Luisa Giuliani (DTU, Denmark) - The risk associated to fire events has increased during the past years, as a consequence of a rapid development of new technologies and new materials, which has not been followed by an equivalent rapid upgrade of current fire safety regulations.
Such risk is not limited to industrial processes and industries, but extends also to every-day premises such as residential buildings, car parks and infrastructures. With respect to the latter in particular, the increased size of cars, the use of more plastic materials, as well as the increasing numbers of alternative fueled vehicles (hydrogen and EV) has led to a significant increment of the average fuel load of cars and of the consequences of such fires.
Such consequences are not limited to structural damages (such as in the recent collapse of Stavanger car park in 2020 or demolition of the Liverpool Echo Arena car park in 2018), but represent also significant hazards for people and environment. Two recent examples of this are the car and truck fire on the Euroferry Olympia, in February 2022, which caused the death of 8 passengers, and the EV fire on the Felicity Ace cargo vessel, which sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a highly pollutant cargo. This very recent event caught the attention of the media and re-ignited the debate on the risk of large car fires and the possible additional risk posed by EV in triggering or spreading the fire.
This seminar will focus on the dynamics and modelling of vehicles fires, with the aim of providing practical and conservative tools to assess the fire of a car and the fire spread among cars and indicate measures to avoid large consequences of such fires.
19-07-2022
As part of the training activities of the PhD course in Chemical Processes for Industry and the Environment, on 19 July 2022, Prof. Luisa Giuliani (DTU, Denmark) will hold a seminar entitled: Dynamics and modeling of vehicle fires. The seminar will take place in room 37 (San Pietro in Vincoli) from 9.30 to 12.30.