27th - 29th March 2018

Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, Selangor

Passive & Active Fire Strategies

for Super Tall Building Design

AC Hamdan Bin Ali

AIFireE, MSc. ERP (UPM), BEng. Mechanical (UTM)
Fire Safety Division, FRDM
Ir TL Chen
FIFireE, DL&FASHRAE, P.E., C.E.
Past President ACEM, IFEM, MASHRAE
Synopsis
This presentation delves into the understanding of super
tall building fire designs.
That super tall buildings must fight its own fire internally
dictates the requirement for a far more robust consideration
of both its passive and active fire strategies.
Passive considerations will include evacuation strategies
encompassing adequacy of stairs for both evacuees and
fire rescue, use of elevator for evacuation, controlled or
managed evacuation, provision of refuge floors, together
with control of internal and external material use.
Active considerations will need to address the intricacies of
smoke control and pressurization systems associated with
static heights; the phenomenon of plug-holing, stack and
reverse-stack effect, elevator piston effect and other related
issues.
Synopsis cont'd

It is also important to enhance the reliability of the installed

active systems, provide for effective regular testing
methodology and sustainable maintenance.
Specific examples of some latest product development in
the industry will be shared.
Application of engineered smoke control systems and how
to avoid pitfalls in the industry will be highlighted together
with the critical topic on Integrated Fire Testing &
Commissioning which is deemed absolutely essential for
super tall buildings.
The presentation concludes with a provocative thought on
the need to review existing fire codes to meet future
challenges as we “reach the sky”.
Definition of High Rise Buildings
NFPA defines a high-rise building as a building more than
75 feet (23 meters – about 7 storeys) in height, measured
from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to
the floor of the highest occupiable storey.

Tall, Supertall & Megatall Buildings

ASHRAE in 2004 defines Tall buildings as those higher than
300 feet (91 m)
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat in 2015
defines;
• Supertall buildings as those higher than 300 m (984 feet)
• Megatall building as those higher than 600 m (2,000 feet)
 Megatall

Supertall

Supertall & Megatall Buildings

Passive Design Considerations
for Super Tall Buildings
Kuala Lumpur Skyline – 1980s
Kuala Lumpur Skyline – 2000s
 Masterpiece Super Tall Buildings in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur City Center – PETRONAS Twin Tower

• Former tallest building in Kuala

Lumpur (1998-2017) and
formerly the world's tallest
building (1998-2004)
• Height : 451.9m
• Floors : 88
• Built : 1998
• Remains the tallest twin towers
in the world

• Building Performance - Reinforced concrete, with steel-and-glass facade

to resemble Islamic motifs
• Egress Strategies – Sky Bridge Horizontal Evacuation & Refuge Floor
 Masterpiece Super Tall Buildings in Malaysia
The Exchange 106

• Construction reached 470 m

in December 2017. When
completed, the final height
will be 492 m.
• Height : 492 m
• Floors : 106
• Built : 2018
• Currently the tallest building
in Malaysia pending
completion of
KL118/PNB118.
• Building Performance
– Core: Reinforced Concrete; Columns: Steel; Floor Spanning: Steel
• Egress Strategies
– Staged, Phased Evacuation scenario, Designated staging area sky lobby
Level 48, Lift evacuation
 Skyscraper Fire Incidents
Recent (June 2017) tragedy at Grenfell
Tower in London. The conflagration in
this residential complex has been
linked to unsafe cladding containing
flammable materials, plus inadequate
fire safety and evacuation procedures.
The tragedy has so far claimed at least
71 lives.
The Plasco Building was a 17-story high-rise
landmark building in Tehran, the capital city
of Iran. At the time of its construction in the
1960s it was the tallest building in Iran, and
was considered an iconic part of the Tehran
skyline. The building collapsed on 19
January 2017 during a skyscraper fire
-Twenty firefighters were reported to be
killed.
 Fire Risk in High-Rise Buildings
 Office
– Statistics in Australia: 0.0000219 average fire per year per
m2
– NFPA: 0.7% fire per year
– NFPA: low statistics figure due to much greater use of fire
protection i.e. sprinkler

