The paper describes problems of fire protection on a ship. The main idea is a presentation of alternative design method of fire protection on the ship- dislocation of objects. Some examples are described. The algorithm for quantity verification of dislocation, and some calculations are presented too.
The ship is a very specific object and it may be hard to detect similarities with any land one. It’s safety is a very complex problem connected with navigation, fire safety, proper work of mechanisms, human behavior and many other factors. Multiple factors whose presence could result in a fire are easily found aboard ships, such as combustible materials: fuels, oils, combustible cargoes, paints, solvents etc. Sources of potential fires are hot surfaces, ignitions, sparks, static electricity etc. Furthermore fire fighting conditions are very different from on land ones. Fires at sea are potentially the most hazardous and costly in terms of human life. The fire protection of the ship is connected with active and passive methods. First include fire extinguishing appliances and media, for crew use. Passive methods are connected with the construction itself of the ship. They determine the restricted use of combustible materials, separation of spaces with fire resisting bulkheads and decks, protection of evacuation roads and division of the ship into main vertical zones. Additionally crew should be adequately trained and passengers appropriately briefed; they should act according to proper procedures in case of fire (the so-called human factor).
This paper mainly focuses on passive methods of fire protection. The main idea of it is a presentation of dislocation of risk objects as an alternative method of fire protection, which aim is to stop fire spread between risk objects like an engine room and accommodation spaces but also other ones. The dislocation can apply with a significant benefit to almost all types of ships.
The algorithm, helpful in analysis of risk objects interplay during fire spread and indication of the safety distance between them, is described in this paper too. The algorithm describes dependencies between the place of fire origin, time of spread between risk objects, material used to produce object e.g. bulkhead and the distance between them.
The algorithm is based on five steps: identification of fire source, description of fire parameters, description of heat transfer, characteristic of risk object and identification of safety distance between objects due to the different criterions. The idea of this solution is presented on the example of simplified configuration (dislocation) of two bulkheads in a situation of fire occurrence.
The possibilities of use of this solution could be described by algorithm of fire spread, which finds optimal distance between objects, comply influence of fire parameters, heat transfer parameters but also the thickness of insulation which prescribe costs. The algorithm could be helpful tool in decision making process of location of risk objects as an engine room casing/ superstructure, superstructure/ lifeboat, window of superstructure/ lifeboat, etc. It could be used also as a help to design engine room equipment, location of helicopter landing fields on ships and platforms and many others.