implement dissimilar MCDA techniques in the development of a PDA in routine clinical practice; 2. To assess the use with clinicians in the Spanish NHS of the same two alternative MCDA software applications in the implementation of a PDA in an environment replicating actual clinical consultations; 3. To build a meta-multi-criteria decision model based on the Decision Resources Decision Effectiveness Analysis (DRDEA) framework and assess the use of this model by clinicians in the Spanish NHS to make the choice between the two MCDA applications as the basis for a PDA. METHODS: 1) Two dissimilar MCDA software applications served as a basis for the development of a lung cancer clinical management PDA in close collaboration with two different groups of three clinicians from two different Spanish NHS hospitals (H1 and H2): 1) Expert Choice, which implements the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) MCDA approach; 2) Annalisa in Elicia (ALEL), which implements the Simple Attribute Weighting (SAW) MCDA approach. The process of codevelopment of the PDA in hospitals H1 and H2 was documented; 2) Expert Choice was used to implement (i.e. deliver) the lung cancer clinical management PDA in three hypothetical consultations in hospital H1. In each consultation, one of the three clinicians involved in the development of the tool, with support by this researcher, guided a proxy patient (a non-clinical member of hospital staff) through the PDA. The same process was repeated with the MCDA software ALEL in hospital H2. The process of delivery of the PDA in hospitals H1 and H2 was documented; 3) This researcher built a meta-multi-criteria decision model based on the DRDEA framework to help clinicians choose between different MCDA software applications as the basis of a PDA. The MCDA approach used for this meta-model was Multi- Attribute Value Theory (MAVT). The model was implemented, using the software HiView 3, with three clinicians from hospital H3 for the choice between Expert Choice and ALEL as the basis of a lung cancer clinical management PDA. RESULTS: The thesis makes a three-fold contribution to research in patient-centred decision support. First, it presents two new MCDA software-based approaches to clinical decision support, based on joint work with clinicians in the Spanish NHS, for developing an interactive PDA for the clinical management of non-small cell lung cancer. Second, it describes the use of these decision support tools in the delivery of 5 an interactive PDA for the clinical management of non-small cell lung cancer in a hospital environment via simulated consultations between actual clinicians, with support from this researcher, and proxy lung cancer patients. Third, it presents and applies a new MCDA-based methodology for evaluating the use of alternative MCDA software applications in the development and delivery of interactive PDAs.

Participatory management is a working method of paramount importance based on the principles of knowledge sharing and accountability for addressing the sustainable management of the fishery sector. To approach this multidimensional problem we applied two Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Non-Structural Fuzzy Decision Support System (NSFDSS), which were applied incorporating uncertainty to generate probabilistic rankings. The NSFDSS technique was applied for the first time to address a fishery problem. Two surveys were carried out among Mediterranean Advisory Council (MEDAC) stakeholders with different backgrounds. By the two surveys we: i) made an AHP test for exploring stakeholders’ perception of the objectives and indicators used in the monitoring of the stocks, ecosystem, and fisheries, and ii) introduced the NSFDSS technique, gathering feedback on stakeholders’ preferences on management options for improving fishery sustainability (e.g., reducing discards, improving ecosystem state and economic yield in the long term). In the AHP the respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of one objective against another according to a scale of semantic scores from 1 to 5, whereas a simpler scoring scale, with only 3 possible options, was used in the NSFDSS. The two MCDA methods were proven to be useful to elicit stakeholders’ view on the potential effects of key issues on economic and environmental fishery sustainability. The results showed stakeholders’ awareness of the fact that the reproductive potential should be secured by checking mortality and/or fishing intensity. Consistently, among the ecological indicators that are tracking the fisheries policy objectives, a higher rank was attributed to “mean size of the spawners,” while cost efficiency was considered to be essential for improving profits. Regarding the economic indicators, stakeholders gave higher priority to “revenue” in comparison to “production (catches),” which is a sign of awareness that increasing fish production does not necessarily turn into increased revenue. Among the different management strategies, “fleet withdrawal” (scraping) was considered as the worst option, while the “combination of measures” was considered to be the best alternative for achieving a sustainable fishery in the long term.