 Residential
– Apartments are of low risk due to compartmentation.
Multiple apartment fire is rare.
– Lower fire fatality rate in Singapore & Hong Kong
(population live in High-Rise compared to other countries
with pre-dominantly Low-Rise houses).
 Passive Fire Requirements
Passive fire requirements are mainly focussed on the structure of
the building and its evacuation strategy plan
Building Structure
• Building structural performance - the duration of time that the
structure can withstand the effects of a fire
• Fire spread mitigation e.g. compartmentation
• Refuge floor
• Control of internal and external material use
Evacuation Strategy
• Period of time required to safely evacuate all building occupants
• Use of lift evacuation (to expedite the evacuation process)
• Controlled or Managed evacuation
• Counter flow problems (Evacuees vs Fire Fighters)
Fire/Smoke Spread in Super Tall Buildings
 Fire Compartments

• Multiple compartments that isolate parts of the building in the

event of a fire
• Reduce the chances of fire spreading by secondary ignition
• Design physical barriers to resist flame and insulate against
heat
 Compartmentation

 To prevent fire spread i.e. fire rating elements such as

walls, doors, shafts etc.
 To prevent smoke spread i.e. passive smoke control
such as cold smoke seals, smoke stop seals, etc.
 Self closing doors to ensure compartmentation is intact
 Facade

• Aluminum Composite
Panel
– Combustible materials
e.g. PIR, PU, PE
– Mineral wool type

• Double skin façade

– Fire/smoke spread via
cavity
– Glazing failure
Flame Projector

• Horizontal or Vertical
Projection?

• Study has shown

horizontal is better

• Risk mitigated by
sprinkler design
Curtain Wall Design
 Interior and Exterior Building Material

• Passive fire protection products are used to provide the

required compartmentalisation, sealing any gaps created by
pipes or cables, that could possibly lead to fire or smoke
passing through the walls and floors
• Buildings must ensure that any openings and gaps are fire
stopped to restrict both lateral and vertical fire spread
• Use fire-resistant building materials; e.g. protected steel and
structural concrete frame, glass, or metal curtain walls, interior
partitions of non combustible gypsum board on steel and
suspended ceilings of mineral tiles
 Structural Performance
 Fire performance of super tall building structural system
depends on the size and nature of the fire
 Some research/journal reviewing data from the Cardington
Test, assert that structural system with long span light-
weight floors where the load is shared by a stiff core and
external structure are particularly vulnerable to multiple
floor fires
 The designer needs to incorporate factor of safety for
design of the structure to resist collapse or excessive
deflection in the event of fire
 The non availability of furnace testing of individual
structural elements to assure provision of adequate
structural fire safety requires that Performance-based
design approach must take this into consideration.
 Fire Resistance Rating
 Prescriptive fire resistance – UBBL require 2 hrs for
building heights > 28 m but is the requirement the
same for 280 m height?
 Standard fire curve – Can we use the same for
super tall buildings?
 Travelling fire behavior causes growth period and
cooling period which give rise to thermal expansion
and contraction that can have significant impact on
the building structural performance.
 Structural design for tall buildings are different from
low rise buildings where:
• Structural elements are bigger
• Interaction of different systems/forms/materials
• Coupling of gravity etc.
• Lateral load-resisting elements
All these are not captured in standard fire tests
 Evacuation

Challenges
 Very high occupant load with limited egress – Long
Evacuation Time
 Fatigue – cause congestion in the staircases
 People with disabilities
 Counter-flow i.e. with fire fighters
 UBBL staircase size requirements are based on
largest population regardless of the height - is this
adequate?
 Rooftop sky restaurant and public assembly that
may involve intoxicated occupants
 Evacuation in Tall Buildings
 Total Evacuation
– Traditional way
– Impractical for Super Tall buildings
– Simulation study of a recent Super Tall building shows
more than 3 hours are required to evacuate occupants
 Phased Evacuation
– Refuge Floor – sometimes necessary for Super Tall
buildings
– Lift for Evacuation
 Stay-in-Place
– Protected in fire rated compartment
– Keep as many people in place as possible who are not
exposed to smoke - anyone not in the immediate fire area.
– Particularly true in residential high-rise buildings where
compartmentalization has proven to be effective in
preventing fire spread
 Evacuation Strategy

Evacuation strategy requires 3 components:

