Overview of software designated for the analysis of fire resistance of building structures exposed to various fire models

Introduction. When analyzing the fire safety of a facility, the conformity of actual limits of fire resistance of structures to the requirements of statutory documents is checked. Due to the complexity of the equations describing real systems and an extensive number of iterations required to obtain accurate results, software is used to perform calculations. One of the main goals of the paper is to analyze the software designated for the analysis of the fire resistance of building structures in case of different fire models. The paper presents an analysis of the criteria for the evaluation of software programs and their classification, evaluation of recommendations for choosing fire safety software in compliance with the specific requirements of users.

Main (analytical) part. The paper analyzes various models of fires, taking into account the stages of fire spread, thermal and mechanical effects on structures exposed to fire, and prerequisites for their use by the software designated for the analysis of the fire resistance of building structures. Fire resistance models of structures, zone and field models, as well as models used to calculate evacuation time and detector response time when solving related problems are considered. The classification of software programmes is analyzed subject to the type of problems to be solved: the behavior of a structure exposed to high temperatures and mechanical impacts in case of real fire, and requirements applicable to safe structures. Certain estimates and assumptions, necessary for specialists to use software in their calculations, are considered.

Conclusions. Recommendations on the choice of fire safety assurance software, meeting the specific needs of users, are provided.

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