Fire Safety Façade Design and Modelling

Nowadays, the construction industry is characterised by high-rise, multifunctional, and complex buildings with innovative façade systems. Unlike a simple prescriptive approach in accordance with standards and codes, a performance-based design allows us to: define safety levels and goals, evaluate heat transfer to the structure and the structure’s response based on fire behaviour, model different fire scenarios using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, and personalise the design of any specific project in order to reach the required level of safety. Through a significant case study, the Libeskind Tower in Milan’s City Life district, this paper describes the Fire Safety Engineering (FSE) performance-based design approach. The analysis demonstrates consistent results between the CFD fire modelling output and the laboratory test on a full-scale façade mock-up. Moreover, a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) performed on a section of the façade mullion, identifies and highlights the façade system’s critical issues in different fire scenarios.