Name of Joint Center
US-India Virtual Fire Center for Advancing Research and Education in Structural Fire Engineering.
About Center
Summary
Fires account for significant personal, capital and production losses in US and India each year. In the US alone, there were over 3,300 deaths and 100,000 injuries due to 1.45 million fires and the total fire losses (both direct and indirect) were of the order of 70 billion dollars in 2008 [Hall 2008]. The fire losses in India are also high and are increasing at a faster pace in recent years due to rapid urbanization and growing economy. Thus, provision of appropriate fire safety measures to structural members is a major safety requirement in built infrastructure, which includes buildings, tunnels, bridges and transit systems. A number of white papers and reports, commissioned following the 9-11 disaster where fires played a severe, destructive role, conclude that there is serious lack of data, tools, technologies and qualified personnel to facilitate structural fire design in the US. Also, recent deliberations at an US-India workshop concluded that there is lack of tools and training for addressing the growing fire problem in India. This was mainly attributed to the fact that within the area of fire science, structural fire engineering is the least developed resulting from the lack of fire programs in US and Indian universities (and research institutions).
MSU, in collaboration with University of Texas at Austin (UTA) in US, Indian Institute of Technology - Delhi (IIT-D) and Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) in India, proposed to establish an "US-India Virtual Fire Center" for enhancing fire safety in built infrastructure. The research teams at these institutions are developing methodologies, design tools and guidelines for performance-based structural fire safety design. Under the proposed virtual fire research center, the team will focus on exchanging and sharing research expertise, experimental facilities and test data for improving fire safety in the two countries. The main mechanism for sharing expertise is through graduate student and faculty exchanges among partner institutions. These exchanges will be structured such that the latest experimental techniques and research practices will be gained through visits to partnering institutions in India and the U.S. In addition the proposed centre will help in knowledge dissemination among the academia, design professionals and construction industry through seminars and workshops. A novel internet portal (Eportal) and other methods of providing technology transfer to non-partnering institutions (in India) will be used to enhance the educational component of this project. A “Virtual Fire Center” web-site will be specifically designed and maintained for facilitating technology transfer. Thereby, the research accomplishments within both the countries are shared for the benefit of society at large. Thus the main outcome of the "Virtual Fire Center" is envisioned to be a greatly increased research and technology transfer partnership among the Indian and US researchers in the field of fire safety, aimed at minimizing loss of lives and property due to unwanted fires.
Background
Fire represents one of the most severe hazards encountered by the built environment and thus providing appropriate fire resistance to structural systems is a major safety requirement in building design. The current approach to fire safety design is based on non-engineered prescriptive methodologies which do not provide rational, realistic and cost-effective designs. Although there is a growing recognition of the need to transform practices in building fire design from a prescriptive-based to a performance-based approach, the lack of computer models and trained personnel is hindering the progress [Grosshandler 2002]. Consequently, in terms of both human and economic losses, the U.S. has one of the worst fire safety records in the industrialized world [Hall 2008, IASIE 2008]. Also, the recent economic boom in India has lead to the construction of numerous high rise buildings in cities, which in turn is leading to high number of fire disasters. With the increase of global terrorism and natural disasters, it is likely that the fire losses in India and US will continue to increase with time.
In addition, in recent years a number of new materials have emerged for new construction as well as strengthening of deteriorating or damaged infrastructure for extending the life of buildings and bridges. However, many of these high performing materials (HPM), such as fiber reinforced polymers (FRP’s), high strength concrete (HSC), have poor fire resistance properties and their performance under extreme fire temperatures is not well understood [Kodur 2008, NRC 2003]. Further, the global and progressive collapse of buildings under fire is also not well understood since the fire behavior of complex structural systems is difficult to predict and to-date computer models has not been adequately verified [Franssen et al. 2010]. Major obstacles in developing validated computer models are the lack of high temperature material properties and experimental data under realistic fire, loading and restraint scenarios.
Fire is a particularly dangerous event, not only because it is not fully understood, but also because it may be a primary or a secondary event caused by many other hazards (e.g. earthquake, impact, blast). Thus, fire can create severe life-threatening conditions and hence, fire resistance of structural members is critical for ensuring the safety of occupants, fire fighters, emergency responders and for minimizing the probability of collapse and damage in buildings. A number of recent white papers and reports, commissioned following the 9-11 disaster where fires played a severe, destructive role, conclude that there is serious lack of data, tools, technologies and qualified personnel to facilitate structural fire design in the US [FEMA 2002, NIST 2005, Kodur et al. 2007]. On similar lines, the lack of progress in fire engineering and the need for fire research in India was highlighted at a recent “US-India Advanced Research Workshop on Built Infrastructure” held in Mumbai, India in 2009 [Kodur et al. 2010]. This workshop, funded by National Science Foundation (NSF) and Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), was co-organized by the PI (Kodur) with the participation of funding agencies, academics and industry, and government professionals from India and US. The slow advances in structural fire engineering in US and India are attributed to lack of research and educational programs focused on structural fire safety in US and Indian universities (as well research institutions).
To address some of the above challenges, recently a handful of research programs in structural fire engineering were initiated at U.S. universities. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at MSU has established a signature research program in structural fire engineering. MSU has constructed a structural fire test furnace and other high temperature test facilities that is unique among US universities, has a very active research program in structural fire engineering, and has added courses on structural fire engineering to their curriculum. Currently more than 15 MS and PhD students and 2 PDF's are pursuing research under this center. Similarly, following 9/11 WTC collapse investigation, UTA has initiated research activity in the area of structural fire engineering and has established facilities to undertake fire experiments on structural components. In India efforts are underway either to establish or accelerate the expertise in fire engineering. While IIT Delhi is trying to initiate new research program in structural fire engineering, CBRI, which has unique structural fire testing capabilities, is moving in to computational modeling area. Both CBRI and IIT-D have internationally renowned research programs in engineering and have research programs catered towards post graduate students. All four institutions are interested in accelerating research programs and facilitating technology transfer in structural fire engineering field.
After the recent US-India workshop in Mumbai, several Indian agencies and organizations have expressed keen interest in establishing a "Indo-US Virtual Fire Center for Advancing Research and Education in Structural Fire Engineering". This proposal is to set-up for such a Center under the auspices of IUSSTF. MSU, UTA, IIT-D and CBRI institutes will work together to share/exchange ideas, test data and research expertise, facilitate technology transfer and help implement research innovations in codes and standards and construction practices. In addition BFRL of NIST, that has excellent expertise and facilities in fire engineering field, will be our affiliation partner to undertake the Center activities. All partners have committed significant institutional support for establishing “Indo-US Virtual Fire Center”.