Simulation of External Fire Spread Mechanisms in High Rise Buildings

Very recently the UK has seen one of the most disastrous fires in history, the Grenfell Tower fire, in London. The loss of life and immense suffering caused by this fire is inconceivable. There are many scientific aspects of this kind of fires that deserve investigations, whereby many lessons could be learnt for future building designs and management of such residential buildings. This Ph.D. project concerns the scientific research that could be undertaken to understand the mechanisms of fire spread in high-rise buildings such as the Grenfell Tower fire. In this work simulation techniques based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), combustion modelling and radiative heat transfer calculations would be developed to conduct numerical experimentation to study different fire-scenarios in high-rise building fires.

A comprehensive literature survey would be undertaken at the start of this research project to understand current knowledge on high-rise building fires. Based on this survey, simulation studies will be undertaken to understand key parameters affecting high-rise building fires. Simulation of soot and radiative transfer in typical compartment fires will be undertaken by incorporating advanced soot models and radiation calculation techniques into Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based fire simulations. Thorough simulation work research will be undertaken to develop models to simulate effects of radiative heat transfer, wind and ventilation on fire spread. Comprehensive simulation programme can test different possible scenarios leading to fire-spread in high-rise buildings.

Entry requirements
Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree (or equivalent) in Mechanical Engineering or a related subject. They should have a sound knowledge of Thermo-fluids, heat transfer and combustion subject areas. Previous knowledge of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) would be advantageous. Ability to learn new modelling techniques, programming in Fortran in C is essential for the incorporation of new models into commercial and open source CFD programs.

Ability to write scientific papers and make presentations is expected from the candidate. Demonstration of writing skills through previous publication would be advantageous.