2005

YEAR BOOK

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University of Ulster

Michael A Delichatsios

With a prominent long established national and international research profile, FireSERT is a significant constituent of the Built Environment Research Institute. Staff at FireSERT were awarded in 1999 a �5.5million JIF project to build and equip a purpose designed environmentally-friendly, large-scale fire safety engineering research facility. The facilities developed for undertaking research in this area are exceptional, a 600m2 burn hall allows full-scale fire research to be undertaken. A 10MW facility, large-scale combination wall and floor furnaces, intermediate and small size furnaces facilitate investigations over a wide range of scales. These facilities are complemented by a well equipped fire dynamics laboratory. In addition to the experimental laboratories, extensive dedicated computer facilities are available for fire modelling, for example using CFD. A specific set of laboratories are also available for the investigation of human behaviour in fire, allowing fundamental work to be undertaken on human responses to fire and evacuation simulations.

The four core areas of current activity in FireSERT are fire dynamics, structural fire engineering, fire modelling and human behaviour in fire. FireSERT staff have attracted significant project funding from the UK research councils, government, the European Union and industry. Current externally funded major projects are looking at: evacuation and human behaviour in very tall buildings; the safety issues of using hydrogen for replacement of petrol; the design, assessment and evaluation of fire safe materials including the potential for nano-engineered materials and the performance of structures and materials in fire situations. Staff at FireSERT play an active role both nationally and internationally having developed extensive links and collaborations with other leading researchers from all over the world including the USA, Europe, Australia and the Far East.

Flames on external facades from flashover fires

Contact: Professor Michael A Delichatsios,
School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster,
Newtownabbey, Co Antrim BT37 0QB;
Tel 028 90 368754; Fax 028 90 368700; E-mail: [email protected]