Dr Rahul Wadhwani

Completed PhD student
About
Dr Rahul Wadhwani

Using a firebrand modelling dragon system, Dr Rahul Wadhwani’s PhD refined two sub models in the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator: pyrolysis and firebrand transport. His research is benefiting fire model developers and improving numerical modelling of short-range embers.

“These embers travel in front of a fire front and can start new fires, which can trap firefighters or destroy houses,” Rahul said. “I’m hopeful that my results could help enable better predictions for fire behaviour in vegetation where a lot of embers are generated.”

In 2017, Rahul spent five months at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Imperial College London as a visiting PhD student, working as part of a team reviewing fire behaviour on significant fires internationally: 2016’s Fort McMurray (Canada) fire, the 2016 Haifa (Israel) fire, the 2014 Västmanland
(Sweden) fire and 2009’s Black Saturday in Australia.

Rahul has presented his research findings at a conference in Sweden and took part in the Three Minute Thesis at the Research Advisory Forum in 2018. He now leads the Large Outdoor Fires and the Built Environment subgroup, established by the International Association for Fire Safety Science.

Student project

Using a firebrand modelling dragon system, this study refined two sub models in the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator: pyrolysis and firebrand transport. This research is benefiting fire model developers and improving numerical modelling of short-range embers.
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