Most companies have standards for fire protection on offshore installations. These standards typically are prescriptive in nature and require that fire protection be installed, generally, without regard to the actual hazard. Fire protection generally consists of fireproofing, water systems and detection systems. The fire protection community is slowly using performance-based criteria in determining appropriate fire protection. Performance based criteria using the latest modeling programs to assess the hazards of fires and explosions on the offshore installation. Based on the results of these studies the fire protection engineer can than determine the appropriate fire protection required for the hazard. This paper addresses the use of performance based fire protection in the offshore industry. Case studies that highlight that show the benefit of fire and explosion modeling on determining the amount and level of fire protection necessary will be discussed.
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