1. Building design elements including active & passive
systems and exit stairs to control fire & smoke and to
facilitate evacuation
2. Emergency Response and Evacuation Plan that
outlines the responsibilities of building management
and outlines the specific evacuation procedures for
facilitating occupant evacuation for a broad range of
scenarios including fire, weather, security threat or
failure of building systems
3. Fire drills exercise and training of building occupants
to understand the intended evacuation plan and to
understand evacuation procedures
 Phased Evacuation
 The concept of phased evacuation relies heavily
on adequate fire compartmentation such that any
fire occurring will be contained within the fire
compartment prior to the arrival of the fire brigade
 This means that only occupants within the
compartment on fire need to be evacuated from
the building immediately, whilst the remaining
occupants only need to be “alerted” of the incident
 Sandwich floors e.g. 5 floors - fire floor and two
floors above and below
 Early detection of a fire and raising of alarm,
together with a suitable automatic fire
extinguishing installation for controlling the size of
the fire, are important additional criteria
 Refuge Area/Floor

“ Refuge area is a location in a building designed

to hold occupants during a fire or other
emergency, when evacuation may not be safe or
possible. Occupants can wait there until rescued
or relieved by firefighters”

Wikipedia
 Refuge Floor Regulation

Hong Kong Qatar Singapore NFPA

50% of net area of 50% of net area of 50% of net area of Any floors that are
refuge floor refuge floor refuge floor sprinklered but with at
least 2 rooms with
No occupied No commercial No commercial smoke resisting
accommodation activities activities construction
including mechanical
room except water Fire separated 2hrs Fire separated 2hrs Located in path of
tank travel but fire
Open sided or Open sided or separated
Fire separated from mechanical ventilation mechanical ventilation
remainder of the
space/building Sprinkler Sprinkler

Open sided parapet

to provide cross
ventilation
 Advantage of Refuge Floor

• A safe place for short rest before occupants

continue to escape downwards
• Protection of people with disabilities
• Command point for fire fighting operation or
rescue team to assist evacuation
 Disadvantage of Refuge Floor

• Take up large areas of redundant space but will

the empty areas provided remain empty?
• Will occupants wait in the refuge areas arising
from sentiment experienced following the WTC
and Grenfell Tower events?
 The Challenge for Super Tall Buildings
• Longer Evacuation Time. (e.g. high occupant loads, limitation of
vertical egress system )
• Direct fire rescue by ground applications from the building
exterior is difficult because of the building height
• Dilemma situation - normal escape routes for occupants are
downwards through staircases or lifts BUT ingress for
Firefighter access and equipment delivery to rescue people and
to fight the fire are upwards through staircases or lifts - counter
flow egress management
• Possibility of being under terrorist attack
• Keep Safe separation distance for adjacent buildings to avoid
domino effect in event of building collapse
 Consideration
• There are no well developed codes on fire safety for super tall building
designs - mainly relying on adoption and recommendation of fire
engineering approach (or Performance-Based Design).

• Feasibility study on using new fire protection systems for

extinguishing the fire rapidly should be explored.

• Proper preventive measures are required for example applying

appropriate fire protective coatings to give a longer fire resistance
period.

• Software fire safety management to control hardware provisions in

passive building construction and active fire protection system should
be worked out.

• A clear understanding of the fire dynamics in super-tall buildings is

necessary to draft the safety management strategy and the need to
review existing fire codes to meet the challenges as we “reach the
sky.”
Active Design Considerations
for Super Tall Buildings
 Major Active Design Considerations
The single most important building service that make tall
buildings viable ......... ????? LIFTS

Water Pressure :
- penalties: static head, dynamic head, equipment
rating, water hammer, pumping energy ......
- bonus: gravity head
Air Pressure :
- stack (reverse) effect, stratification, piston effect
Active Fire Protection Systems
1. Automatic fire sprinkler
system
2. Wet Riser System
(note: no more downcomer system)
3. Hosereel System
4. Hydrants
5. Automatic CO2 gas
flooding system
6. Clean Agent System
7. Fire Alarm and
Detection system
8. Portable fire
extinguishers
9. Wet Chemical System
10. Fireman Intercom
System
11. Pubic Address System
12. Fire Lifts
13. Emergency Gensets
14. Electrical Isolation
Switch
15. Emergency Lights &
Exit Signs
16. Smoke Control &
Management System
17. Misc e.g. Gas system
shut-down
Fires Have Never Caused
Skyscrapers to Collapse

Excepting the three 9-11 collapses, no fire,

however severe, has ever caused a steel-
framed high-rise building to collapse.
(Note: the cause of collapse of the Plasco building in 2017
remains highly suspicious)
 First Interstate Bank, LA The One Meridian Plaza Fire,
1988 Philadelphia 1991

Fire was eventually stopped when it

reached the fully sprinklered 30th
Sprinkler system valves had floor. Ten sprinkler heads activated
been closed, awaiting installation at different points of fire penetration.
of water-flow alarms. No part of the building collapsed.
Caracas Tower Fire, Venuezela
2004 The Windsor Building fire, Madrid
2005

Lack of a sprinkler system.

