Seismic Safety Design of Sprinkler Systems. Comparison Between NFPA 13 and Italian NTC 2008

The last main earthquakes in Italy (L'Aquila 2009, Emilia 2012) highlighted the importance of seismic design of facilities and, in particular, of fire protection systems. After the L'Aquila event, the Italian National Fire Department defined specific provisions for reducing seismic vulnerability of fire protection systems, and with the Italian seismic code (NTC 2008) the seismic design of facilities became mandatory. In Italy, in case of sprinkler systems, designers and insurance companies often directly refer to the NFPA 13 standard that also defines provision for installations in seismic areas. Nowadays, this way of doing could produce some problems of compliance with the Italian law. This paper illustrates a comparative analysis between the two standards, highlighting the differences in the seismic action and in the strength verifications. Finally, practical abacus, for identifying the cases in which the NFPA 13 provides solutions that are in compliance with the NTC 2008, are presented.