There is limited prior research related to protection of storage under ceilings with slopes steeper than 2/12. Previous studies exist from FM Global, University of Maryland/Custom Spray Solutions, the Fire Protection Research Foundation, and National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), but there are still many open questions related to the protection criteria for storage under sloped ceilings. The questions include, but not limited to, sprinkler activation pattern relative to fire source location, and optimal sprinkler installation orientation.
There are many different parameters related to this design challenge. Some of the key parameters include the slope of the ceiling, the commodity being stored, types of sprinklers (including ESFRs), sprinkler orientation, and sprinkler spacing. Some possible protection design solutions to sloped ceiling facilities are to use higher densities or larger calculation areas than for storage under flat ceilings.
Further modeling analysis will be beneficial in order to understand the potential protection challenges related to sloped ceilings, and to determine the range of scenarios that should be studied further through testing. The information from this work as well as information gathered from testing could help inform the NFPA 13 requirements.
Research goal: The overall goal of the project is to determine the impact of sloped ceilings on protection of storage and develop the technical basis for the NFPA 13 Technical Committees for new requirements and guidance. The objective of this Phase 2 project is to build on the Phase 1 simulations with additional variables and to develop a full scale test plan for future work.
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