Incorrect installation of spandrels.
The lack of fire prevention
regulations in Spain.

Malfunctioning of water pumps.

No civilians were killed or
injured
Wet Fire Systems
(Super Tall Buildings)

GRAVITY
(associated with height
aka tall buildings)
make full use of it!
courtesy of Rolf Jensen & Associates, Inc.
 Wet Riser
Schematic
B6 to L92
with gravity feeds
(Exchange 106)

courtesy of Primetech Engineers Sdn Bhd

 Sprinkler
Schematic
B6 to L92
with gravity feeds
(Exchange 106)

courtesy of Primetech Engineers Sdn Bhd

Reliability of Automatic Fire Sprinkler System
• Automatic Sprinkler system should be mandatory
for all categories of tall buildings including
Residential Hi-Rise
• For Super Tall buildings, reliability of Sprinkler
System should be enhanced for improved
maintenance regime

Automatic testing of sprinkler flow

switch (e.g. zonecheck assy)
should be seriously considered as
mandatory for super tall buildings
 THE NEED FOR ....
Smoke Control & Management

Smoke inhalation injuries cause

50 to 80% of fire deaths

THERE IS NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

Smoke Control & Management System
The global study of Smoke Control & Management is
continuously evolving and in Malaysia we have
developed local standards and guidelines on Smoke
Control Design and Application over the last 3 decades.

Guide to Fire Protection in Malaysia

The publication of this Guidebook in October 1999,
heralded the successful smart partnership between
the Fire & Rescue Department Malaysia (FRDM) and
the relevant professional bodies
This Guidebook provides a significant in-depth into
Pressurisation Systems and Smoke Control
(Extraction) system Using Natural or Powered
Ventilation, which have since been incorporated into
MS1472 and MS1780
For Super Tall buildings - what else to
watch out for in Design ? ...... air pressure
• Lift shaft piston effect
• Stack effect of air ventilation shaft including for
pressurisation and smoke extraction use
Staircase & Fire Lift Lobby Pressurization

Stack Effect
Calculation:

Neutral Plane located

at 227.77m

∆P = - 93.5 Pa &
+ 94.7 Pa

Solution:
Design with 4-stage
Pressurisation
system as shown

courtesy of Primetech Engineers

(Exchange 106)
 Smoke Control Techniques
The various techniques most commonly used
for smoke control:

• Smoke Containment
• Smoke Dilution
• Smoke Reservoir Exhaust Ventilation
• Zoned Smoke Control
(including Sandwich System)

Smoke extract
sandwich system
 Engineered Smoke Control System
In lieu of prescriptive code (normally applicable for standard
type buildings), engineered smoke control approach may
be used for more complicated design situations.
Engineered smoke control system shall be in the form of a
smoke ventilation system by natural or powered extraction
designed in accordance with:
BR 186 - Design principles for smoke ventilation in enclosed shopping
centres
BR 258 - Design approaches for smoke control in atrium buildings
Other acceptable standards, such as:
• Warrington Fire Research Consultants
• Society of Fire Protection Engineers Publication
• ASHRAE's Design of Smoke Management Systems
by John H Klote & James A Milke
Integrated Fire Testing and Commissioning
• Active fire fighting installations by the Fire Fighting trade
contractor
• Smoke Control & Pressurisation installations by the HVAC
trade contractor
• Other fire related installations by various trades

 It is very common for the integrated fire T&C to be missed

out or not completed due to insufficient time allocation for
the T&C period
 A total T&C period of up to 3 months (for Super Tall
buildings) ought to be allocated before handover of the
building
 Commissioning & Integrated System Testing

• NFPA 3:2012 provides the

minimum requirements for
procedures, methods and
documentation for commissioning
and integrated system testing of
active and passive fire protection
and life safety systems and their
interconnections with other building
systems.
Review of Codes to meet Future Challenges

• Tall & taller buildings must fight fire from the

inside

• Automatic Fire Sprinkler system - should be

mandatory for all categories of tall buildings

• Wet Riser system & Hose Reel system - to

merge these systems into a single mid pressure
"internal hydrant" system for use by both
occupants (trained) and fire fighters

• Commissioning and Integrated System

Testing must be comprehensively carried out
 END
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