Postgraduate Course: Fire Science and Fire Dynamics (European Masters) (PGEE11067)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 18 |
| Home subject area | Postgrad (School of Engineering) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The course is intended to provide the knowledge required for quantitative fire hazard analysis. Physical and chemical behaviour of combustion systems as well as the impact of fire on structures and materials will be addressed. The student will acquire skills for quantitative estimation of the different variables of fire growth. Basic principles of fire dynamics will be used to provide analytical formulations and empirical correlations that can serve as tools for design calculations and fire reconstruction. Focus will be given to the scientific aspects of fire but some basic features of fire safety engineering will be also developed. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | 0 |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should demonstrate an understanding of:
- Combustion principles
- Pre-mixed flames: laminar flame speed, stoichiometry, deflagration, explosion, flammability limits and flame extinction
- Diffusion flames: Burke-Schumann formulation, flame location and mixture fraction
- Soot and thermal radiation: factors influencing the production of soot and the radiation emitted by flames
- The effect of turbulance, turbulence modelling, demonstrate an understanding of the processes of fire growth and fire modelling
- Ignition: ignition of solid, liquids and gases
- Spontaneous ignition and smouldering: Semenov and Frank-Kamenetskii models, Diffusion-controlled ignition (smouldering) and gasification-controlled ignition (flames)
- Flame spread: Mechanisms of flame spread, upward, downward and lateral spread. Burning rate: Pyrolysis and gasification, Heat feedback and the mass transfer number
- Non-charring, charring, fire-retarded materials
- Combustible liquids: flash point and fire point. The impact of a Compartment on a fire
- Pool fires: turbulent plumes, flame height correlations, Ceiling jets
- Air entrainment and entrainment correlations
- The production of smoke: quantitative and qualitative analysis of smoke, CO, toxics and irritants, the concept of obscuration, detection and visibility
- The concept of ventilation
- Fuel Limited Fire/Oxygen Limited Fire
- Flashover
- Backdraught
- Fully developed fire Identify methods to quantify smoke movemet
- Aspects of smoke management to control its movement, Passive and forced smoke evacuation calculations.
Application of the above concepts to performance based design, equivalency methods (performance vs. prescription) and fire investigation.
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Assessment Information
Coursework : 25%
Degree Exam: 75%
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
LECTURES
1 Introduction
2 Review of Fluid Mechanics/Heat Transfer
Conservation Equations
3 Heat of Combustion
Flame Temperature
Pre-mixed Flames
4 Flame Speed
Diffusion Flames
Mixture Fraction Approach
5 Fire Plumes
Entrainment
Flame Height
McCaffrey Correlations
6 Ignition
Auto-Ignition, Piloted Ignition
Flash Point/Fire Point
Ignition Delay Time
7 Flame Spread
Mass Burning Rate
Heat Release Rate
Calorimetry
Smouldering
9 Products of Combustion
Compartment Fire Calculations
Flash-Over
Time to Flash-Over
10 Review
TUTORIALS
1. Introduction to Fire
2. Ignition
3. Flame Spread
4. Fire Growth
5. Fully-Developed Fire
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Dougal Drysdale "Intro to Fire Dynamics" 3rd Edition (2011), Wiley |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Fire Safety Engineering, Structural Engineering |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Richard Carvel
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Louise Harkins
Tel: (0131 6)51 7185
Email: |
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