Engineering Fire Protection Standarts - Assignment Example

PART ONE 1(a) Define the terms equivalence ratio, φ lambda, λ, and excess air and show how they are inter-related. Indicate for each parameter what values would represent lean combustion and what values would represent rich combustion. A burner operates with 20% excess air, what is its equivalence ratio and lambda? Lambda (λ) Lambda can be defined as a quantity that indicates how far a combustion mixture is from stoichiometry. When the value of lambda is less that one it indicates a rich mixture, a value of more than one indicates a lean mixture while for a value of lambda that is exactly one will represent a stoichiometric mixture. The quantity can be stated mathematically by relating it to air fuel ratio (AFR) which is the ratio by mass between the air and the fuel. This can be represented mathematically as follows Where the suffix in the denominator stands for stoichiometric Equivalence ratio The definition of equivalent ratio can be given as the ratio between the fuel and the oxidizer. The mathematical equation that represent this quantity is given as In this equation m stands for the mass n is the number of moles while the suffix st indicates stoichiometric conditions. The equivalence ratio use is advantageous over the fuel-to-oxidizer ratio because as it does not have a dependence on the units that are being used. The equivalent ratio is related to the lambda mathematically as follows For a fuel burning in 20% excess air the λ= 1.2/1 =1.2 Calculating the value of equivalent ratio from the above relationship φ =1/1.2 = 0.833 (b)Design a premixed laminar flame burner for natural gas with a thermal output of 25kW that must not have a risk of flash back into the upstream premixing passage. For the purposes of this design you may use the following information: the laminar burning velocity of natural gas is 0.45 m/s and the quenching diameter is 2.5mm. You may assume that the burner operates with the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio for natural gas. State any other assumptions that you make. [25 marks] Since we have assumed that the burner will operate at stoichiometric air/fuel ratio the equivalence ratio is therefore 1.0. A laminar premixed flame stabilizes a distance of about 1.5mm from the flame holder. This is achieved by adjusting the exit speed to correspond to a value of chosen equivalence ratio. The speed of the fuel mixture is determined by the cross section area of the outlet. To keep the power output of the flame to be constant the mass flow per unit time is also kept constant. This is realized by making sure that the exit speed is kept constant. There will be no chance of a flashback occurring in the upstream premixing chamber with all the above conditions adhered to. The fact that the flame is a distance from the flame holder minimizes the heat losses due to conduction. This can be proved by the less that 10K rise in temperature of the flame holder. (Mark, 2009) (c) What is the approximate stoichiometric A/F ratio by mass (to the nearest whole number) for the following fuels? [15 marks] (i) Propane =15.5= 16 (ii) Diesel =14.6= 15 (iii) Ethanol=9 (iv) Wood type biomass= 4 (v) Coke =8.4 =8 (d)Describe the European standard for gas and vapor flammability measurements and state the flammability criterion that is used. Explain how this differs from the generally accepted US Bureau of Mines equipment and the differences in lean flammability that have been reported. To ensure safety it is important that flammable gases are detected before they can reach the lower explosive limit (LEL). The two commonly used standards in the definition of LEL, for flammable substances are ISO10156 that is also referenced as EN50054, and IEC60079-20:2000 whose other reference is BS EN61779-1:2000.The International Electro technical Commission (IEC) is the international body that is responsible with standardization. In the past the level of flammability has always been determined by the ISO10156 standard. However recently IEC and European standards that are referenced by IEC60079 and EN61779 respectively, have the definition of LEL concentration measurements by use of stirred concentration gas, which is different from the method of still gas. There has been an observed increase in volatility of the gases when the gases are stirred up which result in the variation of the LEL between the two standards. There has been a stipulation to the manufacturers and users to comply with the EN61779 by the European ATEX Directive. The companies that manufacture equipments are therefore forced to have new equipments to carter for the European standards while retaining the ISO 10156 for the American where the standard is still being used. PART TWO 1 (a) Why is the analysis of real fires of vital importance in fire protection engineering? [10 marks] The reasons why it is necessary to perform a fire investigation process in any event of real fire occurrence may be due to several factors and these varies highly ranging from a need to recognize the processes and prevent repetition, to a want to set up liability or identify criminal acts. Considering the technological development in the recent society, it has become possible to take on complex analyses of how building elements, for instance columns, girders, beams, plus many others can respond to different levels of fire loads. For example the fire resistance of building structures and other constituent elements depends on several factors, which comprises the harshness of the fire, building materials geometry and sustainability conditions, the materials and elements used in the construction, moderation from the neighboring structure, and also on the practical load currently demonstrated when the fire begins (Burnette and Esquire 2009). For instance there is a lesser fire resistance in a column in a storage warehouse with a large fuel load, compared to that of an equal column composed of an atrium, with expected limitation of fuel load. Thus it is very important to perform a real fire analysis since this will enable the fire protection engineer apart from predicting rates of heat transfer to or between different structural elements in a structure but also predict how the element will react under its given lateral and gravity load conditions in case of fire outbreaks. (b) What essential information can be obtained from a fire