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In the past three decades, fire engineering has experienced fast development worldwide. Fire regulations for building industry were moved from prescriptive description to performance-based specification. This trend started in the UK in the 1980s and spread to other western countries. Hong Kong closely followed the UK development and adopted the approach of performance-based design (PBD) for the Hong Kong International Airport and MTR stations in the early 1990s. The Government of Hong Kong SAR formally recognised the PBD approach in the prescriptive codes of practice in the mid-1990s and developed the performance-based code (PBC) in the 2000s. This PBC was promulgated in 2011. The evolution in fire engineering impacted the fire community in Mainland China. The State Key Laboratory of Fire Science (SKLFS) was established in University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1991. Then fire science and fire engineering stepped into the fast development track. The building industry in Mainland China started to adopt the PBD approach in the early 2000s for the significant developments including large airport terminals, railway and metro stations, super high-rise buildings, and mega commercial centres. However, a structured PBC system is not available within the regulatory framework to date. Adoption of PBD approach is slowing down in recent years. This paper presents a review of fire engineering development in Hong Kong and Mainland China. The review focuses on the development of the PBC in Hong Kong, and the PBD approach and fire research in Mainland China in the past 30 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of complex space steel structure buildings has brought new challenges to structural fire protection analysis and design. On the basis of analyzing the deficiencies of structural fire protection design in existing normative and performance-based design methods and based on the knowledge and research results of fire science, structural engineering, computer simulation, and other disciplines, this paper proposes an improved Gaussian transformation model and applied it to the overall fire performance analysis of this complex space steel structure. The proposed model is based on theoretical research and practical application of the simulation and analysis of the overall fire performance of complex spatial buildings. The coupled analysis model and system integration method of spatial overall structure fire and structure are established. The improved Gaussian transformation model is used to propose the integrity of complex spatial structures. It is a system analysis model for fire analysis. The experimental results show that the designed algorithm model can effectively realize the overall fire performance analysis of complex spatial steel structures and can provide a useful reference for China's building fire protection research, building fire protection design, fire rescue, emergency plan formulation, and other engineering practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal fires are global disasters, and China suffers the most serious coal fire disasters in the world. This paper introduces detailed detection and extinguishing methods for the wide range and complex coal fires at the No. 1 well in the Fukang mining area. First, the characteristics of the large and complex coal fire areas in the No. 1 well in the Fukang mining area are introduced, and 5 large fire areas are detected using the comprehensive detection range method, which detects fire areas before fire engineering practices are implemented. From the characteristics of this large-scale, complex coal fire, the zonal fire extinguishing scheme is formulated, designed, and applied, and the "shallow open fire stripping—construction of the boundary isolation zone—drilling and grouting in the deep fire area" series of events is utilized in the zonal fire extinguishing scheme. A new type of sodium silicate gel in compressive moisturizing plastic packing materials is used, an automatic grouting system is developed, and effective grouting processes are proposed, which can be adjusted according to the grouting effect analysis of the grouting parameters to determine the natural sedimentation and diffusion radius. After the construction was completed, the fire extinguishing effect was tested, revealing that the temperature in the fire zone cooled in a short time, and no subsequent heating phenomenon occurs. The method proposed in this paper provides guidance and a reference for other coal fires in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the rapid urbanization and economic growth in China over the last four decades, the higher education in Fire Safety Science and Engineering has been developed and changed significantly. This work systemically reviews the origin and evolution of fire safety higher education history in China, from Fire Protection Technology (before the 1980s) to Fire Safety Science and Engineering (from about 1985 to the 2010s) and to Human-Oriented Public Safety and Smart Firefighting (from the 2010s to today). The scopes of fire safety discipline are discussed by introducing the requirements of firefighters, registered professional fire protection engineers and safety engineers in China. The courses and curriculum in fire safety higher education in representative universities are introduced and compared in detail. By comparing their undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, we explain the context of fire safety education in different universities. From a historical viewpoint, we introduce the unique features and the diversity developed in different institutes, based on the evolution of programme documents and first-hand teaching materials. This review aims to introduce the higher education systems of fire safety in China to the world and encourage more international collaboration with the Chinese fire safety science and engineering communities in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, the largest coal consumer in the