Fire Load Calculation and Analysis for a Heritage building

(Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall- State Central Library, Cubbon park, Bangalore)

Presented by,
Aayush Raj Sinha – 1DT13CV001
Ali Akbar M Aziz - 1DT13CV003
Ashlyn Mariam Mathew – 1DT13CV006
Khushboo R Jain - 1DT13CV019
Final year, Civil Engineering Students
D.S.A.T.M, Bangalore-82

Guided by – Prof. K. N. Vishwanath

Head, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
Dayananda Sagar Academy of Technology and Management
 Introduction
• Hazards can be classified as natural or man-made. Fire is one of the hazards which can have either
of the two as its origin. Losses due to fires are not only limited to loss of human life, but also
include loss in the life and strength of the structure and loss to property.
• Calculation of fire load and material mass and volume occupancy gives us an idea of how severe a
fire can get, if it occurs and what measures should be adopted to arrest it so as to have minimum
damage.
• “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” is stated as the main goal of any Nation. Though Heritage
buildings are exposed to the same fire threats as other buildings, they are of more significant
architectural and historical importance, and often contain irreplaceable contents.
• The increasing use of engineered solutions results in the need to identify, characterize and
quantify design fires for various buildings. The burning characteristics (ignition, heat release and
flame temperature) of design fires depend on the type, amount, and arrangement of combustible
materials (known as fire load), geometry and available ventilation in the room of fire origin, and
the ignition source.

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 About Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall
• Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall, Currently designated as the “State Central Library”, is located at
Cubbon Park, Bangalore. Built in 1915, in the honour of the Dewan of Mysore, Shri K. Sheshadri
Iyer.
• It is a classic European Style building supported on Tuscan Columns and is constructed entirely
with Red Bricks and Mortar.
• The library was set up in the year 1915 and is known to have literary classics that are not found
anywhere else in India. At present, the library is used by a lot of avid readers, researchers,
academicians and students.
• This building also represents the zenith of civil engineering and also is considered one of the
most important heritage buildings in Karnataka. Therefore, it is indefinite to introduce a modern
fire safety system to protect this historic building and its valuable contents from a fire incident.

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 Aim of the Project

 To calculate the fire load imposed, its effect on Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall in case of a fire
accident.
 To determine the cause effects of the fire on the Heritage structure.
 To recommend fire safety system and fire exits for the historic building.
 To create awareness among the users of the building about the impact of fire load.
 Give the concerned authority a holistic view of the measures to be adopted in the event of fire.
 Scope of the Project
 The need to calculate the fire load of a structure.
 The need to calculate the fire load for Sheshadri Iyer memorial hall.
 The present scenario of the historic building with respect to fire resistance and fire protection
systems.
 To give complete picture of the impact coming on substances and people during fire.
 Implementing modern fire safety and fire fighting equipment for the historic memorial hall which
at present houses the State Central Library.

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 Methodology
a) Study of the plan :-
The plan of Sheshadri Iyer Memorial hall was obtained from the Karnataka Public
Work Department (A Govt. of Karnataka Enterprise). After thorough analysis of the plan,
the building was divided into various rooms as shown below:

01 Basement Offices
02 Main Entrance
03 Reception
04 Reading room and Stairs
05 Competative Exam Section
06 Reading Room 1
07 Reading Room 2
08 Library Offices
09 Xerox Room
10 Novel Section and Stairs
11 Alternate Entrance

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 Methodology
a) Calculation of fire load :-

Three methods can be used to estimate the combustible material of a particular compartment.
These are:-

• Direct measurement of mass (conversion based on the net heat of combustion).

• Direct measurement of volume (with conversion based on density and net heat of combustion).

• Energy release measurement by calorimeter of an item sufficiently similar to the fuel package.

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 Fire Load

What is Fire Load?

It is defined as the heat energy that could be released per square meter of a floor area of a
compartment of storey by the complete combustion of the contents of the building and
any combustible parts of the building itself.
 mv  H v
qc 
Af

where,
qc – Fire load (MJ/m2)
mv – Total mass of combustible materials (kg)
Hv – Calorific value of combustible material (MJ/kg)
Af – Floor area (m2)

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Plan of the building

Ground floor plan:-

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First floor and basement plan:-

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Fire load calculations and Analysis for a Heritage Building
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b) To recommend fire safety system and fire exits for the historic building:-

Classes of fire:-
CLASSES OF FIRE COMBUSTIBLE MATERIALS EXAMPLES

Class A Solid Wood, plastic, rubber

Class B Liquid Kerosene, petrol, liquid gas

Class C Gas and electrical appliances LPG, combustible gases and electrical appliances

Magnesium, potassium,
Class D Combustible metals
titanium and zirconium

Table 2 – Classes of Fires.

