184 - Cost-benefit analysis in structural fire safety with Thomas Gernay and Chenzi Ma

This episode delves into the financial aspects of fire safety in building design, highlighting the balance between cost and effectiveness. My guests - prof. Thomas Gernay and Chenzi Ma from Johns Hopkins University share insights from their NIST-sponsored research project on cost-benefit analysis and loss estimation for structural fire safety. In the discussion, we explore the differences between prescriptive and performance-based approaches, discussing insights from a comprehensive analysis of over 130 structures and how to better allocate resources for passive fire protection measures.

In this episode, we cover:
• Understanding fire safety costs in construction 
• Insights on prescriptive vs. performance-based design 
• The importance of maintenance and lifecycle cost assessments 
• Analyzing fragility functions for predicting fire damage 
• Cost dynamics across different building occupancy types 
• Future developments for implementing this analytical framework in practice

Please find here useful links about the project:

• Paper 1 on the costs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143974X24000671?
• Paper 2 on the numerical model of the NIST tests on composite floors: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037971122400095X
• Paper 3 on the fragility curves (freshly accepted): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832025000237
• Github: https://github.com/Chenzhi-Ma/web_v2

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