Fires in corner configurations - Davood Zeinali

Abstract: Numerous tests have been conducted in the fire safety community to study the behavior of fires in corner configurations in the context of enclosure fires. An eminent example which is often considered for assessment of fire simulations is the experiments conducted by Steckler and his colleagues at NIST, involving 14 experiments focusing on the flow induced by a well ventilated corner fire inside a small compartment with a single open doorway, resembling very closely the standard room corner test (ISO 9705). In Europe specifically, the corner fire test has been standardized for classification of lining materials in the form of an intermediate scale test known as the Single Burning Item test (EN-13823). One of the main reasons for the importance of these tests is that a corner wall configuration is known to reinforce flame spread and fire growth. In his talk, Dave is going to talk about his current experimental and numerical research on this topic, looking into pyrolysis and flame spread of charring materials such as plywood and MDF. Just recently he published two papers on this subject in the journal of combustion and flame together with his colleagues at Ghent University in Belgium, discussing the basis of their experimental campaign aimed at studying the behavior of corner fires.

Bio: Before joining the department of Flow, Heat and Combustion Mechanics of Ghent University in Belgium as a PhD researcher, Dave graduated from the program of international master of science in fire safety engineering. He carried out his master’s thesis work at the University of Edinburgh on the inverse modeling of the thermal behavior of concrete using pyrolysis modeling. Dave also holds a bachelor’s degree in fire engineering and has been affiliated with various related associations, including as a task group leader for the European COST Action FP1404, a board of directors member of SFPE Benelux chapter, and the vice-president of the IMFSE student chapter of SFPE.