Sheraton Hotel- Life Safety Report

Author

Raul M. Farfan, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis ObispoFollow

Date

6-2016

Degree Name

MS in Fire Protection Engineering

College

College of Engineering

Advisor

Frederick Mowrer and Christopher Pascual

Abstract

This report evaluates the prescriptive life safety requirements for levels one (1) through four (4) of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix. In addition, this report discusses two fire scenarios that evaluate the tenability during egress the in pre-function area on level two (2) and in the main ballroom on level three (3) of the hotel.

The prescriptive standards/codes used to evaluate the hotel are the International Building Code (IBC), International Fire Code (IFC), and applicable standards from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Performance based analysis were conducted using Pathfinder, CFast, and Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS). Two fire scenarios were picked in this performance based analysis. The first scenario was a couch fire in the main lobby that had an atrium that shared space with the pre-function area on level (2). The second scenario was a kiosk fire in the main ballroom on level three (3). The Sheraton Hotel complied with the majority of the code requirements.

There are two areas that did not meet the mean egress requirements. The terrace on level two (2) had an exit separation issue and the main ballroom north doors on level (3) had an encroachment issue in the vestibules used to egress. It is recommended to re-locate the doors on the terrace area to meet the exit separation code. For the encroachment issue, it is recommended to increase the width of the vestibules or to classify the doors as service doors rather than egress doors.

The performance analysis determined the couch fire scenario in the lobby created an environment in the pre-function area on level (2) that does not meet the tenability requirements. A recommendation is to provide glass wall partitions in between the pre-function area and atrium in order to meet tenability requirements. The second performance based analysis determined that a kiosk fire the main ballroom is able to maintain tenability during egress of the occupants as well as to validate that propagating flame spread from the fire source is not a concern in the ballroom. The proposed recommendations in this report are based on the code review and performance based analysis.

DOI

10.15368/fperpt.2016.13