Performance Based Design

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Prescriptive solutions have limitations which will lead the designer to a dead end. One such application is high/steeply sloped roofs over storage racks. NFPA 13 does not provide a path for installation of sprinklers over storage with a roof exceeding 2:12 (common construction in regions with heavy snow areas). Performance Based Designs provide protection through an equivalent path such as using an FM standards to protect a hazard. SFPE handbook also have supporting documentation to support the fire protection analysis. A performance based design would be to use FM published guidelines that are developed from full scale tests for a similar hazard. This application will ensure a protection can be installed that suits the hazard.