In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and given the increase of number of fire incidents in HRRBs around the world, e.g., Kaohsiung building in Taiwan (2021), Torre Dei Moro in Italy (2021), Madrid Tower Block in Spain (2020); fire safety of HRRBs is becoming increasingly important. Though there is an increased development of digital technologies, their application is not yet well established in fire research and evacuation. Proposed research aims to bridge this gap by providing a framework of good practices and recommendations to optimise efficiency of evacuation practices in HRRB using Building Information Modelling (BIM).
The key objectives of the proposed research will be to:
- Develop and validate numerical methodologies to assess effectiveness of evacuation strategies in HRRB
- Correlate factors influencing evacuation strategies in HRRB
- Develop good practices to drive forward improvements in HRRB fire safety
To achieve the above, numerous egress models, namely FDS+Evac, Pathfinder, Evacuationz and STEPS, will be used to assess their effectiveness, limitations, and practicalities. The PhD project will complement existing research conducted by the supervisory team e.g., ongoing SAFE (Strategies Aiming at Effective Fire Evacuation in HRRB) project funded by the Home Office. Experimental data from the physical testing of the SAFE project will be used to validate the developed numerical methodologies. The envisaged integration of evacuation modelling of HRRB in BIM will promote fire safety.
Further information
Informal project related enquiries about the post can be made to Dr. Eleni Asimakopoulou at [Email Address Removed]
For the application form and full details go to: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/studentships
Completed application forms should be returned to the Research Admissions email [Email Address Removed] quoting the studentship reference number DTC35
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