Structural fire engineering

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Recognise the characteristics of building fires and understand the effect on structural materials

• Understand the principles of relevant UK fire safety legislation and the responsibilities of structural engineers

• Classify potential hazards 

• ​Appreciate various techniques for modelling both fires and the structural behaviour when exposed to such fires

Intended for

• Graduate engineer  

• Mid-career engineer  

• Senior engineer/Team leader/Manager 

Trainers

Ian Burgess  & Roger Plank

Ian Burgess and Roger Plank started their research on structural fire engineering in 1985 at the University of Sheffield, simulating the behaviour of isolated steel elements in furnace tests.  Their numerical approaches developed rapidly and they played a key role in the Cardington fire test programme, leading to the development of the award-winning software Vulcan. This has been used extensively on real design projects for modelling the 3-dimensional behaviour of steel-framed, composite and concrete structures in fire, including tensile membrane action. They have also studied the robustness of frames, conducting unique high-temperature experimental work at Sheffield on connection component behaviour and on model-scale testing of concrete slabs.

Their research was recognised through a major award from the ASCE, and their Vulcan software won two national prizes in 2005 from the British Computer Society.  Their research group generated 35 PhD graduates, and the research work is now being taken further by their successors at the University of Sheffield.