Cable supported bridges are typically part of community-critical infrastructure and therefore the consequences arising from extensive structural damage due to a fire and the subsequent operational discontinuity could be significant beyond the damage to the bridge itself and the cost of repairs. Bridge design standards generally do not provide guidance and hence fire resistance requirements are often informed by first principles assessments of the thermal and structural response of the structure to proposed fire scenarios. A deterministic assessment can provide a reasonable worst-case scenario but it does not allow bridge stakeholders to make informed decisions with regards to uncertainty and the low likelihood of fires occurring to identify the benefits of investments in structural fire protection. This is because the target reliability required for each bridge may be different depending on its characteristics, and the expected fire severity has a probabilistic nature. This research aims to fill this gap by undertaking a reliability-based analysis to assess the probability of structural failure by considering the probability of a fire of a given size occurring and the uncertainty in the incident location and wind. The methodology is demonstrated through the case study of an operational 450 m long cable supported bridge section and a fire scenario based on a liquid fuel tanker. Liquid tankers can result into two type of fire scenario: first, a fire being contained within the tanker; and secondly, a fire due to a pool on the deck. Both fire scenarios have been characterised and it was determined that the contained tanker scenario presents a more onerous design case owing to its more prolonged duration. A Monte Carlo analysis was undertaken for a total of 10,000 independent trials of the combination of the location of the fire and the wind direction. The frequency of the fire was also examined to establish the probability of structural failure of a cable. It was established that the inclusion of wind can sometimes reduce the estimated height at which cables may experience temperatures with the potential to cause cable failure. However, for a number of the cases, the estimated height can remain broadly similar (i.e. within a couple metres difference) to the worst-case calculated value. Based on this analysis, the influence of the required level of reliability as well the fire protection duration specification agreed with bridge stakeholders can be used to determine the height at which cable fire protection is necessary to reduce the probability of structural failure to a level acceptable to the stakeholders. This approach allows bridge designers and stakeholders to make informed decisions with regards to provision and extent of fire preventive/protective measures for cable supported bridges.

Glued wood is one of the most commonly used materials made of wood. Glued wood has many advantages related to its strength characteristics and operation. Nevertheless, due to the use of an adhesive base, it becomes necessary to carefully approach the issue of the fire resistance of building structures made of glued wood. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of structural fire protection on the fire resistance of glued laminated timber columns; the task of developing methods for experimental and analytical assessments of the fire resistance of glued laminated timber columns, with the possibility of assessing the temperature of the wood under a layer of fire protection, was set, and an analysis of the effectiveness of these methods for assessing the fire resistance of such structures was conducted. The experimental assessment of fire resistance was based on the combined effects of fire and force on structures. The analytical assessment of the fire resistance was carried out using two methods, each of which estimated the time of the beginning of the ignition of the wood, as well as its combustion before the limit state of the structure was reached, but did not ascertain the acting force. As a result of evaluating the effect of structural fire protection on the fire resistance of glued wood columns, data on the heating of wood under a layer of fire protection were obtained, and the relationship between the deformation of the sample and the heating of the layers of fire protection was revealed, consisting of an increase in the ignition time of the wood with an increase in the thickness of the fire protection.

The main objectives of this article are 2-fold. First, we explore the application of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods in different areas of health care, particularly the adoption of various MCDA methods across health care decision making problems. Second, we report on the publication trends on the application of MCDA methods in health care. PubMed was searched for literature from 1960 to 2019 in the English language. A wide range of keywords was used to retrieve relevant studies. The literature search was performed in September 2019. Articles were included only if they have reported an MCDA case in health care. The search yielded 8,318 abstracts, of which 158 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were considered for further analysis. Hybrid methods are the most widely used methods in health care decision making problems. When it comes to single methods, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is the most widely used method followed by TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution), multiattribute utility theory, goal programming, EVIDEM (evidence and value: impact on decision making), evidential reasoning, discrete choice experiment, and so on. Interestingly, the usage of hybrid methods has been high in recent years. AHP is most widely applied in screening and diagnosing and followed by treatment, medical devices, resource allocation, and so on. Furthermore, treatment, screening and diagnosing, medical devices, and drug development and assessment got more attention in the MCDA context. It is indicated that the application of MCDA methods to health care decision making problem is determined by the nature and complexity of the health care problem. However, guidelines and tools exist that assist in the selection of an MCDA method.

