Fire Protection of Buildings: Current Practice to Performance Based Design

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

This presentation will showcase the opportunities presented by adopting a performance-based design approach to the fire protection of buildings. The advantages of this approach typically include more flexibility in design, better aesthetics, better economy, more reliability, and quantification of building response to fire. This presentation will first provide a background on the current state of fire protection of buildings, with a focus on protection measures for the structural elements and common issues faced by architects. Then, it will discuss the shortcomings of the current prescriptive design and advantages and opportunities presented by performance-based design. Several examples from projects such as the Shed and Pittsburgh International Airport will be discussed to show when and how performance-based design provides its benefits. The presentation will also discuss modeling egress and smoke in fire and how designs can be improved using a performance approach to this topic.

Speakers:
Ali Ashrafi, PhD, PE, LEED AP, Principal, Thornton Tomasetti

Ali Ashrafi is a Principal at the New York office of Thornton Tomasetti and leads the performance-based fire engineering services at the firm. Ashrafi has more than 15 years of experience in design, renovation, investigation, demolition, and advanced analytics. He has used the concepts of performance-based design to numerous high profile projects throughout the US, such as the Shed and Pittsburgh International Airport. He has also led the investigation of several major fires impacting different buildings throughout the world. He is a vice-chair of the Fire Protection Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the ACEC Metro Region Fire Codes Committee. Ashrafi has taught at Columbia University since 2011 as an Adjunct Professor.