The subject of structural fire engineering was long overdue in the podcast schedule. But once I finally got it on my agenda, I made sure to interview one of the very best there are  - prof Thomas Gernay of John Hopkins University. Not only a structural engineer and researcher, but also one of the developers of SAFIR® - one of most popular structural fire engineering numerical codes out there.

In this discussion I get to ask some important questions on the role structural fire engineering plays in engineering modern buildings, and Thomas makes the point that it it the way forward in understanding the building performance in a holistic way. I learn about FDS-SAFIR integration (which is superb interesting!), challenges with new materials and the development of design fires (hint - travelling fires get a ton of mention, so be sure to also tag episode 27 with Guillermo Rein on them!). And as usual,  in the end, we geek on the future of fire science and technology. God, I love these discussions so much!!!

Make sure to check Thomas webpage at: https://mars.jhu.edu/

If you would like to learn more on structural fire engineering, Thomas has compiled a list of resources you should check:

• 45 min video lecture: Structures in Fire: using computational modelling to design structures for fire safety
• chapter on "Advanced Analysis" in the SFE Handbook
• 2017 paper on SAFIR
• 2019 paper on burnout resistance
• FDS-FEM modeling

Thank you to the SFPE for recognizing me with the 2025 SFPE Fire Safety Engineering Award! Huge thanks to YOU for being a part of this, and big thanks to the OFR for supporting me over the years.

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