FSDT is an application which efficiently calculates the minimum separation distance (according to BRE 187 regulations) required between two buildings for a gien building's parameters. It was developed as part of my final year thesis at the University of Greenwich and is built entirely using the MATLAB language.
With the rate that new buildings are being constructed, it is of upmost importance that these buildings abide by safety regulations so that they can be properly maintained and any people using them are kept safe. Fire safety regulations are a major safety concern for any building and they require that in the case of a building fire, the flames should not be able to spread to any adjacent structures/buildings. The publication also states that any surfaces within the adjacent buildings should not be subject to so much heat radiation that the minimum heat flux value is exceeded.
This project intends to engineer an application that will be able to efficiently calculate a safe separation distance between two given buildings in order to prevent a fire spreading between them. Separation calculations are traditionally done by hand and therefore, with a bespoke application, the ability to automatically have these distances calculated instantly could prove useful to many engineers.
The boundary distance is simply the optimal line of the site boundary between the two buildings being considered, as shown in the figure above. The separation distance is the total distance required between the two hypothetical buildings.
To run the application, follow these steps:
- Download and install the latest MATLAB Runtime for your chosen operating system.
- Either clone the repository with
git clone https://github.com/bardenHa/Fire-Separation-Distance-Tool, or download the.zipand extract it. - Run the application by opening the
SeparationDistanceApp.mlappfile.
Choose which variable to calculate by selecting the relevant Tab. Input the necessary parameters such as Height, Width, Unprotected Area etc. Select a Radiation Intensity and finally click Calculate to obtain separation distance and boundary distance results.
When experiencing any problems using the application, please submit an issue. Pull requests are also welcome should the user wish to implement any changes to the application.
This project uses the MIT License.