Fire Protection Provision of Structures from FHA Perspective

Introduction. One of the measures to ensure a qualitative increase in the level of protection of the population and objects of protection from fires is the implementation of the powers of federal state authorities, state authorities of the subjects of the Russian Federation, local governments and organizations in terms of developing proposals for determining the staffing, technical equipment and locations of fire protection units. The article proposes an algorithm for determining the type of voluntary fire protection in rural settlements of the Moscow region, taking into account the level of fire danger based on statistical data and the tactical potential of voluntary fire protection units, in the context of application prospects, to substantiate the forces and means for extinguishing fires and the optimal distribution of types of volunteer fire protection units in rural settlements of the Moscow region the governing body of the local fire and rescue garrison, the local government body for ensuring fire safety of the municipality. The tasks of the research are to analyze the spatial zone of placement of fire protection units of the municipality; to develop an algorithm for determining the type of voluntary fire protection in rural settlements of the Moscow region that are not included in the spatial zone of fire protection subdivisions, taking into account the level of fire danger based on statistical data and the tactical potential of volunteer fire protection units; to determine the types of voluntary fire protection units fire protection, when extinguishing fires, taking into account their tactical potential, for placement in rural settlements that are not included in the spatial zone of the fire protection units of other types. Methods. The methods of analysis, synthesis, the method of graphical modeling, the type of deterministic, visual modeling, and the method of comparative estimates are used. Results and discussions. The types of units of voluntary fire protection in extinguishing fires are determined, taking into account their tactical potential and the level of fire danger of a rural locality, for the organizational design of the fire safety system of a municipality. Conclusions. The presented material theoretically substantiates the provisions of its application, the necessity of fundamental and applied research on this topic. Keywords: voluntary fire protection, algorithm, tactical potential.

Basketball arenas are crucial spaces that must meet specific standards to ensure the sustainability of the sport and the quality of play. While Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) assesses these standards, it often assumes that all performance indicators are equally important, potentially leading to a gap between design intent and actual user experience. This study aims to bridge this gap by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize evaluation criteria for Turkish professional basketball arenas designed for national and international matches, regional/local competitions, and training programs. Existing studies and reports indicate that basketball arenas in Turkey often fall short in meeting necessary physical requirements and exhibit performance deficiencies. To address this gap, this study identifies factors determining arena performance, categorized as technical, functional, and behavioral based on Preiser's framework. These criteria were further categorized according to different spaces within the arena, including general use areas, administrative spaces, and athlete-specific areas. A panel of expert sports facility design professionals provided judgments about the relative importance of these criteria using pairwise comparisons. The AHP method was then employed to calculate priority weights for each criterion. The results reveal the relative importance of different criteria for each space. For example, in general use areas, "furniture suitability/sufficiency" and "provision of ergonomic conditions for the disabled" ranked highest. In administrative spaces, "fire protection" and "accessibility" were deemed most important, while in athlete-specific areas, "visual and auditory privacy" and "security" took precedence. This study demonstrates the potential of AHP for developing a systematic and reliable framework for qualitative evaluations that measure user satisfaction. AHP-based evaluation models offer a valuable tool for architects, facility managers, and decision-makers to assess architectural design quality, prioritize design criteria, and support user-centered design processes.

It is shown that fire protection of wooden structures is a priority task in the field of fire safety. The physico-chemical properties of wood are considered. Data on the fire-hazardous properties of the substances that make up the wood are given. The influence of the composition of wood on its fire-hazardous properties is investigated. The thermophysical characteristics of wood and their effect on gorenje are considered. The main thermophysical properties of wood are given in tabular form. It is concluded that if it is impossible to replace wooden structures or somehow strengthen them, fire protection is the only way to provide fire protection and fire prevention systems.