investigation? [10 marks] The essential information which should be obtained from a fire investigation scenery include the following; first report and note the time in which the identified caller after the notice of fire, if possible in a tape recorder including those of all other callers. The time for dispatch, arrival and characteristics of all responding departments should also be recognized, and all the individuals who exposed the fire or those people who were in the immediate locality at the time will stay at the fire scene during the entire time for extinguishment and overhaul of the fire. They should be identified clearly and interrogated at the scene of the incident, and give detailed information on conditions of the fire outbreak on their arrival as this can provide essential information for the investigation about the origin and cause. This may give any noticed curious or suspicious action immediately preceding the report of the fire outbreak, as the individuals may be passers by thus can be unavailable for evidence provision and even the arsonist can also be present at the scene. Many times these witnesses do not live in the area, but just happened to be passing by or driving through the area. (c) What are the powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (FRSA) 2004 for a fire officer to enter premises after the fire has been extinguished? What are the restrictions on this power? How does this contrast with the situation in the USA? [20 marks] From the recent research it has been indicated that Fire Rescue officers and other Authorities are enhancing the usage of new powers obligated to them by the Fire and Rescue Services Act (FRSA) 2004 to enforce compliance from usual offenders through judicial proceedings unlike what had been demonstrated in the previous legislation. They are obligated to presenting the cases to court which has been previously proved hard due to the lack of accuracy of legislation descriptions associated with to responsible parties. All the irresponsible parties who are identified after investigations are carried out and therefore allow for his/her prosecution. These powers facilitate the reduction in the cases and number of prosecutions which are witnessed in the previous ages, and this will avoid congestion of the judiciary and so many punitive fines. For instance one law professional finding him being ever increasingly indicated in RRFSO prosecutions quoted an average value of £7000 in fines and costs per case. On the other hand in the case of America the there is no authority given to the fire rescue officers to present any information in a formal court or forwarding the irresponsible people for prosecution as indicated and described in this order. This therefore contradicts what is practiced in the UK and therefore even these officers have no duty to enter or collect any documented information on the real fire investigation scene. (d) What are the supplementary powers given by the FRSA 2004 if an officer enters the fire premises after the fire is extinguished? [15 marks] The supplementary powers are described in the following Sections 18, 19 and 20 clauses which provides important supplementary arrangements to the delivery of services by FRSA. And first under the section 18 this regulation maintains that the power for Fire Rescue Authorities (FRAs) to institute and control a local training centre. Under the Section 19 it is provided that the Secretary of State has the power, by order, to put out the services for which FRAs may incriminate the irresponsible persons subject to their charge. This replaces the accessible power to charge for some services described under section 3(1) (e) of the fire services act 1947 after the secretary of state consults before making the order (Burnette and Esquire 2009). On the other hand Section 19 prohibits these FRAs from charging for extinguishing fires or shielding life and property in the occasion of fires, except in respect of sceneries at sea or under the sea. Also the charging for the stipulation of emergency medical help is also forbidden, and a number of FRAs have become familiar to improving an element of revenue when setting amount of charges for services for instance training and safety consultancy. To guarantee income streams are not being threatened by the new charging regime under section 19 of the Act, particular authorities will be permitted to trade by asset of an Order under section 95 of the Local Government Act 2003 which was defined prior to Parliament on 10 September and was due to arrive into effect on 1 October. However this Order will be reviewed after the foreword of a Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) for FRAs, following which it is the meaning that the fresh trading powers will be obtainable to all authorities judged 'fair', 'good' and 'excellent' in the CPA. But the Section 20 provides FRAs with the power to react to cases at or under the sea, and at the same time the FRAs supplying these services is possible under the agreements with the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) which has a universal responsibility to run the response of UK authorities to marine incidents both in territorial waters and beyond. (e) The national fire statistics database relies on the data in the FDR1 form. Outline the information that is collected on this form. What is this data used for and who undertakes the data analysis? [20 marks] For precise documentation of the fire occurrence locality in any of the physical structures and thus proper investigation, essential information has to be taken and demonstrated at the scene before the real fire analysis is done. This will bring the required credibility to the fire analysis experts in making conclusions in cases of fire investigations particularly when they are obligated for such trials in the society, and therefore presentation of the case to the jury. This is to the idea that this allows for a scientific and purposeful outlook to the proof and evidence for enabling the jury to arrive at any possible consideration of a verdict, which the jury must consider in reaching its verdict as this is a preparation for a demonstrative evidence wanted to efficiently present an arson case (Burnette and Esquire 2009). The form collects the information about the real fire investigation scene and usual it involves a lot of information ranging from all the essential