Fire engineering services
Design analysis from Lloyd's Register
Since July 1, 2002, Regulation 17 of the revised Chapter II-2 of
SOLAS has allowed builders, owners and administrations to use
performance-based fire engineering analysis for alternative design
and arrangements for fire safety.
Lloyd's Registers fire engineering service can help you to
evaluate alternative proposals and to comply with the new
Regulation. Our experience of passenger ships is second to none,
and our flexible approach and unrivalled expertise will help you
deliver safe, cost-effective plans for your new ship.
What is fire engineering?
Fire engineering is the use of fire science, engineering,
analysis including computer simulation and common sense, to provide
fire safety precautions tailored to each design by:
- identifying hazards and fire scenarios
- setting acceptance criteria
- defining alternatives
- carrying out analysis based on a fundamental understanding of
the behaviour of fire and people.
Fire engineering analysis can be used for innovative design
features on all ship types, which are not currently addressed by
the prescriptive regulations within Chapter II-2 of SOLAS.
What are the benefits?
- Being able to use a performance-based method to demonstrate
compliance with SOLAS allows you to be innovative and flexible in
your design.
- Performance-based analysis allows fire precautions to be
tailored to the actual risk, resulting in a safer design.
- Using fire engineering can reduce your costs through the
omission of ineffective precautions and reduced interruption to
business.
- Analysing the actual fire risk and consequences leads to
improved knowledge of loss potential, which can provide valuable
information for insurers and help in the decision-making process to
protect high-asset vessels.
How does Lloyd's Register help?
Fire engineering analysis
We have carried out a range of performance-based fire
engineering analyses using the guidance shown in the MSC/Circ.1002
Guidelines on Alternative Design and Arrangements, which have
subsequently been deemed acceptable by flag administration and port
state control authorities, including the US Coast Guard.
The analysis used is dependent upon the complexity of the
specific alternative design being evaluated. Complex designs may
require the combined use of computer-based evacuation analysis in
addition to the fire modelling tools. The extent of the analysis is
determined during the early stages of the design process.
Other tools
There are a number of computer-based fire modelling programs
currently in use today. For a specific design, these models can be
used in a fire engineering analysis to predict smoke movement and
temperature gradients within a particular space. Generally Zone or
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models are used depending upon
the complexity of the design.
Computer-based evacuation analysis can be used, in conjunction
with fire modelling, to estimate the allowable safe evacuation time
of the occupants within a specific area of the vessel. Comparison
of the allowable evacuation time with the time taken for the
conditions in the space to become hazardous provides the fire
engineer with the confidence that the overall life safety
objectives have been achieved. Lloyd's Register currently uses
maritimeEXODUS, a program developed by international human
behaviour and modelling experts at the University of Greenwich.
What next?
If you would like to progress your enquiry further please choose
one of the following: