152 episodes

Fire Science Show is connecting fire researchers and practitioners with a society of fire engineers, firefighters, architects, designers and all others, who are genuinely interested in creating a fire-safe future. Through interviews with a diverse group of experts, we present the history of our field as well as the most novel advancements. We hope the Fire Science Show becomes your weekly source of fire science knowledge and entertainment. Produced in partnership with the Diamond Sponsor of the show - OFR Consultants

Fire Science Show Wojciech Wegrzynski

    • Science
    • 4.7 • 15 Ratings

Fire Science Show is connecting fire researchers and practitioners with a society of fire engineers, firefighters, architects, designers and all others, who are genuinely interested in creating a fire-safe future. Through interviews with a diverse group of experts, we present the history of our field as well as the most novel advancements. We hope the Fire Science Show becomes your weekly source of fire science knowledge and entertainment. Produced in partnership with the Diamond Sponsor of the show - OFR Consultants

    145 - Fire Safety Engineering in South Africa and Beyond with Richard Walls

    145 - Fire Safety Engineering in South Africa and Beyond with Richard Walls

    In this episode, we discuss the stark realities of fire safety engineering in South Africa (and beyond) as we sit down with Professor Richard Walls from Stellenbosch University. Our journey through the recent history of devastating fires, from truck blasts to the fire that took down the SA Parliament building, lays bare the critical gaps in resources, awareness and education that have catastrophic consequences. 

    Professor Walls's expertise guides us through the complexities of local building codes and the vital role of education in fostering fire safety competency in the country. We dissect the shortcomings of current regulations and the promising strides made with introducing a master's degree program in fire engineering. Together, we unravel the intricate web of performance-based design and the imperative for a raised consciousness about fire safety in the building industry – a clarion call for vigilance that echoes far beyond South African borders.

    We also try to form a broader perspective, examining how catastrophic events shape the future of fire engineering and the transformative lessons they impart. We also cast an eye toward the advancements in solar energy technology and the associated challenges it brings. Through this episode, we aim to try to support a conversation on the indispensable role of fire safety engineering in protecting communities across the globe.

    This episode follows the unique DEI session at the IAFSS Conference in 2023. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the organizing committee for putting up such a fantastic session!
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    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 54 min
    144 - Design fire generator with Greg Baker

    144 - Design fire generator with Greg Baker

    Imagine if we had a tool that we could use to design a design fire. Instead of simply assuming fire growth characteristics by slapping the alpha-t2 function, use a tool that could tell us which items in a compartment burn and what the characteristics of that fire are. I would say this dream is shared among many fire safety engineers - I think we can all agree that we could use such a tool.

    Today's guest, Dr Greg Baker, has shared this dream and built a tool like this within his PhD at the University of Canterbury. The skeleton was a zone model, and the tool developed has played with it well.  Actually, feel free to try it out in here.

    In the episode, we talk about how Greg built up this tool and how it decides on the growth, plateau and decay of the fire. We also discuss how such a tool may be critical in a probabilistic approach to fire safety engineering and general performance-based design. Who knows, perhaps in the near future, such an approach will also help us run our CFDs. 

    If you enjoyed this, you perhaps would like to read more:
    Benchmarking the Single Item Ignition Prediction Capability of B-RISK Using Furniture Calorimeter and Room-Size ExperimentsIgnition of secondary objects in a design fire simulationDeveloping probabilistic design fires for performance-based fire safety engineeringAnd a bonus:
    Ranking the Level of Openness in Blind Compartment Fire Modelling Studies----
    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 53 min
    143 - Fire Fundamentals pt 7 - CFD simulations of fires

    143 - Fire Fundamentals pt 7 - CFD simulations of fires

    In today's fire fundamentals episode, I have chosen a difficult job: explaining how CFD modelling works without the ability to put a single equation out there! It's much tougher than I thought! I hope I've done a decent job, though.

    I am trying to fill out this niche of talking about CFD at an approachable level. I've noticed there is a ton of 'introductory' level resources about modeling. Still, they usually very quickly go into mathematical formulations instead of explaining in plain language what is the purpose of specific models or modelling approaches.

    In this episode, you will learn about:
    - what is Computational Fluid Dynamics modelling;
    - what is the role of conservation laws of mass, energy and momentum;
    - what is turbulence, and why it impact our calculation so much;
    - what are the common families of turbulence models (RANS and LES), and how do they differ from each other;
    - what are sensitivity studies, and how does one choose an appropriate mesh for their problem?

    If I had one book to recommend, it would be this book by Bart Merci and Tarek Beji.

    If I had one paper to recommend, it would be this paper by Kevin McGrattan (open access).

