Fire safety

study on perimeter fire barrier systems for vertical compartmentation in glazed facades

Abstract

Spread of fire through facades via leapfrog remains a frequent topic in scientific articles due to its destructive potential, compounded by the growing use of curtain walls in high-rise buildings. Unlike other countries, Brazil does not have a national standard with a specific test methodology to evaluate perimeter fire barrier systems. This study aims to investigates the fire safety of glazed facades with measures prescribed by Brazilian legislation and the behavior of the fire plume during the fire event. The analysis is based on the methodologies described in standards E2307 (ASTM, 2020) and E2874 (ASTM, 2019). It was found that the perimeter seal resisted fire until the adjacent glass broke, at which point the measured temperatures exceeded the permitted limits, resulting in the loss of vertical compartmentation. As a scientific contribution, this article tested for the first time the system described in Brazilian regulations using a standardized test methodology to evaluate its performance, highlighting the importance of a global analysis due to the complexity of variables influencing fire spread in glazed facades.