documentation information described above plus any other supporting video or digital information taken in the area of the scene. The FRAs are the main people entitled for the collection of this information but however the police or any other person at the time of the fire can be legible. The data is used in the analysis of the real fire and therefore finding way of preventing the future occurrence as the authorities use this record to show the rates at which these cases are reported in a given area and therefore find the elative cause of this and thus solve the problem. (f) Discuss how a prosecution under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 could arise as a result of a fire investigation. [10 marks] The regulatory reform fire safety order (RRFSO) 2005 which became law on 1 October 2006 (only applying to England and Wales), is just a statutory tool that places the onus on people to take individuals for carrying out the risk assessments on particular property and forward them to the regional fire authority, and it was described fully as Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1541 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The RRFSO law defines that any irresponsible person are legible for judicial prosecution but however it has been established that almost 33% of business's are still unaware of their obligations under the order (2). Despite the awareness in most it is difficult to say which proportion of these people take the law seriously or may be applying the assessment approach for trying to become unmonitored in opting not to involve in the expenditures on fire safety. This is because in the local fire authorities there is no longer a requirement of assessment of premises and issue certificates and they both enforce the order and create awareness of it. Under this law the fire authorities has a right to enter into the premises and require presentation of relevant documents, and failure of this then the order is not satisfied leading to subsequent prosecution under a formal jurisdiction. And regarding to the order, prosecution should not start before the involved person is served with an alteration/enforcement notice and they will consider the level of non-compliance of the person. This is followed by the issuance of a prohibition notice to facilitate restrictions to the utilization of the premises for some activities for instance a hotel would not be allowed to host and sleep guests. (g) Outline how the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR) 2003, give a methodology that can be used in Fire and Explosion investigation, respectively. [15 marks] Under these regulations the classification and labeling of the Dangerous Substances and Dangerous Preparations must be approved by the Health and Safety Commission on 16th April 2002; and this refers the chemicals Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply regulations of 2002. This describes that a dangerous substance is either a substance which meets the characteristics of explosive, with oxidizing properties, highly inflammable, regardless of its classification in the CHIP Regulations above or a substance due to its physical and chemical properties and mode of use and presence at a work place a risk and not follow the first description, or any solid material that can form an explosive mixtures with air or explosive atmosphere (a mixture of air and one or more dangerous substances as gases, vapors, mists or dusts in an atmospheric conditions, and spread to unburned mixture). Hazard is both physical and chemical properties for a dangerous substance to cause fire or harmful explosions affecting the safety of a person. Offshore installation is described in the regulation 3 of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 and this extends to the workers safety in the mineral-extracting industries via drilling. Personal protective equipment is anything worn by a person at work preventing the risk of injury and loss of safety to the person where as risk is any likelihood of affection of the person safety by these harmful substance described above (Crown, 2002). Work processes includes all the connecting devices, technical modes of supervision, equipments, materials, machinery, control protection systems, engineering controls and solutions, warning and other communication systems and protection systems. These regulations shall apply to most of the premises and working place structures except in the following areas; first in the ship master or crew or to employers of those individuals in admiration of the normal ship-board actions of a ship's crew which are carried out exclusively by the crew under instructions of the master and, for the purposes of this paragraph. Also this does not apply in areas utilized directly for and during the clinical management of patients, areas in use of gas appliances burning gaseous fuel used for procedures such as cooking, refrigeration. And the other areas where these regulations do not apply includes manufacturing and handling of explosive chemicals, gas fittings under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 in domestic areas, activities in the mines under section 180 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 and all quarries under regulation 3 of the Quarries Regulations 1999, borehole activities under the regulation 2(1) of the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995, offshore activities and even in the use of the transport regulation under the by international agreements and the European Community Directives giving effect to them insofar as they fall within the non-application in Article 1.2.(e) of Council Directive 99/92/EC on minimum requirements for enhancement of the safety and health defense of workers potentially at danger from explosive atmospheres (Crown, 2002). References Crown, the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002: a Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 2776, retrieved on May 16, 2009, from F:\statutory instrument 2002 on DSEAR.htm Guy E. Burnette and Jr., Esquire, Documentation of the Fire Scene: a legal perspective (2009), retrieved on May 16, 2009, from F:\documentation of the fire scene.htm Kamm, Richard, Mixed Up About Fuel Mixture? Aircraft Maintenance Technology, (2002) Mark Aurel Gregor et al, a quasi-adiabatic laminar flat flame burner for high temperature calibration (2009) Read More

