Decription:

The purpose of this Design Guide is to provide an introduction to fire engineering. It will be useful for those wishing to carry out or review specific fire engineering designs to meet the requirements of the New Zealand Building Code or the Building Code of Australia.

The first edition of this Guide reported the findings of a study group formed by the Structural Engineering Society New Zealand and the New Zealand Fire Protection Association in 1992, following the introduction of the Building Act in 1991. The Building Act consolidated a wide range of previous legislation relating to building construction, established the Building Industry Authority (BIA), and required all new construction to be in accordance with the New Zealand Building Code, in a performance-based framework.

The fire safety performance requirements of the Building Code can be met either by complying with the prescriptive provisions of the BIA Acceptable Solution, or by an 'alternative solution' involving specific fire engineering design. This Guide provides a framework for carrying out specific fire engineering design when the Acceptable Solution is not applicable, the owner's requirements go beyond those of the Building Code, or when additional benefits in cost or safety are warrented.

The second edition of this Design Guide has been produced by members of the original study group, with help from several new contributors. It has been updated throughout with new material and recent references. New sections include:

* Documentation and peer reviews
* Domestic fire safety
* Design fires for computer modelling
* New fire detector technology
* Regulatory framework in Australia.

Fire protection engineering is a vast and rapidly expanding discipline. It is hoped that this Design Guide will provide a useful introduction to the subject for all those involved in the design or assessment of fire safety in buildings, and for many others, including students and fire fighters.