Research Projects
The life safety objective in structural fire safety design
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Life safety is the most important objective in performance-based design of fire exposed structures. The required fire protection measures are usually decided in direct correlation to the perceived risk for life. In his thesis, funded by Brandforsk, SBUF and ÅForsk, Joakim Sandström elaborates on a new approach for structural fire safety design with the capability of quantify the risk in a more coherent way for most types of buildings.
The thesis The life safety objective in structural fire safety design can be downloaded from the Luleå University of Technology homepage
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Joakim Sandström
+46 (0)54-770 78 02
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Evacuation planning for elevated walkways in railway tunnels
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Several large railway tunnels have been designed with elevated walkways for evacuation.
The design of thess walkways in relation to the track area influences the evacuation has been a question under debate. In a project sponsored by the Swedish transport administration (Trafikverket) this question was studied by Brandskyddslaget.
During the project Brandskyddslaget summarized the findings in this area in a report and acted as an adviser for designing a full-scale research tests.
The report also includes recommendations regarding people flow rates and design of both elevated walkways and walkways at track level. The report can be found here and the report describing the full-scale tests performed by RISE can be found here. Both reports are written in Swedish.
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Niclas Åhnberg
+46 (0)8 588 188 85
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Green Roof-covering
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Green roof-covering is becoming more common in our built environment, but in many cases these roof coverings do not fulfill simplified requirements as stated in the General Guidelines within the Swedish Building Regulations (BBR). The aim of this project is, therefore, to improve our understanding of green roof-coverings, specifically relative to their fire performance.
The project, which was financed by Brandforsk, was conducted in 2017 and resulted, amongst other things, in the report “Green Buildings – from the fire performance point of view” (available in Swedish only with an English Summary).
Image: Simo Räsänen/Wikimedia Commons
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Robert McNamee
+46 (0)8 588 188 06
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Alexander Elias
+46 (0)8 588 188 04
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Tall Timber Buildings
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In the autumn of 2015, the project Tall Timber Building – Concept studies, was initiated. This project investigates the potential to build tall timber buildings (over 20 storeys) that are both safe and economically viable. The project is financed by FORMAS (The Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development) and is led by RISE Built Environment – Timber Buildings and Residences.
The aim of the project is to develop practical and useful solutions to be able to build tall timber buildings according to the existing regulatory framework and to identify areas and processes that should be studied in more detail.
Brandskyddslaget is one of a number of partners and will assist the project with both technical knowledge and practical experience of fire safety design.
Image: CF Möller
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Björn Andersson
+46 (0)8 588 188 75
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Lisa Broberg
+46 (0)8 588 188 40
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John Hultquist
+46 (0)8 588 188 72
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Uncertainties in Fire Evacuation
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In 2015, Aalto University in collaboration with the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) conducted several fire experiments in an apartment in Finland. The aim was to investigate the effect of fire-induced pressure on evacuation safety.
Brandskyddslaget’s Tomas Fagergren participated in the Reference Group. One conclusion was that the experiments indicated that the pressure increase in the early stages of the fire is sufficient to make it virtually impossible to open the apartment door.
An article about this project is found here and the final report is available here. The article is available in Swedish only but the full report is in English due to the international nature of the project.
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Tomas Fagergren
+46 (0)8 588 188 55
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Fire Safety of Double-Glazed Facades
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Brandskyddslaget has conducted an in-depth study of the fire safety of double-glazed facades together with RISE (previously SP) in Borås. The background to the project is that an increasing number of double-glazed facades are being built and their fire safety is heavily dependent on how they are constructed. Information concerning the impact of construction on fire performance is presently lacking.
The project was conducted as an in-depth literature study and was completed in the beginning of 2016. The final report is part of the Brandskyddslaget report series in Swedish (with an English Summary) and is found here.
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Hans Nyman
+46 (0)8 588 188 67
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Robert Jansson McNamee
+46 (0)8 588 188 06
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Design of Evacuation Refuge Locations
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Brandskyddslaget has conducted a study of the design of evacuations refuge locations together with Lund’s University of Technology. The aim of the study was to develop guidelines for how such refuge locations should be designed given that there are presently no regulations.
Tests were conducted in virtual reality in combination with literature studies and interviews. The project was financed by Brandforsk and completed in 2015.
The research report has been finalised and, amongst other things, been presented at the Human Behaviour in Fire conference in Cambridge. The full report is available in Swedish (with an English Summary) here.
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Kristin Andrée
+46 (0)8 588 188 66
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Enclosure Fire Air Vents – Scale Tests
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The spread of fire gases via the ventilation system is a potential problem. Presently different damper-based solutions are used, both traditional fire dampers and back-flow dampers, in combination with fans in operation.
Brandskyddslaget’s Hans Nyman has conducted practical model scale (1:2) tests together with Haukur Ingason at RISE (previously SP) to investigate an alternative method to reduce the spread of fire gases through the ventilation system, i.e. the use of supply vents placed close to the floor of the enclosure.
The study concentrated on the initiation phase of an enclosure fire and analysed the character of the air volume pressed out through low-lying (close to the floor) air supply vents.
The final report is available here in Swedish with an English Abstract. It is also available on the Brandforsk and RISE webpages. The magazine “Brandsäkert” wrote an article about the project (#6 2014) which is available in Swedish here.
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Hans Nyman
+46 (0)8 588 188 67
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Air Curtains and Smoke Barriers in Underground Facilities
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In March 2014, Hans Nyman presented an article “Air curtains as smoke barriers – model scale tests and CFD calculations” together with Haukur Ingason at RISE. The article is based on a Brandforsk-project that was conducted as a collaboration between Brandskyddslaget and RISE (previously SP) in Borås.
The presentation was given at The 6th International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security in Marseille, the premier international conference for underground facilities.
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Hans Nyman
+46 (0)8 588 188 67
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