Measurements of Fire Loads and Calculations of Fire Severity

Types of furnishings, interior finish, and occupancy trends have changed considerably over the last several decades, so new fire load surveys for various occupancies are being conducted in various countries, using modern surveying techniques. These new data can be used to calculate fire growth curves, considering modern lightweight methods of construction using large window areas and mechanical ventilation. Computer models are designed to evaluate fire growth as a dynamic process, using such factors as heats of combustion, changing temperature levels, combustion enthalpy per unit mass of air, thermal conductivities and radiation, furniture arrangements and collapse during fires, etc. As these computational methods become more refined, changes in fire endurance testing can be made to produce more realistic results, which may represent fire exposures and potential fire severities different than those we are familiar with