1. Effect of Earthquake on Fire Protection Systems
Kyung Hoon Sun
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Michigan State University

2. Damage agents of an earthquake
Fault rupture
Shaking
Landslides
Release of hazardous materials
Tsunami
Liquefaction
By definition, shaking is the predominant damage agent.
But, building characteristics, density, meteorological condition and other factors may combine,
Fire is the predominant damage agent, called
Fire Following Earthquake
or Post Earthquake Fire

3. Historical Fire Following Earthquakes
The fire following the San Francisco earthquakes in 1906
The fire following the Tokyo earthquakes in 1923

4. Major Factors Governing Damage
Earthquake intensity : Shaking intensity has much influence on the built structures (MM intensity scale)
Subsoil Properties: Dynamic properties of the subsoil may have an important influence
Ground condition : Effect on the seismic consistency of underground services, such as water, gas or oil
The building configuration and structural characteristics: Flexible buildings, more deflection, stiff >> more acceleration
The age of the building: Before and after the earthquake engineering, significant difference

5. Damages caused by FFE Structural damage
Modern buildings are able to stand at high earthquake intensity levels up to MM9 without having significant structural damage.
Smaller levels of structure damage may cause fire
Significant cracking or movement that may allow smoke penetration through walls and slabs
Dislodging of fire resistant coatings from structural element
Damage to stairs may deter evacuation

6. Damages caused by FFE Non-structural damage
Walls, partitions and external glazing are vulnerable to earthquakes
Fire separations may suffer major cracking
The loss of exterior glazing changes the ventilation factors  may allow larger fires
Fire stopping in seismic joints may be dislodged  become useless
Dislocation of ceiling systems and shelving  cause injury and delay evacuation

7. Damages caused by FFE Active systems damage Lifeline system damage
Smoke detectors, circuits and panels on alarm and control systems may not be able to function properly
All the fire safety devices without back-up power will be vulnerable to failure.
Sprinkler systems can be damaged from inertia loads on the suspended pipe-work, movement across seismic joints and impact with suspended ceilings
Lifeline system damage
Damage to the ground transportation system
Failure of the supply system, pump and reservoirs
Major difficulty in operating rescuing, fire fighting and gaining access for medical aids

8. Prediction of damage Based on data from observed earthquakes
Assessment of building systems is usually generic in nature.
The investigators generally considered only those earthquake effects that may bring urban conflagration
Not many examinations are done to predict damage to specific building elements and systems
The increasing availability of knowledge on performance of individual elements  US and Japan develop damage assessment methods for individual buildings based on the weakness of the particular elements and systems in the building.
Performance evaluation for building design: Considers the individual characteristics of each building rather than being limited to global assessment categories

9. Performance codes for FFE
Requires each potential event to be considered specifically
Porter et al.(2001): Developed a wider performance evaluation model that considers both active and passive systems. Results of testing to predict the vulnerability of wood framed partitions and glazing to deformations
Sekizawa et al. (2000): Proposed a probabilistic method to assess post earthquake fire spread within a building.
Based on observed damage in a number of locations.
Inputs: building geometry, construction type, fire safety systems, fire load density and growth rate, and ground acceleration.
Compute the probability of ignition, active system failure, passive system failure, and intervention  Output is in the form of an expected fire spread area.
Feeney (2001): Risk analysis on sprinkler effectiveness in multi-level steel buildings.
The main purpose is to study probability of structural failure.
Report used available statistical data on probability of earthquake occurrence, fire ignition, sprinkler operation, sprinkler control of the fire, and integrity of passive fire protection to determine the probability of an adverse effect on the structure

10. Analysis HE 240B steel section Exposed to ASTM E119
Fire on three sides
No fire protection
Failure T =550oC
17mm
10mm
240mm
750 sec

11. Analysis
The bending moments with fictitious earthquake load applied are higher than the ones in normal fire incidence situation
The failure of the structure would be faster than the expected failure time
It is important to reduce the fire or apply minimum passive fire protection to the steel sections in order to increase critical time

12. Conclusion
Many fire safety systems, such as sprinklers, smoke detectors, can be damaged by significant earthquake and may not function properly
Inoperative fire safety system could cause more severe damages on the structure, and life.
In order to prevent from catastrophic disaster due to post earthquake fire, performance based design is now world widely spread and being developed
Still significant amount of work is remained for establishing a universally accepted design methodology for fire following earthquake

13. Thanks ?