Edinburgh Fire Research Centre
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The BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering is the research group at The Institute of Infrastructure and Environment, University of Edinburgh conducting research in fire, structures and environment.
The University of Edinburgh has a long tradition in Fire Protection Engineering research and education and is recognized internationally for its work since the early 1970s. The Centre is currently formed in association with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to integrate the resources of both institutions and provide a thrust for fire protection engineering research and education. It has a state-of-the-art experimental facility (the Rushbrook Fire Safety Laboratory) and staff whose expertise covers a wide range of subjects in Fire Safety.
The Fire Research Centre is deeply involved in setting the direction for the Fire Safety Engineering practice.
History
The University of Edinburgh was the university to offer a degree in Fire Engineering, and appointed David Rasbash as the first ever Professor of Fire Safety Engineering in 1974. Many of those who are now leaders in the field came to Edinburgh to study and research under the supervision of Rasbash, one of the main pioneers of the discipline, and Dougal Drysdale, author of the definitive text book on the subject.[1] Jose Torero held the BRE/RAE Chair in Fire Safety Engineering from 2004 to 2012. Albert Simeoni held the BRE chair from 2013 to 2015. Teaching and research in fire safety continues at Edinburgh under the leadership of Prof Grunde Jomaas, appointed as the BRE Chair in Fire Safety Engineering in 2016.
Staff
The staff of the BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering comprises nine academics, several research associates, about 25 postgraduate researchers and a few undergraduate researchers.
Teaching
The Centre supports the Structural and Fire Safety Engineering degrees (BEng, MEng and MSc) as well as a number of short courses for professionals.
More recently, the new International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering has been approved by Erasmus Mundus (the European commission's cooperation and mobility programme in the field of European higher education). The joint degree started in September 2010 and involves the universities of Edinburgh (UK), Ghent (Belgium) and Lund (Sweden).[2]
Research Expertise
- Structural Fire Engineering
- Fire Modelling
- Ignition and burning of solid fuels
- Large-scale fire experiments
- Concrete, Steel and wood response to fire
- Tunnel fires
- Subsurface fires
- Wildfires
- Smouldering combustion
Large-scale fire test
The Cardington tests were a series of large-scale fire tests conducted in over several years from the early 1990s in a real steel-framed structure at the former airship hangar at Cardington, UK.
The Dalmarnock tests were a series of fire experiments conducted in July 2006 in a real 1960s concrete tower block in Dalmarnock, Glasgow, UK.
Publications
The Centre publishes more than 100 conference papers and a dozen peer-reviewed journal papers per year. Some can be publicly accessed via their Digital Repository.
References
External links
- The BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering official website
- Several publications from The BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering
- 'Skyscraper Fire Fighters' BBC Horizon TV show (aired on Tuesday 24th, 9pm in BBC Two).