141 - Smouldering in Mass Timber with Harry Mitchell

Fire Science Show

This week, I am meeting up with Imperial Hazelab's Harry Mitchell, who is finalizing his PhD thesis on mass timber fires and, quite uniquely - including the smouldering phenomena in those fires.
As a part of Code Red experiments run by Arup, Imperial College London and Cerib (which you can learn more about from episode 111 with Panos Kotsovinos) Harry has performed observations of formation, growth and decay of smouldering "hot spots" for up to 2 days after the fire. Based on that, conclusions were formed on the occurrence and persistence of the smouldering in large, open-plan mass timber compartments. This is precisely what we cover in this podcast episode - what is the smouldering fire of timber? Where can we expect it to happen? What are the potential consequences to the structure and people who need to enter it (firefighters and investigators?)
If you would like to learn more, please follow to these resources:

• Structural hazards of smouldering fires in timber buildings
• Flame spread characteristics in large compartments with an exposed timber ceiling
• Review of fire experiments in mass timber compartments: Current understanding, limitations, and research gaps
• Fire dynamics inside a large and open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #01
• Impact of ventilation on the fire dynamics of an open-plan compartment with exposed timber ceiling and columns: CodeRed #02
• The Effectiveness of a Water Mist System in an Open-plan Compartment with an Exposed Timber Ceiling: CodeRed #03

And other mass timber experiments covered in the Fire Science Show.
Fire Science Show is produced in partnership with OFR Consultants.

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The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.