They should be identified clearly and interrogated at the scene of the incident, and give detailed information on conditions of the fire outbreak on their arrival as this can provide essential information for the investigation about the origin and cause. This may give any noticed curious or suspicious action immediately preceding the report of the fire outbreak, as the individuals may be passers by thus can be unavailable for evidence provision and even the arsonist can also be present at the scene.

Many times these witnesses do not live in the area, but just happened to be passing by or driving through the area. (c) What are the powers in the Fire and Rescue Services Act (FRSA) 2004 for a fire officer to enter premises after the fire has been extinguished? What are the restrictions on this power? How does this contrast with the situation in the USA? [20 marks] From the recent research it has been indicated that Fire Rescue officers and other Authorities are enhancing the usage of new powers obligated to them by the Fire and Rescue Services Act (FRSA) 2004 to enforce compliance from usual offenders through judicial proceedings unlike what had been demonstrated in the previous legislation.

They are obligated to presenting the cases to court which has been previously proved hard due to the lack of accuracy of legislation descriptions associated with to responsible parties. All the irresponsible parties who are identified after investigations are carried out and therefore allow for his/her prosecution. These powers facilitate the reduction in the cases and number of prosecutions which are witnessed in the previous ages, and this will avoid congestion of the judiciary and so many punitive fines.

For instance one law professional finding him being ever increasingly indicated in RRFSO prosecutions quoted an average value of £7000 in fines and costs per case. On the other hand in the case of America the there is no authority given to the fire rescue officers to present any information in a formal court or forwarding the irresponsible people for prosecution as indicated and described in this order. This therefore contradicts what is practiced in the UK and therefore even these officers have no duty to enter or collect any documented information on the real fire investigation scene.

(d) What are the supplementary powers given by the FRSA 2004 if an officer enters the fire premises after the fire is extinguished? [15 marks] The supplementary powers are described in the following Sections 18, 19 and 20 clauses which provides important supplementary arrangements to the delivery of services by FRSA. And first under the section 18 this regulation maintains that the power for Fire Rescue Authorities (FRAs) to institute and control a local training centre.

Under the Section 19 it is provided that the Secretary of State has the power, by order, to put out the services for which FRAs may incriminate the irresponsible persons subject to their charge. This replaces the accessible power to charge for some services described under section 3(1) (e) of the fire services act 1947 after the secretary of state consults before making the order (Burnette and Esquire 2009). On the other hand Section 19 prohibits these FRAs from charging for extinguishing fires or shielding life and property in the occasion of fires, except in respect of sceneries at sea or under the sea.

Also the charging for the stipulation of emergency medical help is also forbidden, and a number of FRAs have become familiar to improving an element of revenue when setting amount of charges for services for instance training and safety consultancy. To guarantee income streams are not being threatened by the new charging regime under section 19 of the Act, particular authorities will be permitted to trade by asset of an Order under section 95 of the Local Government Act 2003 which was defined prior to Parliament on 10 September and was due to arrive into effect on 1 October.

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