Speaking on the future of decision making at the Institution of Fire Engineers conference from Stratford-upon-Avon, Dr Stephen Welch gave delegates an overview of the latest modelling capabilities for fire spread.

Linking sensor and computer simulation, Dr Stephen Welch, Lecturer in Computational Methods for Fire Safety Engineering, University of Edinburgh, gave an insightful presentation to delegates at the second day of the annual conference. Dr Welch detailed the work behind the project FireGrid developed to increase intelligence of fire spread.

The three-year multi-disciplinary project culminated in a full-scale live fire experiment at BRE, as shown on video to delegates at the conference. He reported that the early model prediction proved inaccurate in terms of forecasting a flashover. However, 40 minutes into the experiment the risk warning of flashover proved accurate. Thereafter, the fire burned out rapidly and the structural collapse of the building once again proved accurate to the model prediction.

Going forward, Dr Welch said that developers are looking to engage with fire and rescue services for multiple applications including intelligent egress from large buildings.   

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Posted July 5th, 2012 at 1305 by Andrew. Comment by emailing andrew.lynch@pavpub.com