Compartment Fires

Macro-scale research of the fire behaviour in full-scale buildings. Development of advanced numerical simulation tools to predict the fire-spread, growth and decay characteristics in compartment fires. Design and performance of natural fire medium- and large-scale tests using conventional and innovative building materials. Development of computer vision tools to automatically estimate the dynamic flame envelope in externally venting fires. Development and validation of CFD tools using experimental measurements, aiming to achieve reliable predictions of the fire behaviour of full-scale buildings. Experimental and numerical investigation of water fire suppression using fine droplets (water mist).
Current research activities focus on the characterization of externally venting fires (façade fires) which are known to significantly increase the risks associated with fires in high-rise buildings and fires in ventilated facades.