Thomas Steinhaus

• From: Bonn, Germany
• Qualifications:
  • Dipl.-Ing. Mechanical Engineering, Germany, 1997
  • M.Sc. Fire Protection Engineering, USA, 1999
  • EUR ING Federation Europeenne d’Associations Nationales d’Ingenieurs (FEANI), Belgium, 2002
• Supervisors: Prof. José Torero and Dr Stephen Welch
• Postgraduate study: Started 2005

PhD Project:

Determination of intrinsic material flammability properties from ignition tests assisted by numerical modelling

Develop a detailed approach to the interpretation of flammability tests such that one can derive intrinsic the material properties controlling ignition. These properties can then be used to rank materials based on their susceptibility to ignite but most important, can be introduced into fire models.

This project is part of a program that attempts to introduce CFD codes into standard flammability tests to extract more accurate material properties that can be used in the modelling of real fire scenarios. This program consists of two parts where different processes occurring in a fire will be identified, the true material properties controlling the different events will be extracted and finally a methodology to obtain the properties will be established. The first part concerns ignition and opposed flame spread, the second deals with burning rates and co-current flame spread.

Directly related to the above work is the PredFire-Nano (Predicting Fire Behaviour of Nanocomposites from Intrinsic Properties) project which aims to develop a tool for the prediction of large-scale burning behaviour of polymer nanocomposites using intrinsic property data extracted from small-scale measurements. The focus is both on identifying the key intrinsic properties of these materials needed for predicting their fire behaviour and relating their dependence on their physical and chemical structure. Thus, this project will advance the knowledge in the frontier areas of nanotechnology and fire prediction and moreover, it will enable the rapid development of fire safe materials by providing the knowledge to design fire-safe polymer nanocomposites. This research focuses on the next generation of fire-safe materials.

Project funded by FM Global and EU

Other research interests

• Tunnel fire safety
• Pool fires
• Fire safety in high rise buildings
• The collapse of the World Trade Centre
• Surface heat fluxes to structural members in post-flashover fires
• Fire modelling (CFD and analytical solutions) and its use for predicting/simulating real fires
• Fire modelling and its use and applicability to replace real material testing
• Interactive emergency management systems driven by real time data and an intelligent analysis tool to predict possible incident outcomes to better manage the incident

Main achievements to date:

• Design, setup, running and analysing of large-scale fire tests conducted in Dalmarnock, Glasgow (July 2006). Analysis of data is currently in progress.
• Installation and implementation of the FM Global Flammability apparatus
• Implementation of a modified sample holder
• Partial development of a pyrolysis model for charring materials
• Round Robin ignition and HRR tests for nanocomposites.

Affiliations

• Inst. Fire Engineers [Website]
• Int. Assoc. Fire Safety Science [Website]
• National Fire Protection Assoc. [Website]
• Soc. Fire Protection Eng. [Website]
• Combustion Inst. [Website]
• Verein der Deutschen Ing. [Website]
• Verein zu Förderung des Deutschen Brandschutzes [Website]

Previous projects

• Research into Distributed Development in all stages of the design process
• Development of a throttle device for a wind tunnel
• Development of a Particle Image Velocimetry Technique to be Applied in Micro-Gravity Combustion Experiments, utilizing diode lasers and high speed cameras, for Micro-Gravity combustion experiments as part of a NASA grant
• FIST (Forced flow Ignition and flame Spread Test) a project to develop a standardised flammability testing protocol for micro-gravity environments, within a NASA grant, to be used by NASA on the International Space Station
• Evaluation of the Thermophysical Properties of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate): A Reference Material for the Development of a flammability Test for Micro-Gravity Environments
• Development of interactive emergency management systems
• Develop physical based models to be implemented in risk based tools. Analysis of different commodities and their flammability to incorporate the information into risk based decision tools for industrial applications.
• Development of an apparatus to define the flammability of vehicle interiors.

