Performance of concrete in fire: a review of the state of the art, with a case study of the windsor tower fire

This paper provides a “State of the Art” review on current research into the effects of fire exposures upon concrete. The principal influences of high temperature in concrete are loss of compressive strength and spalling, the forcible ejection of material from a member. Though a lot of information has been gathered on both phenomena, there remains a need for a broader understanding of the response of concrete structures to different heating regimes and the performance of complete concrete structures subjected to realistic fire exposures. There is a lack of information derived from large-scale tests on concrete buildings in natural fires. Besides undertaking further fire tests, lessons can also be learnt from real fires and the University of Edinburgh has embarked upon detailed studies of the serious fire in the Windsor Tower, Madrid. In order to properly characterise the fire and the performance of the structure a data-gathering exercise has been undertaken and computer modelling tools are being applied in order to obtain better insights into the structural response. There remains some uncertainty about the precise mechanism of fire spread, but an external route is likely, facilitated to some degree by the glazed curtain walling construction; lack of fire protection on the steelwork was the major reason for the subsequent partial collapse of the upper floors and the localised failure of a concrete portal frame can be attributed to the same reason

Case study of a transport centre

As part of our degree course we are required to undertake a final year thesis project. Audun Borg and Ronny Jakobsen were selected from /Stord University – College (HSH) along with Richard McKeown, Benoit Guyonneau and Thomas Marshall from Edinburgh University to carry out a thesis project on Fire Safety Engineering: Case Study on Building Design Specifications. The objective of our case study was to carry out a performance-based fire safety analysis and design for a transportation centre. The results of our project are to be presented at The Fifth International Conference on Performance-Based Codes and Fire Safety Design Methods in Luxemburg, October 2004. We were provided with basic architectural plans showing the layout of the building and a short list of criteria which the building should adhere to. Any information that was required but not given, we could use our engineering judgement and make assumptions with regards to the specifications. This report considers nearly every aspect of the fire safety at the transporting centre like: alarm organisation, detectors, smoke control etc. Our strategy to tackling was to carryout a performance-based fire safety analysis. To undertake the performance-based analysis we chose to use three computational programs to model the building and carryout our analysis. It was used Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) to model the design fires, Simulex to model the evacuation of the building and ABAQUS to model the structural integrity of the building. Calculations have been carryout to verify these simulations

Idealer og realiteter i forvaltningen av arbeidsrettede tiltak i Nav

Prosjektet «Idealer og realiteter i forvaltningen av arbeidsrettede tiltak i Nav» er utført på oppdrag av Arbeids- og sosialdepartementet. Prosjektet har sett på tiltaksstyringen i Nav og kartlagt hva som ligger til grunn for tiltaksbruken i Nav. I tillegg har vi gjort en litteraturstudie om effekter av arbeidsmarkedstiltak, samt en registerdatabasert studie for å se på utvikling i brukerbefolkningen, samt i tiltakssammensetningen over tid. Prosjektet er utført som et samarbeid mellom Arbeidsforskningsinstituttet (AFI) og Proba Samfunnsanalyse (Proba). Viktige funn er at utviklingen i tiltakssammensetningen ikke samsvarer med kunnskapen om effekter, og at en viktig årsak til dette synes å være knyttet til trekk ved tiltaksstyringen (målstyringen), som beskrives som lite forutsigbar og for detaljert. Resultatet av dette er at kunnskap (og behov) i mindre grad enn ønsket ligger til grunn for de beslutninger som fattes

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Klimaeffekter på populasjon og samfunn: integrering av ulike datakilder i analyser og modeller for økt økologisk innsikt og basis for kunnskapsbasert forvaltnin