Fire Safety Analysis of the 270' WMEC Medium Endurance Cutter
Abstract
This report documents the results of a comprehensive fire safety analysis of the 270' WMEC Medium Endurance Cutter. The Ship Fire Safety Engineering Methodology (SFSEM) and associated computer program, SAFE version 2.2, were utilized as an analytical tool to perform the analysis. The SFSEM is a probabilistic based fire risk analysis methodology. It is useful to conduct a structured and comprehensive analysis of the performance of all types of surface ships as a fire safety systern. The SFSEM provides an integrated framework for analyzing fires on ships in comparison to established fire safety objectives. It accounts for all relevant aspects of fire safety including the growth and spread of fire, the effectiveness of passive design features such as barriers, and active fire protection features such as fixed and portable fire extinguishing systems, as well as manual fire suppression. SAFE implements the SFSEM and evaluates the probability of space and barriers limiting a fire. The evaluation is conducted on a compartment-by.compartment basis. SAFE calculates the probable paths of fire spread for a user-specified time duration. SFSEMISAFE has been successfully used to analyze the fire safety design of existing, as well as proposed ships. The input data was based on information collected during a ship visit to the CGC SPENCER (WMEC 905) during the period 22-24 July 1996. Baseline fire safety analysis results show that with all passive and active fire protection features in effect, all compartments in the cutter exceed established fire safety objectives, both in port and at sea. With just passive fire protection in effect (without considering automated 9r manual fire protection), one compartment in the 270' WMEC fails to meet fire safety objectives in port and sea. Passive protection must be augmented by manual fire protection for all compartments to meet or exceed fire safety objectives in port and at sea. Pro
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA362577
Entities
People
- Ajay V. Prasad
- Brian Dolph
- Chester M. Sprague
- Derek A. White
Organizations
- United States Coast Guard Research & Development Center