Enhancing Building Fire Safety Performance by Reducing Miscommunication and Misconceptions

Building fire safety is driven by regulations and technical building codes, at least as a minimum requirement. As fire protection engineers (FPEs) design fire safety measures based on requirements in the regulations, they are often viewed as the primary agents in ensuring the fire safety of buildings. However, their mission often starts with given building design features, such as interior spatial layout, exterior shape, site plan, and so forth, which are mostly determined by architects. The only exception is where the FPE is invited to assist in the project planning, feasibility and early concept design stages of a project. Regardless, architects also can influence building fire safety performance, whether or not they explicitly acknowledge or understand this. Although architects design buildings within the boundaries of the regulatory requirements, the architect’s focus is often related to the visual and spatial aesthetics of buildings linked to building form and functionality, which are not subject to the regulations. These aesthetics can sometimes compete with fire safety objectives. As such, buildings can be unsafe in certain situations due to unintended effects of building design features on actual fire safety performance. This research describes the relationship between architecturally conceived building design features, design expectations for fire safety systems, and the actual or conceivable fire safety performance of the building. Steps are proposed that FPEs can take to identify and address potentially competing objectives and deliver increased fire safety performance

Conceptual Model Development for Holistic Building Fire Safety Performance Analysis

The evaluation of building performance during fires is a critical step in designing appropriate strategies. Inappropriate or incomplete performance evaluations can mislead fire safety design solutions, which may in turn result in unacceptable loss of life or building damage from fire. While various building fire safety performance evaluation models have been developed, they focus primarily on ‘hard’ characteristics, such as building construction type and fire protection measures. However, ‘soft’ characteristics, such as building design (architectural) features and occupant characteristics, which also significantly influence building fire safety performance, have not been comprehensively taken into account. In the current study, two conceptual performance models: a generic fire response model and an integrated characteristic interaction model, have been developed to represent the holistic building fire safety performance considering the effects of both hard and soft characteristics. In these models, various cause-effect relationships among building, people, and fire characteristics are identified at the different levels of detail. Based on the conceptual models, a quantitative model utilizing the parameter ranking method and weighted sum method, which are commonly used in analytical hierarchy process, is proposed as a tool to help evaluate building fire safety performance and to assist decision making process of developing fire safety design solutions

Fire retardancy and morphology of nylon 6-clay nanocomposite compositions

We investigated the effect of organically modified clay on the thermal and flammability behavior of nylon 6 nanocomposites. We also used zinc borate along with layered silicate with an aim of achieving synergistic effect in flame retardancy. It is found that addition of 10 wt% clay reduced the onset decomposition (5% wt loss) temperature of nylon 6 by 20°C, while addition of 5 wt% zinc borate and 5 wt% clay in combination reduced it by around 10°C. Differential thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the peak decomposition temperature was not affected by the addition of clay, but the rate of weight loss decreased with increasing clay concentration. The horizontal burning behavior of the nanocomposite films of approximately 0.5mm thickness changed with additive concentration. The nanocomposites with 2.5 wt% and 5 wt% clay burned for almost the same duration as neat nylon 6 but dripping was reduced. The 10 wt% clay nanocomposite sample burned without any dripping and the flame spread rate was reduced by 25-30%. The burn rate of 5 wt % zinc borate/5 wt% clay nanocomposite sample was about 20% higher than that of 10 wt% clay nanocomposite sample, which could be attributed to varying char morphology. Scanning electron microscopy images of the 10wt% clay nanocomposite char surface and cross- section revealed an integrated layer of clay platelets with increasing density gradient from the center to the surface, while the 5 wt% zinc borate/5 wt% clay nanocomposite char appeared foamy and porous. The 5 wt% zinc borate and 5 wt% clay sample developed into a very good intumescent system in cone calorimeter test, swelling about 10-13mm height prior to ignition forming a cellular char structure. This was as effective as the 10wt% clay nanocomposite sample in reducing the heat release and mass loss rate of nylon 6 by around 65%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the 10 wt% clay nanocomposite char showed the presence of amides, indicating possible residual polymer within the shielded char

