The term ‘fire load’ in a compartment of a structure is the maximum heat that can be theoretically generated by the combustible items and contents of the structure. The maximum size of fire that can develop in a building depends on the amount of combustible materials. Thus the severity of a fire in a building is a function of the material available for combustion.
The fire load is the total heat that can be generated by the combustible materials in the building. It is the product of the mass of the materials and its heat of combustion or calorific value. The fire load density is the heat per unit area of floor which can be generated. Alternatively the fire load density may be expressed as the equivalent mass of wood per unit area of floor. The fire load could be measured as the weight of the combustible material multiplied by the calorific value per unit weight. Fire load is conveniently expressed in terms of the floor space as MJ/m2 or Mcal/m2. More often it would be expressed in terms of equivalent quantity of wood and expressed as Kg wood / m2 (1 Kg wood = 18MJ). The commonly encountered fire loads are presented in Table below. The values are just an indication of the amount of fire load and the values may change from one environment to the other and also from country to country.
Fire load on steel structures
Examples of fire load in various structures
Type of steel structure -------Kg wood / m2
School ----------------15
Hospital--------------------20
Hotel --------------------25
Office --------------------35
Departmental store ------------- 35
Textile mill show room --------- >200
Regards,
Kesava Pillai
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