Experiments That Changed Fire Science Episodes

In this episode of Experiments that Changed Fire Science we cover T. Jin’s experiments on the visibility in smoke – two experiments carried out in 1970 and 1971 in Japan that truly changed the way how we model fires and how we design fire safety in our buildings. This episodes presents my recollection of Jin’s experiments, based on the published work – the seminal paper at the IAFSS in 1997 ( https://publications.iafss.org/publications/fss/5/3/view/fss_5-3.pdf ) and the original material publish...

In this part 8 of Experiments that changed fire science series we revisit Cardington (previously covered in part 2 - https://www.firescienceshow.com/078-experiments-that-changed-fire-science-pt-2-bre-cardington-with-tom-lennon/), but this time from the perspective of modeling the structure. My guest prof. Asif Usmani of the HK PolyU takes us on how simplifying the model led them to some fundamental discoveries on the thermo-mechanical response of structures to fires. We discuss material properti...

In this week's series covering experimental fire science, we venture into a recently finished Code Red project by ARUP, led by my today's guest Dr Panos Kotsovinos. The project was carried out in CERIB with the collaboration of the Imperial College London. History will tell if this experiment will change fire science, but I truly believe it is at least worth sharing! The research was carried out on a large open-plan office (350m2) with a combustible CLT ceiling. It was a continuation of previous...

What makes an experiment truly groundbreaking, and how can researchers plan and execute such experiments in fire science? Join us as we chat with Professor Arnaud Trouve from the University of Maryland, a co-chair of the MaCFP group at the IAFSS, to uncover the answers to these burning questions. Arnaud offers valuable insights into the creation of a structured, repeatable, and accessible database of knowledge, and how to design experiments that will revolutionize fire science. We dive into the ...

In the fifth episode of mini-series 'Experiments that changed fire science' we cover the compartment fire experimental campaigns carried at NBS (now NIST) in 1970's and 1980's, with the maybe most famous of them all - the Steckler's room experiment. My guest - prof. James Quintiere touches on the experimental design, design choices and most importantly - the technology available to measure and how they made it work. If you would like to read more on this science, start up with these pieces Steck...

Would you rather do 20 published experiments and take your impact factors, or make one that truly changed the world of fire science? Or maybe a different way, would you pursue something that is quick, easy and gives immediate credit over something hard, stressful and requiring maybe years to really change mainstream engineering? Sure, we all like to see ourselves as heroes, but in reality, very few of us have the courage and vision to pursue these hard-to-achieve goals. But it seems worth it. To...

Fire science is often accelerated by tragedies. The same goes for the tools we are using and the methods we know. In the early 2000's we already had some great tools, in fact, it was the era where the paradigm of fire modelling shifted from zone models to emerging CFD (listen to episode 81 to learn more about this shift). But these new capabilities soon went through a significant test - a terrorist attack in New York, bringing two iconic skyscrapers to collapse. An overwhelming media turmoil. Ca...

If Dalmarnock was the reality check for fire modelling, we could call the work carried by BRE at Cardington the birthplace of Structural Fire Engineering. Welcome to episode 2 of Experiments that Changed Fire Science! In this episode dr Tom Lennon from BRE takes us to a journey through the massive experimental programmes carried at BRE Cardington facility. A former aircraft hangar turned into a testing ground for ENTIRE BUILDINGS. That is what was the most unique for the programme - instead of ...

Welcome to a mini-series of episodes on experiments that changed fire science. In the first episode, we cover the a prioiri and posteriori modelling task within the Dalmarnock Fire Experiments programme carried out by the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. The whole experimental programme was led by prof. Jose Torrero. In this episode, we focus on two modelling tasks within the programme, that lead to a major shift in how modern modelling tools are used in fir...

Guillermo Rein is a recipient of ERC Consildator Grant on smouldering megafires. The most challenging source of founding, meant for the projects that can truly change the world. And his HAZE project is just like that - to study a phenomenon that accounts for more than 13% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions and takes the lives of thousands (millions?) of people every year. In this episode you will learn about the haze fire chemistry and emissions, they ways to detect them and the directions for the w...