Fire Retardancy and Morphology of Nylon 6-Clay Nanocomposite Compositions

We investigated the effect of organically modified clay on the thermal and flammability behavior of nylon 6 nanocomposites. We also used zinc borate along with layered silicate with an aim of achieving synergistic effect in flame retardancy. It is found that addition of 10 wt% clay reduced the onset decomposition (5% wt loss) temperature of nylon 6 by 20°C, while addition of 5 wt% zinc borate and 5 wt% clay in combination reduced it by around 10°C. Differential thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the peak decomposition temperature was not affected by the addition of clay, but the rate of weight loss decreased with increasing clay concentration. The horizontal burning behavior of the nanocomposite films of approximately 0.5mm thickness changed with additive concentration. The nanocomposites with 2.5 wt% and 5 wt% clay burned for almost the same duration as neat nylon 6 but dripping was reduced. The 10 wt% clay nanocomposite sample burned without any dripping and the flame spread rate was reduced by 25-30%. The burn rate of 5 wt % zinc borate/5 wt% clay nanocomposite sample was about 20% higher than that of 10 wt% clay nanocomposite sample, which could be attributed to varying char morphology. Scanning electron microscopy images of the 10wt% clay nanocomposite char surface and cross- section revealed an integrated layer of clay platelets with increasing density gradient from the center to the surface, while the 5 wt% zinc borate/5 wt% clay nanocomposite char appeared foamy and porous. The 5 wt% zinc borate and 5 wt% clay sample developed into a very good intumescent system in cone calorimeter test, swelling about 10-13mm height prior to ignition forming a cellular char structure. This was as effective as the 10wt% clay nanocomposite sample in reducing the heat release and mass loss rate of nylon 6 by around 65%. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the 10 wt% clay nanocomposite char showed the presence of amides, indicating possible residual polymer within the shielded char

Evolving with Access: An Analysis of Accessibility in the Writing Center Community

Over the years, several articles have questioned and considered how writing centers can better meet the needs of students with disabilities. Unfortunately, many of these articles focus on accommodations for individuals, rather than an evolution for writing centers. In addition, much of the literature discusses disability in a way that “others” these students, omits their perspectives, and encourages consultants to see and treat them as “more different” than everyone else (Hitt, 2012). Writing center staff must wade through this literature and separate the problematic from the well informed. This takes both time and knowledge of accessibility that many may not have. In addition, the larger writing center field has yet to demonstrate what preparing for difference can look like. This individual presentation will overview a few ways that the larger writing center field can evolve in regards to accessibility and disability. The presenter will first overview past writing center literature on disability, providing and explaining examples of problematic views and suggesting helpful, informed readings for attendees. The presenter will then use these readings and examples from disability studies to analyze how writing center conferences and publications can be more accessible to members with disabilities

Evolving Technologies in Online Writing Center Work

The potential for online writing center work is directly affected by available and evolving technology platforms. At times, technology can limit what is possible. In other cases, technology can re-define online consultations entirely. For example, collaborative technologies like Google Docs have introduced the revolutionary idea that students can be present for and active in asynchronous appointments (Moberg, 2010; Schultz, 2010), blurring the boundaries between asynchronous and synchronous consulting support. In a recent IWCA survey, respondents were interested in learning the pros and cons of different technological platforms used for online writing center work. As a response to this need, this session will engage attendees in conversations regarding the successes and failures of asynchronous and synchronous technologies in their local contexts. This session focuses both as a roundtable for online consulting platforms and as a special interest group for online writing center work more broadly. In addition to discussion, attendees will be briefly introduced to the Online Writing Centers Community (onlinewritingcenters.org) and invited to participate in shaping future resources and support

Naming Ableism in the Writing Center

Taking inspiration from Maria R. Palacios’ poem “Naming Ableism,” this article attempts to name some of the ways that ableism has and continues to manifest itself in writing center discourse. Topics discussed include writer “independence,” diagnosis of disabled writers, impairment-specific practices, negative discussions of disability in writing center literature, incorrect use of the word “accessibility,” inaccessible space, and access fatigue. This article concludes by suggesting that writing centers can move from a culture of ableism to a culture of access by applying concepts of interdependence and access intimacy. Readers are given suggestions for how to move forward, based on their role(s) within the writing center community.University Writing Cente