Dr. Vytenis (Vyto) Babrauskas

About the Tutor:

Dr Babrauskas was the first person to ever receive a Ph.D. degree in Fire Protection Engineering. He headed the fire test method development programs at NIST for 16 years before becoming a consultant.

Vyto has taught graduate-level engineering courses at the University of British Columbia and at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, has given hundreds of lectures and presentations and is the author of over 250 papers on fire safety. He is the Author of the authortative Ignition Handbook and Heat Release in Fire, he is also the U.S. editor for Fire Safety Journal.

In recent years, he has been regularly teaching classes to fire investigators on fire science principles.

Further details from http://www.doctorfire.com/profess.html

ATTENDANCE FEES:

£395 + VAT

Interflam delegates Discount
£295 + VAT

Included in your fee is 2 days tution, lunches teas and coffees and Course Handouts.

Accommodation is not included byt can be arranged on campus as part of the Interflam allocation.

The Ignition Handbook can also be purchase at a discount.

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FOR A REGISTRATION FORM

Tutor: Dr Vytenis Babrauskas

Dates: 6/7 September 2007
Venue: Royal Holloway College, Univ of London, Egham (nr Heathrow)

THE COURSE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The course presents the unifying principles to fire investigators, fire service personnel, forensic engineers, insurance adjustors, and other professionals interested in understanding the causes of fires. At the completion of this course, the attendee should be equipped with a basic understanding of the mechanisms by which the third leg of the fire triangle—“source of heat”—can be caused by electric current or static electricity. Attendees should already have had some previous instruction on the principles of electricity as only a very brief review of the elementary principles of electricity will be made.

Most other courses on electrical fires available to fire investigators (a) start at a very basic level and run out of time before more advanced topics can be covered; and (b) focus primarily on examples of electrical fires, and do not systematically develop the principles that underlie all electrical fires. It is the purpose of the present course to take up where such courses leave off and it is assumed that attendees already have some knowledge of the more practical aspects of investigating fires in electrical devices or appliances. The first 2/3 of the course is devoted to developing a good understanding of the principles that underlie all electrical fires. The remainder focuses on a variety of devices and appliances that can undergo an electrical fire. This is illustrated by color photos of failed devices, and the participants will be given information in the last portion of the course on how these practical failures can be understood in terms of the basic principles of electrical fires.

Existing instructional materials for fire investigators (e.g., Kirk’s Fire Investigation and NFPA 921) address the lower level courses. The technical source of the information that will be given in the present course comes from the Ignition Handbook (by Vytenis Babrauskas; Fire Science Publishers, 2003), which is the only reference currently available for these advanced studies. During the course, the Handbook will act as a reference source and will reduce the need for extensive note-taking by the participants. Consequently, attendees may wish to procure a copy of the handbook for that purpose. A handout will be provided to cover additional, newer material.

The knowledge gained in this seminar will then allow interpretations of burn patterns to be made that are consistent with the state of the art of ignition theory, as it pertains to electrical causes.

DAY 1
Part I – General principles pertinent to electrical fires
• What is an electrical fire?
• Statistics on electrical fires
• Fundamentals: Ohm’s Law, sine waves, simple circuits, energy-storing components (inductors, capacitors)
• Energy sources: Static electricity, electric current
• Electrical discharges (all types, applicable both to static electricity and electric current)

Breakdown phenomena
Paschen’s Law (air)
Dielectric strength of solid insulators
Definitions of arc and spark
Spark ignition of flammable atmospheres
Types of discharges under steady-state conditions (i.e., with electric current flow, not for static electricity)

• Ignition modes involving electric current

Sparking or arcing in the gas phase
Arcing across a carbonized path
Glowing and other forms of overheating (ohmic heating)
Ejection of hot particles
Miscellaneous phenomena

• Time for fire to initiate from a defect
• Static electricity

General principles (charge separation, accumulation, discharge)
Means whereby charge separation occurs
Types of discharges
Electrostatic charging and discharging of solids/ persons and apparel/ granular materials/ liquids

• Lightning

Electrical characteristics
Ignition from lightning

• Other atmospheric discharges (St. Elmo’s fire, ball lightning)
• Electromagnetic waves and particulate radiation

Radio transmitters, eddy currents, dielectric heating

• Minimum energy requirements for ignition

Gases/ Dust clouds/ Liquids/ Solids

• Are there minimum values of voltage, current, or power that must be exceeded for ignition to be possible?

DAY 2
Part II – Practical applications and failures of devices
• Problems with wiring devices

Wiring in 120 and 240 VAC branch circuits
Electric outlets, plugs, and connections
Busbars, switchboards, panelboards
Insulated distribution cables
Service drops, high-current-capacity conduits
Branch-circuit wiring conduits
High-voltage insulators
Power and distribution transformers
Wiring in motor vehicles
Wiring in aircraft

• Problems with other appliances or devices (not wiring devices)

Flammability of cabinets of electric or electronic appliances
High-limit switches and thermostats
Electric batteries
Electric blankets, mattress pads, heating pads
Heat tapes and heat cables
Electric heaters
Electric cooking appliances
Electric water heaters
Electric dryers and washers
Electric lamps and lighting fixtures
Electronic devices
Computer equipment
Televisions
Radio and audio equipment
Cellular telephones
Surge suppression devices

• Protective devices

Over-current devices (circuit breakers, fuses)
Ground-fault circuit interruption devices (GFCIs)
Arc-fault circuit interruption devices (AFCIs)
Explosionproof or intrinsically safe equipment

• Arc beads—cause or victim?
• Time for fire to develop from defect
• Research status concerning electrical fires

Most work has been done in Japan; almost no ongoing research in the US

Comments, Open Discussion

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