PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION
Passive Fire protection is considered in building design to
compartment the structure vertically and horizontally. Despite its
industry name, Passive Fire Protection systems are always at work.
The two key areas of the same are:
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Fire resistant Coatings
Compartmentation
FIRE-RESISTANT COATINGS
Buildings, bridges, high-rise buildings and warehouses are made
using structural steel sections. Industry experts prefer the use of
structural steel over any other building material for construction.
This is mainly because of the innumerable benefits structural steel
provides. With benefits also come to some disadvantages. When a
steel structure is subjected to heat, it loses its strength. At around
400 deg C the load-bearing capacity of the steel structure starts to
decrease rapidly. At approximately 600 deg C, it loses 50% of its
strength. This creates critical danger for the structure to collapse.
Intumescent coatings are one of the efficient ways to provide fire
resistance to the load-bearing steel structure. The purpose of setting
a fire resistance period is to ensure that in the event of a fire within
a building, the load-bearing capacity of the building will continue
to function until all occupants have escaped or been assisted to
escape.