Division VII.3

Fire Engineering

Extensive fire in a Berlin hotel

In addition to stability, structural fire protection is a substantial component of the safety of buildings. Both flammability of building materials and fire resistance of structures must be considered. In Germany, approximately 600 people die in fires annually, smoke inhalation being the cause of death in most cases. This confirms the view that the flammability of materials and smoke creation are of basic importance with regard to personal injuries.

Damage or destruction of buildings and engineering structures (e.g. road tunnels) are a substantial cost to the national economy and destroy indispensable parts of our infrastructure and irreplaceable buildings of cultural heritage. This must be prevented.

The world-wide trend to increasingly larger and more complex buildings and changes in standardisation, accompanied with the introduction of the Eurocodes, have considerably increased the need for research in these fields.

The Division Fire Engineering performs tests on building components and materials according to national and European standards and guidelines and carries out complex tests according to the practical requirements. The three key areas comprise behaviour of materials and structures in fire and modelling of fire scenarios.

Competences

Tests

Testing, monitoring and certification of building materials and components including providing expert opinions and individually arranged tests in the field of research and development.

Fire effects on materials

Experimental investigation of the thermomechanical and thermochemical behaviour of various building and other materials and utensils.

Fire effects on structures

Experimental and numerical investigation of building components and structures under fire impact including evaluation of load-carrying capacity using various modelling concepts.

Fire scenarios

Experimental and numerical investigation of fire emergence and propagation and smoke propagation taking into account fire-retarding devices and actions using various modelling concepts.