THE PRACTICAL "FRAME" CALCULATION.

Before starting the practical calculation, collect all the necessary data. Remember that one calculation should be made per fire compartment, and that for each compartment you will need therefore a good description of its use and its construction, as well as information about the existing means of fire protection.


Once all information is gathered, the calculation can start of the influencing factors for the Potential Risks P, P1, and P2. The second step is to calculate the Acceptable Risk Levels A, A1, A2, which will give us an indication of the most stringent protection requirements.


The next step is to calculate the values of W, N, S and F for the proposed fire protection system, and to check what the value is of R, the Fire Risk for the building and its content. Sometimes its will be necessary to recalculate this value if the chosen level of protection is inadequate. It is also possible to make a second calculation for a different protection concept in order to compare possible solutions.


Once the adequate protection for the building is defined, check if this concept is also adequate for the protection of the occupants. Therefore, first calculate the values of U and of R1. Eventually, define additional protection, which can change the calculation for the occupants as well as for the building.


The fire protection concept that protects adequately the building and the people in it may still have some weak points as far as the activities are concerned. You will calculate the values of Y and of R2 to check this. Additional requirements to protect the activities will influence only slightly the protection level of the building and the occupants.


Spreadsheet build-up.

The spreadsheet is distributed as an executable Excel-file, made with DoneEx XCell compiler. This means that the user should have Microsoft Excel 2000 or higher installed on his PC. Clicking on the FRAME2008-ENG.exe icon starts Microsoft Excel and loads the FRAME spreadsheet.



The spreadsheet has the following pages:


  • Info FRAME : cover page with general information, acknowledgments, disclaimer and warnings.
  • Info P : information and reference sheet for the factors and sub factors used in the Potential Risk calculation. To be used for user defined values. This sheet can also be printed as instructional pages.
  • Info A : information and reference sheet for the factors and sub factors used in the Acceptable Risk calculation. To be used for user defined values. This sheet can also be printed as instructional pages.
  • Info D : information and reference sheet for the factors and sub factors used in the Protection Level Risk calculation. To be used for user defined values. This sheet can also be printed as instructional pages.
  • FRAME2008 : summary sheet with the results of 3 calculations and the recommended protection based on the orientation value Ro. The calculations are identified as "reference , variant 1 and variant 2".
  • P -REF : calculation sheet for the Potential Risk of the reference case. The results are automatically reported in the FRAME 2008 sheet.
  • A- REF: calculation sheet for the Acceptable Risk of the reference case. The results are automatically reported in the FRAME 2008 sheet.
  • D- REF : calculation sheet for the Protection Level of the reference case. The results are automatically reported in the FRAME 2008 sheet.
  • P - V1 Potential Risk : calculation sheet for the first part of variant 1.
  • A - V1 Acceptable Risk: calculation sheet for the second part of variant 1.
  • D - V1 Protection Level: calculation sheet for the third part of variant 1.
  • P - V2 Potential Risk : calculation sheet for the first part of variant 2.
  • A - V2 Acceptable Risk: calculation sheet for the second part of variant 2.
  • D - V2 Protection Level: calculation sheet for the third part of variant 2.

    • A non working preview of the FRAME 2008 spreadsheet can be seen here