A paper on tunnel fires modeling published in Springer's journal Fire Technology has won this year's Lloyd's Science of Risk Prize in the Technology Category. The paper "A Novel Multiscale Methodology for Simulating Tunnel Ventilation Flows During Fires" by lead author Francesco Colella and his colleagues Guillermo Rein, Romano Borchiellini and Jose L. Torero illustrates how unique computational methods can be used to reduce fire risk in the future.
Lloyd's Science of Risk Prize is awarded to academics and aims to keep the world's leading specialist insurance market abreast of the latest academic knowledge and cutting-edge thinking.
According to a statement issued by Lloyd's: "In the past decade more than 400 people worldwide have died in tunnel fires, with disasters in the Mont Blanc and Channel tunnels costing the European economy billions of euros through the disruption to transport. Research by Francesco Colella and his team at the University of Edinburgh and Politecnico di Torino should make tunnels safer through a novel modeling technique that improves the risk assessment process."
Francesco Colella said, "Our paper was judged against submissions published in a number of other journals. The competition was tough and the quality of the articles was very high, so winning this prize is not only an honor for us but also for the Springer journal Fire Technology."
The interdisciplinary journal Fire Technology spans a range of fire safety science and engineering problems in industrial, operational, cultural and environmental applications. Topics include materials testing, fire modeling, detection and suppression, performance standards, human behavior and fire risk analysis. Fire Technology is published in conjunction with the National Fire Protection Association.