Episodes
094 - Experiments that changed fire science pt. 5 - Compartment fires at NBS with James Quintiere
March 22, 2023
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 St…
093 - The story of the golden era for the US fire science with James Quintiere
March 14, 2023
It's finally here, the episode many of you were waiting for! Discussing the history of US fire movement with prof. James Quintiere from the University of Maryland. I often wondered what it felt like in the 1970's and 80's wh…
092 - European Commission view on Performance Based FSE with Adamantia Athanasopoulou
March 7, 2023
It seems we will not have EU Fire Code for at least a few more decades... Why is that? Because the people in power found out that it is not the most efficient thing to do it right now. And they found it through the power of …
091 - Fire fundamentals pt 2 - Ignition with Rory Hadden
Feb. 28, 2023
Welcome to Fire Fundamentals pt. 2 with Rory Hadden. This episode is focused on the concept of ignition and its role in fire safety - as an event leading to fires, as something often investigated post-fire, but also as a veh…
QA3 - Some Polish experiences with a year of war in Ukraine (interviewed by Arnold Dix)
Feb. 24, 2023
1 year. This is insane the war is still going on and people are still hurt. This war in Ukraine significantly affected everyone in here, and in this episode, I get a chance to share some of my thoughts and background to the …
090 - Objective driven suppression system for Swedish tunnels with Ulf Lundström
Feb. 22, 2023
If you want to design a suppression system for a certain application, you have a lot of technical solutions to choose from and most likely a handful of codes to follow. It seems pretty straightforward for most applications, …
089 - Designing law by disasters (or not?) with Birgitte Messerschmidt
Feb. 15, 2023
There is no universal answer to the question of how law and testing regimes should be set up. Sometimes, we build up our law after a huge tragedy, making sure that the same cause will not be of harm in the future. Sometimes,…
088 - Modeling fires of natural fuels with Eric Mueller
Feb. 8, 2023
Modelling ignition and fire of a tree branch with some leaves can't be that much different from modelling burning timber, right? Well, that is the kind of ignorance that can backfire on you... It certainly did on me! I have …
087 - Structural FSE inspired by earthquake engineering with Negar Elhami Khorasani
Feb. 1, 2023
Performance-based engineering or the use of probabilistic methods in building design are not inventions of Fire Safety Engineering. But we sometimes tend to act like we need to 'discover' and work out everything on our own. …
086 - Experiments that changed fire science pt. 4 - Runnehamar tunnel with Haukur Ingason and Anders Lönnermark
Jan. 25, 2023
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 immediat…
085 - E-mobility and energy storage hazards with Adam Barowy
Jan. 18, 2023
Three months ago I saw a video of some sort of an electric scooter going off in someone's residential building. That person had absolutely no chance of controlling that fire. I guess they have escaped, but it must have been …
QA#2 - Turning podcast professional and the outcomes of the listener experience survey
Jan. 16, 2023
Welcome to Questions & Answers session 02 covering the recent sponsorship opening in the podcast and how the podcast is turning from a hobby project to something more professional, and the summary of the 2022 listener experi…
084 - Industry lead research with Steve Gwynne and Mike Spearpoint
Jan. 11, 2023
In my first episode, I mentioned that I'm doing this podcast to preserve some amazing conversations and share them with a larger audience, as sometimes it is a huge waste of interesting thoughts that remain just between the …
083 - Fire fundamentals pt 1 - Combustion and flame with Rory Hadden
Jan. 4, 2023
Let's start another mini-series! This time 'fire fundamentals' where we are going to learn some basics from the world's best. It is usually fascinating to do that! Not sure how you feel about it but I would kill for a chance…
082 - Experiments that changed fire science pt. 3 - WTC Investigation with Kevin McGrattan
Dec. 28, 2022
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 modell…
081 - The origins of FDS with Kevin McGrattan
Dec. 21, 2022
Has it ever crossed your mind how would our discipline look like, if we did not have Fire Dynamics Simulator? Maybe you had an opportunity to discuss CFD with colleagues from other disciplines, to find their faces in shock a…
080 - Adaptive Fire Testing: A new foundation stone for fire safety (ERC StG Grant) with Ruben van Coile
Dec. 14, 2022
Today is a great day to celebrate with Prof Ruben van Coile of Ghent University, who is most likely the first representative of Fire Safety Engineering to receive a grant within the European Research Councill Starting Grant …
079 - Timber columns failure in the decay phase with Thomas Gernay and Jochen Zehfuss
Dec. 7, 2022
When the flaming combustion stops and the raging inferno disappears, the environment is still far away from a stable, stationary state. The heat emitted by the fire and accumulated by the structural elements is still on the …
QA#1 - November 2022
Dec. 5, 2022
Welcome to Questions & Answers session 01 covering the topics brought up in November 2022. In this session you can find answers to the following questions: Fire resistance of joints asked by Millie Wan (answered by Piotr Tur…
078 - Experiments that Changed Fire Science pt. 2 - BRE Cardington with Tom Lennon
Nov. 30, 2022
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 th…
077 - Informal settlements - we need solutions not gadgets, Richard Walls
Nov. 23, 2022
Delivery of fire safety to one billion inhabitants of informal settlements cannot be done through a single solution. No magical extinguishing ball nor hyper-sensitive sensor can solve this issue. As it is not a single issue …
076 - Experiments that changed fire science pt. 1 - Dalmarnock Fire Tests Round Robin study with Guillermo Rein and Wolfram Jahn
Nov. 16, 2022
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 BR…
075 - Spacecraft fire safety with David Urban
Nov. 9, 2022
Dear Terrestial Fire Engineers, let me take you on a journey that will make you experience fire engineering like nothing on our planet. Because in fact, it is the fire engineering of spacecraft for their operations in a zero…
074 - Engineering not magic, intumescent coatings with Andrea Lucherini
Nov. 2, 2022
Intumescent coatings are not magic. They are a product of amazing engineering, a theatre of thermophysical properties that create an insulative layer that sometimes is the only thing holding fire from destroying a structure.…