As per the fire classification shown above, The Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall will experience a fire of CLASS A.
As per the standards, water type extinguishers are the most suitable kind.
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 Explanation of fire safety for Class A
• Since, most of the content of the building are books, water type may destroy the contents and
therefore ABC type and CO2 Type extinguishers are preferred.
• The duration of fire of this particular building will be 1 to 2 Hours.
• The number of fire tenders required to fight the fire would be 10 to 15 of vehicles which will include
normal Water Tender (4500 lts), Water Lorry (9000 lts) and Water Boozers (16000 lts).
• Placement of fire extinguishers, alarms and mist sprinklers depends on the size of the room,
content of the room, capacity of the product and as per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

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 Classification of building based on occupancy
As per National Building Code of India-2005 (NBC), Part 4 – Fire and Life safety, all buildings,
whether existing or hereafter erected shall be classified according to the use or the character of occupancy
in one of the following groups:
GROUP BUILDING TYPE

Group A Residential buildings

Group B Educational buildings

Group C Institutional buildings

Group D Assembly buildings

Group E Business buildings

Group F Mercantile buildings

Group G Industrial buildings

Group H Storage buildings

Group J Hazardous buildings

• As per the above table, Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall belongs to Group D-Assembly
Fire load calculations and Analysis for a Heritage Building Buildings. 14
 Buildings under Group D are further classified in NBC (2005), Part 4, Cl. 3.1.5 as follows –
• Sub-Division D-1
• Sub-Division D-2
• Sub-Division D-3
• Sub-Division D-4
• Sub-Division D-5
• Sub-Division D-6
• Sub-Division D-7
Sheshadri Iyer memorial hall belongs to subdivision D-3, because :-
This sub-division shall include any building, its lobbies, rooms and other spaces connected thereto,
primarily intended for assembly of people, but which has no theatrical stage or permanent theatrical
and/or cinematographic accessories and has accommodation for 300 persons or more.

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 Recommendations
According to the fire load calculated, the minimum requirements to make the building fire proof
according to Table-7 of NBC 2016: Life safety and fire safety are:-

• Fire extinguishers –ABC type or CO2 type-

• Hose reel-

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• Down comer- • Manually operated electronic fire alarm system-

• Automatic sprinklers – Mist type-

• Automatic detection system – ionization Type

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•Underground Static tank of capacity of 1,00,000 Litres-

•Terrace tank of 5,000 litres-

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Summary of fire loads in the heritage building:-

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 Conclusions:-
• As Sheshadri Iyer Memorial Hall is a heritage building, housing the State Central Library, its fire
safety is of utmost importance.
• Hence, the following recommendations must be adopted to make the building fire proof:-
PARTICULARS PRESENT SCENARIO RECOMMENDATIONS
1. MAIN Designed with 2 entrances, one in use No entrance should be blocked and should be open for
ENTRANCE and the other blocked public use
2. EMERGENCY The main entrance directed towards Provide 2 more exits: a) near the staircase
EXITS south is the only mode of exit b) directed in the north direction
3. STAIRS Only one wooden staircase present Provide an emergency exit near the main staircase to be
used in case of emergency
4. SAFE No To install sign boards:-
ASSEMBLY POINT a) Indicating safe assembly point
b) Direction board for emergency exit
c) Signage's showing location of fire extinguisher
devices
5. DRIVEWAY No Driveway of 6m surrounding the building

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PARTICULARS PRESENT SCENARIO RECOMMENDATIONS

6. FIRE SAFETY MEASURES-

a) FIRE EXTINGUISHERS No ABC type and CO2 type are recommended

c) FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS No Ionization detection type

d) UNDERGROUND STATIC TANK No 1 lakh litres capacity

e) TERRACE TANK No 5000 litres capacity

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 References
The plan of the building was obtained from the PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT, High Court
Building, Cubbon Park, Bangalore
The fire Safety Equipment Information, Duration Information, Number of tenders required
to fight the fire etc. was obtained from the SOUTH FIRE STATION, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore.
Nation Building Code Of India, 2016
Ehab Zalok, “Validation of methodologies to determine fire loads for use in structural fire
protection”, Fire Protection Research Foundation, NFPA, May 2011.
Shrivastava Preeti R., Sawant P.H., “Estimation of Fire Loads for an Educational Building-A
Case Study”, Department of Civil Engineering, S.P.C.E. Andheri (west), Mumbai, India, 1 May
2013.

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THANK YOU!

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