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Abstract

Fire safety aboard Coast Guard cutters is an important part of their design. In 1987, a pro ject was completed that involved a developmental application of the Ship Fire Safety Engineering Methodology (SFSEM) to the firesafety analysis of the Polar Icebreaker Replacement (PIR) design. The passive and active fire protection was analyzed for every compartment on the PIR in the integrated framework provided by SFSEM. Conventional fire protection engineering was used whenever information necessary for SFSEM was not avail able. Recommendations for alternative solutions to accomplish performance-based fire safety objectives, as well as guidelines for selected fire protection systems on the PIR, were provided.

This paper describes the framework for the firesafety evaluation, techniques for quantifica tion, and the advantages and limitations identified by this application of the SFSEM for ship firesafety design. The quantification integrated available statistical data with case study analysis, inspection of the operation and fire protection of a similar existing ship, expert opinion, fire science, and engineering practice. The analysis also employed a com puter simulation that enabled each compartment of this 405-compartment ship to be stud ied and evaluated in terms of its intrinsic fire safety, its relative vulnerability to fires start ing either within or outside of the compartment, and the effects that each compartment's loss due to fire would have on the ship's mission.

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References

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Firesafety Analysis of the Polar Icebreaker Replacement Design

Abstract

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References