Research & Outreach
1. Our Research
Fire Research Group (FRG) values the role that research has played (and will continue to play) in the fire engineering landscape over the years.
FRG often provides research services as part of consultancy services we provide, where industry knowledge and expertise could benefit form additional scope to this research, FRG takes it upon itself to fund and drive the additional research.
Some benefits of this approach is that there is a constant pathway to challenge the status quo, and that any mitigations can be explored efficiently.
2. FRG Micro Grant
In 2020, we launched the FRG Micro Grant scheme. This funding scheme is open to researchers in New Zealand and Australia for research in the area of fire engineering. The grant is 2500 NZD, and can be used to support the purchase of equipment, fund small pieces of research, co-fund larger research projects, etc.
The application process is easy. You will need to submit a short abstract (approx. 300-500 words) and budget to [email protected] by 1 Sept each year. If you get the funding, you will be asked to prepare a short video for our YouTube channel. In the video, you will explain the research in 5-10 min.
FRG plan to fund up to 4 proposals per annum. The decision of who gets the funding will be made at our September board meeting, and you will be informed about the outcome shortly after we have made a decision.
FRG is proud to support the wider fire research industry and its continuing efforts to further knowledge and challenge the status quo.
3. UC Connect Scholarship
Fire Research Group is proud to support research based fire engineering academic endevour with a PhD scholarship for doctoral students studying at the University of Canterbury.
Each year, FRG staff work with the University of Canterbury’s Fire Engineering Programme to determine appropriate areas of research interest.
FRG then work with UC’s scholarship office to award a PhD scholarship with a suitable student to further the area of research.
1st PhD Scholarship - Awarded 2021
The first PhD scholarship was awarded for further research of computational fluid dynamics simulation of wildfires.
In this project, an advanced computational model for predicting fire spread rates (WFDS or Wildland- Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator) will be calibrated, validated, and demonstrated for a WUI New Zealand high-risk scenario.
Data collected during the Rakaia full-scale experiment campaign, including simultaneous fire spread rate and atmospheric conditions measurements, will be used for validation and calibration purposes.
Emphasis will be placed on characterizing vegetation flammability through experiments in the UC Fire laboratory, and on extracting fuel spatial distribution from 3D laser scanning data. Demonstration of the model will include high-fidelity simulations of WUI atmospheric conditions and its coupling with the fire spread model.
The work is being conducted under the supervision of Dr Andres Valencia (UC Senior Supervisor), Dr Greg Baker (Fire Research Group Limited), Dr Tara Strand and Mr Grant Pearce of Scion, and Professor Daniel Nilsson and Dr Marwan Katurji of UC. The scholarship is co-funded by Fire Research Group Limited and the University of Canterbury.
4. Our Seminars and Courses
Fire Research Group staff provide seminars and courses to numerous audiences each year. A sample of previous activities for our experts is noted below:
TO BE UPDATED
If you wish us to consider a specific seminar or course for you, then please get in touch with us
5. Standardisation Activities
TO BE COMPLETED
6. Other Research We Fund
TO BE COMPLETED