FPAS Fire Systems Design (FSD) study plan

Classify five representative occupancies (office, warehouse, hotel sleeping area, plant room, atrium) against the detection-and-alarm design requirements in AS 1670.1, recording for each the applicable system category, detection principle and documentation set, and noting the current edition you worked from.

Compare smoke, heat, flame and air-sampling detection technologies by tabulating the fire signature each responds to, typical false-alarm drivers, response-speed characteristics and two applications where each is the stronger specification.

Calculate detector spacing and coverage for four rooms with different ceiling heights and construction (a 6 m office soffit, a high-bay warehouse, a fire-isolated stair, and a mechanical plant room), showing every arithmetic step and the resulting detector count.

Draft the design-basis section of a detection-and-alarm report in roughly 300 to 400 words, stating scope, applicable standards, occupancy assumptions, design constraints and the exclusions you would flag to a client.

Specify alarm notification for a six-storey building by calculating required sound pressure at the doorway and at the bedhead against measured ambient noise, then defend the placement and spacing of sounders and visual alarm devices.

Construct a cause-and-effect matrix for the same building linking at least ten initiating devices to at least eight outputs, covering occupant warning, door release, smoke control activation, lift homing, suppression shutdown and signal to the fire service.

Explain the interface requirements between the fire alarm system and smoke-control equipment, sprinkler flow switches and a gaseous suppression panel, stating for each interface who holds control and what the fail-safe state is on loss of signal or power.

Solve a self-written set of ten problems on detection zones, addressable loop loading and battery standby duration, showing the load calculation and the standby and alarm duration assumptions you used.

Assign five occupancies to sprinkler hazard classes under AS 2118.1 and justify each assignment by reference to fuel load, storage height and expected fire growth, flagging any borderline case.

Determine design density and area of operation for each hazard class, and explain how ceiling height, roof construction and storage configuration modify the density-area approach.

Compare wet, dry, pre-action, deluge and ESFR alternatives against four design scenarios, naming the risk each alternative mitigates, its actuation logic and its practical limitations.

Draft a one-page design-basis sheet for a nominated building covering hazard class, density, area of operation, sprinkler head type and temperature rating, maximum spacing, and the resulting water supply demand.

Perform a hydraulic calculation for the most remote operating area of a four-storey building, showing node pressures, friction loss, elevation, end-head pressure and the residual supply pressure at the assumed test point.

Size the water supply and pump duty for that building, including the required duration and a documented safety margin, and reconcile the result against the available town main and storage capacity.

Evaluate three pump and control arrangements (single electric, electric plus diesel, electric with jockey pump and pressure maintenance) and justify a selection against reliability, maintenance and code requirements.

Audit your own sprinkler layout against spacing, obstruction and clearance rules and record at least five corrections with the clause or rule that drove each one.

Compare clean-agent, inert-gas, carbon-dioxide and water-mist systems across six criteria: extinguishing mechanism, design concentration, discharge time, hold time, occupant exposure limit and principal cost driver.

Calculate the agent quantity for a 120 cubic metre server room using the design concentration method for the selected agent, and state the design concentration with the safety factor and the basis for the assumed enclosure volume.

Justify a room-integrity and hold-time verification plan, covering door-fan testing, permitted leakage area, and the hold time required for the protected risk and its evacuation procedure.

List the detection and control interlocks for the gaseous system, including cross-zoning, pre-discharge alarm, door and damper release, HVAC shutdown and manual abort, and state the logic in sequence order.

Distinguish the special-hazard risks that are outside the scope of a simple total-flooding design (cooking oil, aerosol, metal powder) and name the suppression approach appropriate to each.

Determine hydrant and hose-reel coverage, spacing and required pressure and flow for a five-storey building, and document how the building height and the need for a booster connection influenced the layout.

Calculate pump duty for the site and test it against the simultaneous demand case involving hydrants, hose reels and the sprinkler system, showing whether the duty point holds.

Design a hose-reel layout for a warehouse, checking hose length, travel distance and reel location rules, and note where portable extinguishers are needed to supplement coverage.

Explain the documentation set that must accompany a hydrant installation, covering the block plan, booster location and signage, pump room layout, and the flow and pressure test record.

Match extinguisher type, size and rating to eight fire scenarios spanning classes A to F, stating the agent, the minimum rating and the reason the alternative agents were rejected.

Apply travel-distance and location rules to produce an extinguisher schedule for a four-storey office with an attached open-deck carpark, listing each unit with its location, rating and class coverage.

Differentiate the fire classes and the electrical and cooking-oil hazards that constrain agent choice, and identify three common selection errors and how to detect them during a site inspection.

Build a routine service matrix for extinguishers and for the suppression and hydrant systems already designed, mapping each activity to the applicable maintenance standard and its interval.

Revisit the week 5 suppression design and list three changes you would make after seeing how extinguisher coverage sits alongside the fixed system.

Complete two timed 60-question mock papers spanning all five domains in under two hours each, recording per-domain scores and time spent per question.

Convert every missed or guessed question into a one-page cheat sheet entry that states the governing principle, the rule or figure to remember and the trap that caught you.

Rehearse three written design-justification answers under time pressure, each structured as scope, assumptions, calculation, decision and risk, and self-mark them against the model answer.

Rank the five domains by residual risk from your mock data and allocate your remaining study hours proportionally, scheduling at least three revision blocks across the final days.