Dr Rahul Wadhwani

Using a firebrand modelling system, called a fire dragon, Rahul’s PhD is refining two sub models in the Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Dynamics Simulator: pyrolysis and firebrand transport.

“I’m hopeful that my results could help enable better predictions for fire behaviour in vegetation where a lot of embers are generated,” Rahul said.

Rahul’s research will benefit fire model developers and improve 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.

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

Rahul has presented his research findings at a conference in Sweden, as well as taking part in the Three Minute Thesis at the Research Advisory Forum in 2018. His thesis was accepted and published in January 2020.