Fire science
Infrastructure
BAM has been researching fires for many years in order to detect or contain them more quickly and improve fire protection.
Research to contain fires
Fires in residential or commercial buildings, industrial plants or outdoors can quickly become a danger to people and the environment. The development and spread of fires are highly complex physical and chemical processes that depend on the fire behavior of flammable materials.
BAM has been conducting comprehensive and internationally networked research into fire protection for many years. Our work in the field of fire science aims to prevent fires of all kinds through preventive measures or to detect them at an early stage and contain them quickly. The focus is on fire scenarios and their progression.
Innovative technologies such as drone-based monitoring, simulations and machine learning are used to predict the course of fires. Fire behavior is also determined by the flammability of materials. BAM is researching new, safer materials, e.g. for lightweight construction, and more sustainable flame retardants. The results of our work are incorporated into national and international standards and legislation on fire protection.
Services and competences in the field of fire science
Our expertise includes:
- Investigation of material and component behaviour in case of fire on different scales (from laboratory to real scale)
- Combining simulation and fire tests for prevention and early fire detection
- Chemical-physical investigation of different fire scenarios
- Development of innovative fire and flame protection systems for new materials such as those for lightweight construction
Selected projects
CoFi - Complex fires – impacts of container failure
RASEM - Robot-assisted Environmental Monitoring for Air Quality Assessment
Publications
Flyer Smoke gas analysis (not accessible) [PDF, 2 MB]
Flyer Composites in fire (not accessible) [PDF, 2 MB]
Flyer Fire resistance bench-scale testing (not accessible) [PDF, 2 MB]
