With support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust and in-kind contributions from a number of partners such as NRC, the Toronto Transit Commission and Ottawa Fire Services, a $10-million facility has been constructed in Almonte, ON, that includes a 10-storey atrium, a 37m tunnel and a 25 x 25m burn-hall. In addition, this funding supported the development of a fire laboratory on the university campus that contains a number of laboratory-scale, state-of-the-art fire research apparatuses. With these research facilities, Carleton University has become one of the best-equipped universities in the world and has placed itself in the position to undertake challenging, small- and large-scale fire research projects.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has launched a new field in its graduate program that concentrates on fire safety engineering.
“I guess you could say that we’re all fired up over this new initiative as it will graduate students to meet the growing demands of Canadian industry in this important area,” says Dr. George Hadjisophocleous, industrial research chair in fire safety engineering and a professor of civil engineering.
Ongoing projects include investigating fire spread from one building to another, the study of the performance of wood and steel connections in fire, and modeling the response of timber floors to fire. A new project focuses on evaluating the impact of fire suppression systems in tunnels on the performance of ventilation systems.
