Manny Silva, Sr. Director of Engineering, and Ian Jutras, Lead Fire Protection Engineer at Johnson Controls, have detailed a strategy for optimizing fire suppression in modern automated warehouses. In a recent article, they explain how the increasing density of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS) presents fire hazards that often outpace prescriptive codes like NFPA 13.

The engineers advocate for using a performance-based design (PBD) approach, which is permitted by NFPA 13's equivalency clause. This method allows for the development of custom fire protection schemes tailored to specific ASRS configurations, validated by full-scale fire testing. While FM Global Data Sheet 8-34 provides a starting point, a PBD approach can lead to more efficient and cost-effective solutions.

According to the authors, a custom-designed system can optimize sprinkler placement and reduce the total number of required sprinklers by up to 40% compared to standard designs. This not only lowers upfront installation costs but also reduces lifetime maintenance and the risk of accidental sprinkler damage. The process involves sophisticated fire dynamics modeling to determine worst-case scenarios and prove the custom design's effectiveness to Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).