Selected Publications

• Fernandez-Pello, A.C.; Walther, D.C.; Cordova, J.L.; Steinhaus, T.; Quintiere, J.G.; Torero, J.L. and Ross, H.D. “Flow Effects on Flammability Diagrams of Solid Fuels: Micro-Gravity Influence on Ignition Delay” Drop Tower Days, JAMIC, Hokkaido, Japan, 1998.
• Steinhaus, T.; Olenick, S.M.; Sifuentes, A.; Long, R.T. and Torero, J.L. “A Method for Assessing Material Flammability for Micro-Gravity Environments” Joint Meeting of the United States Sections: The Combustion Institute; Washington, D.C.; March 15-17, 1999
• Cordova, J.L.; Walther, D.C.; Fernandez-Pello, A.C.; Steinhaus, T.; Torero, J.L.; Quintiere, J.G. and Ross, H.D. “Flow Effects on the Flammability Diagrams of Solid Fuels: Micro-Gravity Influence on Ignition Delay” 5th International Micro-Gravity Combustion Workshop, NASA Conference Publication, Cleveland, Ohio, May, 1999
• Fernandez-Pello, A.C.; Walther, D.C.; Cordova, J.L.; Steinhaus, T.; Quintiere, J.G.; Torero, J.L.: and Ross, H.D. “Test Method for Ranking Materials Flammability in Reduced Gravity” Space Forum, 6, 237-243, 2000.
• Torero, J.L.; Quintiere, J.G.; Steinhaus, T. “Fire Safety in High-rise Buildings - Lessons Learned from the WTC“ 51. Jahresfachtagung der Vereinigung zur Förderung des Deutschen Brandschutzes e.V., Dresden, 2.-5. June, 2002 (Invited Lecture) [Link]
• Steinhaus, T. Various Publications in Die VersicherungsPraxis; Deutscher Versicherungs-Schutzverband e.V.; Bonn, 2004-2005
• Torero, J.L.; Steinhaus, T. “Applications of Computer Modelling to Fire Safety Design“ 53. Jahresfachtagung der Vereinigung zur Förderung des Deutschen Brandschutzes e.V., Essen, 1.-4. June, 2004 (Invited Lecture) [Link]
• Spearpoint, M.; Olenick, S.M.; Torero, J.L.; Steinhaus, T. „Ignition performance of new and used motor vehicle upholstery fabrics” Fire and Materials; John Wiley & Sons Ltd.; 29(5), pp. 265-349; 2005
• Steinhaus, T. “Riskmanagement in Industrie und Gewerbe”, Heft 5 Das neue Versicherungs-Handbuch, Rudolf Haufe Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Freiburg, November, 2006
• Jowsey, A.; Rein, G.; Abecassis Empis, C.; Cowlard A.; Reszka, P., Steinhaus, T.; Torero, J. T.; Usmani, A.; Lane, B. "An analytical approach to define surface heat fluxes to structural members in post-flashover fires" Proc. 5th Int. Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Edinburgh, UK, 23-27 April 2007 (to be published in).
• Rein, G.; Abecassis Empis, C.; Amundarain, A.; Biteau, H.; Cowlard, A.; Chan, A.; Jowsey, A.; Reszka, P.; Steinhaus, T.; Welch, S.; Torero, J.T.; Stern-Gottfried, J.; Coles, A.; Lázaro, M; Alvear, D.; Capote, J.A.; Ryder, N.L.; Mowrer, F.; Hostika, S.; Lautenberger, C.; Joyeux, D.; Kumar, S. “Round-robin study of fire modelling blind-predictions using the Dalmarnock fire experiments" Proc. 5th Int. Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, Edinburgh, UK, 23-27 April 2007 (to be published in).
• Steinhaus, T.; Welch, S.; Carvel, R.; Torero, J. L. “Large-Scale pool fires” International Journal of Thermal Sciences, Elsevier, 2007 (to be published in) [Link]
• Reszka, P.; Steinhaus, T.; Biteau, H; Carvel, R.O.; Rein, G; Torero, J.L. “A study of Fire Durability for a Road Tunnel: Comparing CFD and Simple Analytical Models” Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Tunnelling (EURO:TUN 2007), Vienna, Austria, 27-29 August, 2007 (to be published in) [Link]
• Abecassis Empis, C.; Snorrason, D.; Lee, J.; Reszka, P.; Steinhaus, T.; Cowlard, A.; Biteau, H.; Welch, S.; Rein, G; Torero, J.L. “The Dalmarnock Fire Tests” Proceedings of the 5th International Mediterranean Combustion Symposium, Monastir, Tunesia, 9-13. September 2007 (to be published in).
• C. Abecassis-Empis, P. Reszka, T. Steinhaus, A. Cowlard, H. Biteau, S. Welch, G. Rein and JL. Torero, Characterisation of Dalmarnock fire Test One, Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2007. [Journal].

See also our page on the Edinburgh Research Archive.