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For further details about the "Improving Fire Safety through Simulation and Modelling" seminar, please visit the event website.
Please briefly explain your role as it relates Fire Safety, and in particular to the modelling of fire.
Norman Rhodes (NR): I review designs for technical systems that promote fire safety in underground transportation environments. Fire modelling is used extensively to size equipment and confirm that the design objectives will be met.
What do you see as the most common and important challenges for engineers in trying to predict fire behaviour?
NR: From a modelling perspective the development and ultimate size of a fire is very difficult to predict. Flame spreading, radiation, fire suppression, combustion and turbulent flow all contribute complicated physical processes where the interaction between them is not necessarily well understood.
In a design context it is more common to define a “design fire” which provides a fire size (MW) and a growth rate. So one draws a veil over the sub-scale complexities for the sake of developing a system that will provide a safe environment for a given condition.
How do you see this seminar helping engineers to address/overcome these challenges?
NR: I would hope that the seminar emphasises the need to understand the underlying science of fire simulation. I see too many examples of work where the practioner uses a CFD model and clearly has little understanding of the equations being solved or how boundary conditions affect the solution, and simply believes the results that the model provides.
What industries are you hoping to see represented in these discussions?
NR: I’m very glad that the opening speaker is from the fire service. These are the front line when it comes to fires and I have always sought and respected the practical knowledge that they bring to the discussion. It’s also good to see involvement from those involved with verification and model development.
Modelling practioners need to be on both sides of this discussion – an awareness of the real situations that occur in fires and the ability to predict them a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Which aspect of the seminar are you most looking forward to? Are there any presentations which stand out to you?
NR: The seminar hits so many points that it’s hard to single out any one. As a whole the seminar will show the breadth of the subject and the things that engineers need to think about to apply simulation usefully.
What will you be covering in your talk at the Improving Fire Safety through Simulation and Modelling seminar?
NR: I will be talking particularly about how the application of CFD techniques have evolved in the design environment, how they are applied in, for example, subway systems and tunnels, and what challenges might lay ahead.
What are you hoping will be the main takeaways from this event?
NR: That the delegates will get a balanced view of simulation and a knowledge of the issues that need to be considered.
Improving Fire Safety through Simulation and Modelling takes place on 27 September 2022 at One Birdcage Walk
This seminar will investigate the tools and techniques employed by engineers to model fire in a wide range of sectors and support more accurate analysis and safer design.
Presenters from industry, research and academia will tackle the specific challenges involved, including modelling fires in timber structures, tunnels and other specific scenarios.
For further details and registration, please visit the event website.