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.


Contact Persons Dr. Dionysis Kolaitis
Relevant Project(s) ELISSA, MeeFS, FIRE-FACTS
Relevant Publications
  • Asimakopoulou E.K., Kolaitis D.I. and Founti M.A., “Comparative Assessment of CFD Tools and the Eurocode Methodology in Describing Externally Venting Flames”, Proceedings of the 1st International Seminar for Fire Safety of Facades, 14-15 November 2013, Paris, France, pp. 03003.1-12.
  • Kolaitis D.I. and Founti M.A., “Numerical Simulation of Fire Spreading in a Two-Storey Residential Building”, Proceedings of the Interflam 2010 Conference, 5-7 July 2010, Nottingham, U.K., Poster No. 064.
  • Kolaitis D.I., Asimakopoulou E. and Founti M.A., “Numerical Simulation of Fire Spreading in a Steel Skeleton-Drywall System Building”, Proceedings of the International Council for Building World Congress 2010, 10-13 May 2010, Salford Quays, United Kingdom, Paper 801.