    Fire Science Show is produced in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you for your ongoing support, that allows me to create content like this!
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    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 48 min
    142 - Uncertainty in fire measurements with David Morrisset

    142 - Uncertainty in fire measurements with David Morrisset

    If the word 'uncertainty' sounds extremely boring to you, this episode will prove you wrong. I have invited David Morrisset from the University of Edinburgh to discuss his research on the subject. Whereas in fact David is establishing standard deviations, means and other statistical means of quantifying uncertainty in core fire measurements, the really impactful and important part of his research is on explaining WHY those uncertainties are there. Through physical explanation of processes happening in fire we may grasp a really good understanding why two HRR-time curves of the same object burned in the same lab, in the same way may be so vastly different.

    These findings are fundamental for practical fire engineering. The establishment of design fires and their relation to the experiments is discussed in depth. We also talk about how we could establish better design fires for future engineering practice.

    Some excellent further reading:
    Repeat Fire Tests of Upholstered Furniture: Variability and Experimental Observations - the upholstered chair paperStatistical uncertainty in bench-scale flammability tests - the PMMA paper 


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    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 56 min
    141 - Smouldering in Mass Timber with Harry Mitchell

    141 - Smouldering in Mass Timber with Harry Mitchell

    This week, I am meeting up with Imperial Hazelab's Harry Mitchell, who is finalizing his PhD thesis on mass timber fires and, quite uniquely - including the smouldering phenomena in those fires.

    As a part of Code Red experiments run by Arup, Imperial College London and Cerib (which you can learn more about from episode 111 with Panos Kotsovinos)  Harry has performed observations of formation, growth and decay of smouldering "hot spots" for up to 2 days after the fire. Based on that, conclusions were formed on the occurrence and persistence of the smouldering in large, open-plan mass timber compartments. This is precisely what we cover in this podcast episode - what is the smouldering fire of timber? Where can we expect it to happen? What are the potential consequences to the structure and people who need to enter it (firefighters and investigators?)

    If you would like to learn more, please follow to these resources:
    Structural hazards of smouldering fires in timber buildingsFlame spread characteristics in large compartments with an exposed timber ceilingReview of fire experiments in mass timber compartments: Current understanding, limitations, and research gapsFire dynamics inside a large and open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #01Impact of ventilation on the fire dynamics of an open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #02The Effectiveness of a Water Mist System in an Open-plan Compartment with an Exposed Timber Ceiling: CodeRed #03And other mass timber experiments covered in the Fire Science Show.

    Fire Science Show is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.
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    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 51 min
    140 - Development and implementation of the SBI test with Rudolf van Mierlo

    140 - Development and implementation of the SBI test with Rudolf van Mierlo

    Tests in the world of reaction to fire are supposed to be representations of real fire scenarios, allowing us to grasp the characteristics of building products against them. While for the worst scenario (flashover fire) or the smallest ignition source (small flame), the definition is pretty straightforward. However, creating the intermediate method that the entire Europe would agree on was a bumpy ride. Our latest episode is a treasure trove of knowledge detailing the birth and maturation of the Single Burning Item (SBI,  EN 13823 ) test standard.  With the CEN SBI group  Convenor - Rudolf van Mierlo, we discuss the history and background of the standard, the background for some not-so-easy technical decisions and perhaps even tougher political ones. 

    In a project of this magnitude, everything matters - how do you ensure the method is reproducible and repeatable? How do you convey the exact amount of information in the technical standard? Will one of the measures eventually be the one that defines the final classification, and what does the classification reflect?

    Towards the end of the episode, we try to put those lessons from the creation and implementation of SBI into brainstorming a pathway for a new intermediate test we really need. An intermediate testing method for facades, as an effort for the Dutch government and a likely update to the existing ISO standard.

    Link to the conference we have discussed: https://dgmr.nl/en/sign-up-for-dgmr-conference-fire-safety-in-an-sustainable-future/

    Reading material:
    - The Rise of Euroclass by Angus Law et al. - a more detailed description of the politics behind the standard
    - The Single Burning Item (SBI) Test Method - A Decade of Development and Plans for the Near Future by Rudolf van Mierlo and Bart Sette
    - KRESNIK: A top-down, statistical approach to understand the fire performance of building facades using standard test data by Matt Bonner et al. - a more detailed description of how the Polish method handles different facades

    Also, if you enjoyed this episode, you will like this one too: https://www.firescienceshow.com/089-designing-law-by-disasters-or-not-with-birgitte-messerschmidt/

    Cover image - Effectis press release on changes to the SBI standard in 2020 - also a valuable source to see how the standard is evolving.
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    The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.

    • 51 min

Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5
15 Ratings

15 Ratings

SteppDavid ,

Firefighter

Enjoy listening to the professional guests and how they think.

Firefighter602 ,

Great podcast

I am a firefighter in the Unites States and I have a passion for fire behavior and fire dynamics. This is an outstanding podcast! I enjoy listening to you and your guests. I have learned a lot about fire and and how engineers are working to make buildings safer. We need more collaboration between fire engineers and fire fighters, and you are helping to do that through your show. Keep up the great work!

Chad Moe

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