world, is one of the countries that experience the most coal fires. Hence, it is critical for China to monitor coal fires and carry out coal fire monitoring, assessment, and appropriate suppression work. The Wuda coalfield, located in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was selected as the study area. This paper was aiming to analyze spatiotemporal changes of coal fires located in Wuda of China from 2000 to 2015 and focused on the assessment of fire protection project during 2006–2008. Landsat Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus images were used to detect changes in coal fires over the last 16 years by utilizing a generalized single-channel method to retrieve land surface temperature data and natural breaks extracting coal fire zones. The results showed that: 1) the changes of coal fires area represented obvious three stages: Stage I (2000–2006) was before the fire suppression project with fire spread and expansion; Stage II (2006–2008) was the implementation of this project with rapid reduction of fire area; Stage III (2008–2015) was after this project with stable fire area at a low level; 2) the fire suppression work was highly successful; the area of coal fires basically remained at 192.98 ha, a reduction by 45.74% from 2000 and 62.40% from 2006 (before fire suppression projects); 3) fire suppression work in the south (zone F) and in the northwest (zone A) was the most successful, while some new patches sporadically appeared in other regions (zone B, C and D); 4) coal fire suppression methods have led to significant destruction of local geomorphology; 5) it was difficult to completely extinct coal fires underground with current suppression method. Compared with previous studies, this research paid more attention to the estimation of fire suppression projections which provided an available way for environment decision makers and coal energy producers to qualitatively assess the status and effectiveness of coal fire suppression projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing development of underwater equipment, electrical fire has become the focus of safety concern. To effectively guide the fire engineering design and incident management, this research proposes a priority assessment method for the electrical fire risks in typical Chinese underwater equipment cabins, which integrates the fault tree, modified analytic hierarchy process (MAHP), B-RISK fire zone model and Borda number ranking. Firstly, the method uses the fault tree to identify the fire sources (origins) and MAHP involving the numbers of accidents and regulations and the failure rate to quantify the fire occurrence possibility. Secondly, the B-RISK model is used to predict and rank the fire severities induced by fire spread. Finally, a priority ranking of fire risk is achieved using the Borda number combining fire occurrence possibility and fire severity. The case study on a typical underwater power station show that the fire occurrence possibility obtained by MAHP is highly consistent with the result of traditional AHP. The B-RISK simulations can identify the fire spread paths and thus the causes of fire expansion. The rankings of fire occurrence possibility and fire severity do not consistent with each other therefore the Borda number can better evaluate the priority of fire risks which builds the foundations for potential fire engineering assessment and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subway transportation is one of the most prevalent urban transportation methods globally. Millions of people around the globe use this medium as their mode of transportation daily. However, subway stations may be highly prone to fire, smoke, or explosion accidents. The safety of people using subway stations demands a robust and practical framework to assess fire hazards and risks. This study provides a methodology to assess fire risk at a subway station. This study integrates fault tree analysis (FTA) and fuzzy analysis to conduct a comprehensive fire risk assessment. An integrated numerical model of fire temperature and fatality rate was developed using probit correlations for various fire exposure scenarios. The fire dynamics simulator (FDS) provides the probability distribution of casualties caused by fire. To demonstrate the operationalization of the model, Line 1 of the Harbin Metro, located in China, is used as a case study. Results show a probability of 42% of having fire risk in the subway station. Results reveal the highest fatality rate is 6.2% when evacuation time exceeds 200 s. The research helps us to understand the spread of smoke and temperature distribution due to a fire in a subway station. This study is helpful for fire protection engineers, safety managers, and local fire departments to develop a contingency plan to deal with fire in a subway station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since 1996, refuge floors have been an indispensable passive building element of the fire protection plan for Hong Kong high-rise buildings. These floors must be designed to comply with the relevant requirements of the Building Codes of Hong Kong. Hence, 50% of the floor area must be deployed for refuge purposes. And they must have at least two fully open building side walls so that a desired wind effect is assumed so that any smoke that enters will be purged from the safe area. Therefore wind-induced natural cross-ventilation is of prime importance for the protection of the refuge floor in fire safety. If this wind effect is not achieved, entering smoke will accumulate and cause the safety system to fail. Therefore fundamental studies of this flow phenomenon are very important and needed. This paper studies the wind-induced flow behaviour of Hong Kong''s refuge floors. Different building wall layout designs are addressed. By way of this study, the author suggests that a refuge floor shall be designed to have two opposite building side walls open instead of the present Building Codes that require at least any two of them. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]