New research paper on fire protection for ceilings with exposed joists

Dramatic savings possible on fire protection systems for warehouses, car parking garages, tunnels, hospitals and all other buildings with exposed beams or a ‘waffle‘ ceiling construction

Norwell, MA January 2006: A new research paper on fire protection for ceilings with exposed beams or a ‘waffle’ construction has been released by Xtralis Pty Ltd. The research opens the way for Fire Protection engineers to dramatically reduce the cost of fire protection systems for buildings such as warehouses, car parking garages, hospitals, tunnels and other buildings with exposed ceiling beams or waffles greater than 1 ft deep.

The US National Fire Protection Association code (NFPA 72, Edition 2002) recommends that, for ceiling heights and beam depths equal or greater than 12 ft and 1 ft respectively, every ceiling compartment should contain a smoke detection point. To compare different smoke detection systems in such an environment, Xtralis Pty Ltd conducted extensive in situ smoke testing, supervised by Australia’s government research organization – the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). A wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) computer modeling simulations were also created to test the response of the different systems.

The research proved that installing the sample pipe of an air sampling smoke detection system along the underside of the beams allowed earlier detection of smoke than photoelectric spot detectors installed on the ceiling, as the code specifies. This is good news for building owners, as there is a considerable price difference between the two options. For example, in a room of 131 ft x 49 ft with 96 ceiling compartments, the installed cost of an air sampling smoke detection system is only 16% of the cost of installing photoelectric spot detectors with wiring conduit.

Ming He, Group Manager of Applications Engineering at Xtralis Pty Ltd, commented “An active fire protection system such as air sampling smoke detectors with multiple fire alarm set points ensures the earliest possible warning of a fire. Fire protection engineers can now offer a performance-based fire protection system that not only detects fire much earlier than code-specified systems using conventional spot-type detectors, but is cheaper to install and maintain.”

A White paper summarizing the research results is available.

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