Current situation and

developments in France
of fire safety engineering
JJol KRUPPA
Chairman ISO TC 92/SC4 "Fire Safety Engineering"

CTICM

Madrid, del 23 al 25 de febrero de 2010 / Madrid, 23rd to 25th of February of 2011

Structure of French fire safety regulations

Fire safety
y requirements
q
are mainly
yp
prescriptive
p
Public buildings (decree 25 June 1980)
Flats and apartments (decree 31 January 1986)
Tall buildings (decree 18 October 1977 and new
proposal
p
p
since mid-2007))
Work places (decree 5 August 1992)
Warehouses ((decrees 5 August
g
2002,, 15 April
p
2010 & 23 December 2008)

Decrees for evaluation

Reaction to fire (21 November 2002)
Resistance to fire ((22 March 2004 to be revised
shortly)

Historical
Opening
p
g towards calculation methods occurred
very early in France
1974 : calculation method for fire resistance of
concrete structures
1976 : calculation method for fire resistance of steel
structure
1988 : calculation method for composite (steel +
concrete) columns
1988 : calculation method for timber structures

Up to 1997, only devoted to the standard fire (ISO

834) for isolated elements

Current openings for FSE*

Decree on 3 August
g
1999 followed by
y decree on
22 March 2004 on structural fire behaviour
Decree on 22 march 2004 regarding smoke
control
Decree on 5 August 2002 on warehouses allowing
alternative design of R60 by FSE + specific
AFNOR guidelines
g
ISO Standard published by AFNOR in French
(*) meaning actual fire hazards, within a given built environment,
are taken into account

Structural Fire Behaviour

Decree (22 March 2004) by Ministry of Interior and
Ministryy of Industryy on fire resistance
Structural fire design* under the own responsibility of the
designer, to fulfill requirements, when :
Nominal fires (standard, hydrocarbon, external)
Tabulated data
Simple calculation models

Need to have "peer review" by an official laboratory

( f
(Efectis
or CSTB),
CS ) when :
Use of design fire scenarios (design fires other than
nominal)
And/or use of advanced calculation models (e.g. Finite
Elements Models))
(*) according to Structural Eurocodes

Structural Fire Behaviour (cont

(cont'd)
d)
When using
g design
g fire
scenario:
Need to g
get agreement
g
by
y local
authorities on the design fire
scenarios
Need to elaborate "specifications
for use
use" to be followed by the user
of the building to ensure that the
design fire scenarios will not be
overruled
l dd
during
i th
the lif
life off th
the
building

Rsistance au feu

Between 2004 and 2008

About 30 FSE assessments done
for structural fire resistance, 17 of
th
them
regarding
di car parks
k
New or existing buildings (2 of
them are tall buildings)
40% for Paris region
g
- 60%
outside

2 exemples
p

Paris CDG
CDG-Airport
Airport by

Odysseum car park - Montpellier by

Dsenfumage
S

1, P1, T1

Ef

Smoke control

H
Efeu
Efeu

feu, Tfeu

He
a, Ta

Af
Hvirt

Decree for Public buildings of 22 March 2004

Clause DF1 : smoke control is needed for [...]
maintaining practicable the evacuation routes, for the
egress of people
Clause DF4 2 : the use of FSE is allowed and has to
be done by engineering offices recognized by the
ministry of interior (Efectis, CSTB, LNE, CNPP), after
agreement of local authorities on assumptions and
design fire scenarios
To refer to the Technical Instructions 246 on specific
requirements for smoke control of public buildings

10

Dsenfumage

Technical Instructions 246

Clause 8 : regarding
g
g fire safety
y engineering
g
g
Egress route is safe when, e.g.
The smoke free height
g is adequate
q
((not less than
half-height of the room, not lower than door height,
and in any case not lower than 1.8 m)
The heat flux received is tolerable by people (less
than 2 kW/m2)

The assessment report must include:

Assumptions taken and input data
Calculation results
Positive conclusion regarding efficiency of protection
measures

11

Entrepts

Between 2004 and 2008

More than 40 assessment carried out

Peer review requested on less than 1/3

2 exemples
p

12

Commercial Center by

13

Strasbourg railway station by

14

Warehouses
Decree of 5 August
g
2002
Clause 6 : for single storey buildings, with roof
height of more than 12.5 m, the fire resistance
requirement is R 60, unless:
There is a sprinkler
p
system,
y
, and
A fire safety engineering assessment demonstrates
The building
g will not collapse
p on the outside
There is no progressive collapse
There is no risk for people and firefighters

A guidance document was published by AFNOR

on the interpretation of this clause

15

Guidance on FSE for Warehouses (2008)

Performance criteria
regarding
Tenability conditions
for occupants
Tenabilityy conditions
for firefighters
Progressive collapse

16

Current French Research Project "PN

PN ISI
ISI"
Partners
Ministry of interiror, LCPP, BSPP, FNSPF, GIF, SNPPA, FFB, FNTP,
SFPE-France
ACCOR,
ACCOR APHP
APHP, ARCELOR
ARCELOR, AREVA
AREVA, ATILH
ATILH, CD
CD-Faces,
Faces CEA
CEA, CETU
CETU,
CERIB, CNPP, CSTB, CTICM, EDF, EGIS, EPA-Jussieu, FCBA, Fireconstruction, FFSA, INERIS, IRSN, LCPC, LNE, PlasticsEurope,
Semmaris SNI
Semmaris,
SNI, SOGEA
SOGEA, SPK,
SPK USIRF,
USIRF VINCI Construction
Construction
University of Savoie, University of Clermont-Ferrand, University of
Marseille, INSA Rouen, University of Cergy-Pontoise, University of
Mulhouse

Budget : 4 250 000 HT on 6 years (mid-2005 / mid2011) with sponsorship of Ministry of Equipment

Objectives
To develop the use of FSE in France

17

Research Project in 3 parts

FSE principles, validation and examples of use
Improvement
p
of knowledge
g
Fire sources and fire propagation
Fuel load density
Structural and separating element behaviour in
fire
Tenability condition and egress of people

Teaching, training,
Proposals to ministries for official use of FSE

18

FSE- General Process (ISO 23932)

19

ISO documents published in France

ISO
d
document
t

Title

French document

ISO 23932

General Principles

Principes gnraux

ISO 16730

Assessment, verification
and validation of
calculation methods

valuation, vrification
et validation des
mthodes de calcul

ISO TS/16732 Guidance for fire risk

assessment

Ligne directrice pour

l'valuation du risque
incendie

ISO TS/16733 Selection of design fire

Slection de scnarios
scenarios and design fires d'incendie d'tude et de
feu de
di
dimensionnement
i
t

20

ISO documents published in France (cont'd)

ISO document

Title

French document

ISO 16734 to
16737

Calculation methods for

fire plume, ceiling jet,
smoke vent and smoke
layer

Mthodes de calcul pour

panache de feu, jet sous
plafond, coulement au
travers d'une ouverture et
couche de fume

ISO TR/16738

Technical information
on methods for
evaluating behaviour
and movement of
people
p
p

Information technique sur

les mthodes d'valuation
du comportement et du
mouvement des
personnes
p

ISO/TS 24679

Performance of
structure in fire

Performance des
structures en cas
d incendie
d'incendie

21

For more information on the French

situation (and others)

http://www.eurofireconference.com/

22

Gracias por su atencin

Thanks for your attention
JJol KRUPPA
Chairman ISO TC 92/SC4 "Fire Safety Engineering"

CTICM
jkruppa@cticm.com
Madrid, del 23 al 25 de febrero de 2010 / Madrid, 23rd to 25th of February of 2011