compartmentation

Noun

compartmentation (plural compartmentations)

1. So as to prevent the spread of fire within a structure.
   • The fire spread rapidly after the building's compartmentation failed.
   • The reason for this compartmentation is FLAMETIGHT INTEGRITY. The purpose should be obvious: Propellent powder in flammable silk bags is always dangerous; compartmentation confines flame and explosive gas to the space in which it originates.1958, Gunner's Mate 3: Navy Training Courses, Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 191
2. So as to prevent the spread of water (or rarely, another fluid) between otherwise watertight compartments (especially on a ship).
   • The Titanics compartmentation' did not stop water from entering rooms.
   • Compartmentation of the hull.—It has become the accepted practice in conventional rigid-airship construction to subdivide the buoyant gas into numerous independent containers[…]1937, “Naval Expansion Program”, in Hearing Before the Committee on Naval Affairs, United States: Government Printing Office, page 238
3. The dissemination of information and knowledge between different people or organisations on a need-to-know basis, so as to reduce the risk of espionage should one person or organisation be compromised externally; compartmentalization.
   • Nevertheless the principles of compartmentation of information and need to know are essential to secrecy.1956, Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, volume 1, Washington: Joint Commission on Atomic Energy