This week we were honoured by a visit from Dr Agustin H. Majdalani. He is currently working at the Pontificia Catholic University of Chile, which is currently ranked as a top university in Latin America.

On the first day of the visit, he was presented with our facility, its equipment and its capabilities. After that, we also had a chance in course of our regular Fire Research Seminar, to get enlighted by Dr Majdalani with his lecture To timber or not to Timber. It was about the possibility of Flaming self-extinction being researched as possible a Fire Safety Strategy for timber buildings with large compartments.

On the second day, extensive meetings with discussions regarding possible experiments that would allow overcoming the foreseen obstacles currently still laying in the path of achieving the goal of Flaming self-extinction being used as a Fire Safety Strategy for timber buildings.

More info about the project originally titled “Análisis del estado del arte y modelación de experimentos realizados por otros investigadores sobre la dinámica de incendios de construcciones con madera expuestas” (in English: "State-of-the-art analysis and modelling of experiments conducted by other researchers on the fire dynamics of exposed timber constructions") under which this research is being carried:

The project promoter is Centro Nacional para la Industria de la Madera (Cenamad), and funded by ANID (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo). The project is planned to run for 5 years, with collaborators spanning from several Chilean Universities (Universidad de Concepcion, Universidad de la Frontera etc), institutes (Instituto Forestal) and also other privately owned partners (Leitat).