Italian hybrid fire prevention code

Fire safety of residential buildings and activities subjected to fire inspection is a difficult task, especially when the safety targets have to be adopted in built buildings or in activities that are going to be modified into more complex ones. Generally, these circumstances show more constraints and it could be difficult to achieve an acceptable level of fire residual risk by prescriptive based fireregulations. Therefore, the Italian National Fire Rescue and Service in charge for fire safety, in August 2015 issued a new Fire Prevention Code whose design methodology is more oriented to fire performance based design rather than prescriptive fire codes. The flexibility of this new fire design methodology offers a very complex tool to experts in order to design fire safety measures and strategies of buildings and activities subjected to fire inspection. The present paper aims tohighlig hts the contents and the fire safety strategy design methodology of the new Italian Fire Prevention Code

INVESTIGATION ACTIVITY ABOUT A COLLAPSED STEEL STRUCTURE SUBJECTED TO A REAL FIRE, Fire scenarios and structural behaviour of a real steel structure

The paper describes the behaviour ofa real steel structure collapsed under a fire event. 3D structural analyses were performed with SAFIR program (J-M Franssen, 2005). Different modellingare implemented with some fire load models and analyses of thebehaviour of the whole structure. The main purpose of this work was to investigate the failure types of a warehouse structure under fire conditions. Different fire conditions were applied to the steel frame sections, with ISOcurve (ISO EN 834-8:2002) and zone model approach. The analyses show that with unprotected steel sections, horizontal structures are more critical than columns. Trough applying a performance basedapproach,structure has 30 minutes of fire resistance

Ultra-High performance concrete (UHPC) with polypropylene (Pp) and steel Fibres: Investigation on the high temperature behaviour

Ultra-high performance concretes (UHPC) are advanced cement-based materials characterised by superior me-chanical properties with respect to normal and high-strength concretes; however, their dense and compact matrix can facilitate the onset of spalling at high temperatures. This problem is often coped up by adding polypropylene (PP) fibres to the mix design, alone or with other types of fibres; steel fibres enhance the material’s tensile ca-pacity. The paper presents a series of tests on two UHPC types (150 and 180 N/mm2) with PP fibres (0.27% of volume) and variable content of steel fibres (0% to 1.92%), aimed at investigating the residual mechanical properties of the material after high temperature exposure. The experimental results are compared to available research on small UHPC specimens exposed to high temperatures, with dosages in PP fibres from 0.03% to 2%, and in steel fibres from 0 to 3%. The results of this research demonstrate that UHPCs need hybrid fibre rein-forcement (PP +steel) to withstand high temperatures, and that the residual strength increases after 200 ◦C exposure, at all steel fibre dosages; this is in line with literature. Available research also shows that strength loss is possible in hot conditions, as found in the present research, while PP fibres alone do not always prevent the occurrence of spalling in small UHPC sample

3-oxo-3-thia-2-azabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-en-2-carboxylates: the first isolation and characterization

Methyl and benzyl 3-oxo-3-thia-2-azabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-en-2-carboxylate were isolated at r.t. and characterized for the first time. Both endo and exo- isomers were observed. In suitable experimental conditions (stoichiometric amount of sodium acetate, –40°C or sodium borohydride/methyl iodide) ring opening of these compounds gave the corresponding thiosulfonates or methyl sulfides, respectivel

The new Italian Fire Code: a more performance-based approach to fire safety design

Fire safety codes and regulations play critical roles in buildings and high hazard industries, helping to mitigate risks and achieve acceptable levels of safety. On 20th of August 2015, the Italian Home Office released the Ministerial Decree 3rd August 2015 that contains a new approach to the fire safety design of working activities subjected to fire inspection. The technical Ministerial Decree is commonly recognised among Italian fire officers and fire practitioners as the Fire Prevention Code (FPC). FPC has been thought and developed within the Italian National Fire Rescue and Service by fire officer engineers and fire practitioner experts to simplify and rationalize the fire safety design. This paper describes the new design approach proposed by the FPC highlighting how the fire safety is more oriented to a performance base design rather than a prescriptive one

Experimental adsorption and desorption characterization of a gasoline-fueled vehicle carbon canister for European application filled with n-butane and nitrogen mixtures

The evaporative emission control system (EVAP system) is the most commonly used strategy to limit the unburned petrol vapor emissions from a gasoline-fueled vehicle fuel tank, in order to comply with the international regulations on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emission. A carbon canister is used to collect and store the gasoline vapors generated in the tank, then it is purged by the engine intake manifold depression and the vapors are burned in the engine along with the fresh charge. In this activity, a 1.0 L carbon canister for European gasoline vehicles, provided by FCA, has been used for an experimental analysis, in order to characterize its adsorption and desorption behavior. A standard mixture of n-butane and nitrogen (40 g/h of n-butane, 50% vol. with nitrogen) has been used for loading the canister to breakthrough (2 g); canister purging has been performed with 3000 bed volumes of nitrogen flux at 25 L/min. Tests have been performed in FCA laboratories, at the Pomigliano Technical Center. Canister mass gain has been measured during the tests and after each test with a precision weight scale. Internal temperatures have also been measured by K-type thermocouples placed inside the carbon bed; due to the adsorption process, bed temperatures can reach 70 °C. After several tests, results on mass gain show an “aging” trend of the activated carbons