An Approach for Fire and Smoke Compartmentation Using the IFC-Structure

Fire is a major hazard for any building. Therefore, fire protection engineer can take various measures to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. One of the most effective fire safety measures is dividing a construction facility into separate fire and smoke compartmentation, which represents an essential part of integral fire protection planning. Fire compartmentation consists of a single room or a series of related rooms and have to be integrated directly into the construction structure. In this context Building Information Modeling (BIM) or more specifically the open-BIM standard Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), which can represent a digital building model with its structure by describing geometry, materials, and relationships between objects, can be used for the digital management of fire compartmentation. In this paper, we present an approach for representing fire compartmentation using the IFC data structure, which has been triggered by investigating current scope of standardization work pertaining to fire safety. By using the IFC data structure for the exchange of information, a reliable basis for the consideration of fire compartments is created, thus preventing expensive compensation measures as well as facilitating cooperation between different designers. Throughout the paper, we explore the possibilities, advantages and challenges of this approach.