Life safety assessment in multi-storey building fires

Life safety is one of the most important objectives of Performance Based Fire-Design and is commonly considered to be achieved if building occupants escape the effects of the fire unharmed. Numerical simulations are often used to predict fire dynamics and factors affecting the evacuation capabilities of occupants. The main scope of this research is to assess life safety in a multi-storey building fire. Statistics based fire risk assessment is used to choose the scenario to be simulated taking into consideration the damage severity and likelihood of occurrence. In the fire simulations, particular attention is given to the fuel modelling to consider the toxicity of combustion products and thus, its effects on the building occupants. Fire simulations results are then integrated with evacuation simulations. The fire risk assessment and fire/evacuation simulations are performed for a multi-storey hotel building located in Lecce, Italy.