Recent areas of research include:
- Computer Modelling
- Fire Dynamics
- Structural fire performance
- Active fire protection systems
- Fire statistics and risk : Human Behaviour : Fire codes and regulations : Building information modelling
Fire statistics and risk
Recent work on fire statistics has focused on fires in parking buildings and tunnel design fires. The New Zealand Fire Service maintains statistics on fires and this data is useful for our research.
Key publications
- Cheong, M.K., Spearpoint, M.J. and Fleischmann, C.M. (2008) Using the peak heat release rate to determine the fire risk level of road tunnels. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O: Journal of Risk and Reliability, 222, 4, 595-604.
- Li Y., Spearpoint M.J. (2007) Analysis of vehicle fire statistics in New Zealand parking buildings. Fire Technology, 43, 2, 93-106.
- Li, Y. and Spearpoint, M.J. (2006) Cost-benefit analysis of sprinklers for property protection in New Zealand parking buildings. Journal of Applied Fire Science, 12, 3, 223-243.
- 2006/1 - R Nelligan (Thesis)
Guidelines for the Use of Expanded Foam Polystyrene Panel Systems in Industrial Buildings so as to Minimise the Risk of Fire
Human behaviour
Research into human behaviour in fire has included looking at crowd movement in sports stadiums and the effect of pre-movement on evacuation. Work in this area often links with the research we carry out on computer evacuation models.
Key publications
- Spearpoint, M.J. (2008) Fire emergencies and people. New Zealand Science Teacher, 117, 16-17.
- X Xianoxing (Thesis)
Predicting Evacuation Time from Lecture Theatre Type Rooms - Hoskin K, Spearpoint M J. Crowd characteristics and egress at stadia. Proc. 3rd International Conference on Human Behaviour in Fire, pp. 367-376. Belfast, 1-3 Sept. 2004.
- Spearpoint M J. The effect of pre-movement on evacuation times in a simulation model. Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 33-53. 2003.
Fire codes and regulations
New Zealand has a performance–based code and research is undertaken to support the evolution of codes and regulations.
Key publications
- Merry, A. and Spearpoint M.J. (2008) The New Zealand Building Act 2004 and the involvement of the New Zealand Fire Service. Auckland, New Zealand: 7th International Conference on Performance-Based Codes and Fire Safety Design Methods, 16-18 Apr 2008. 47-58.
- 2007/2 - Craig McGhie (Thesis)
Apparent Level of Safety of Buildings Meeting the NZ Building Code Approved Document C/AS1 - Fire Safety - Spearpoint M J. New Zealand's experience in implementing a performance-based regulatory system and the lessons learnt. Proc. FESA 2005, Singapore, pp. 141-147, 2005.
Building information modelling
Ongoing research is looking at integrating building information models with fire simulation software. Work initially focused on the IFC building model and linking it with zone models such as BRANZFIRE. More recent work has developed the tool to link with FDS.
Key publications
- Dimyadi, J., Spearpoint, M. and Amor, R. (2009) Sharing Building Information using the IFC Data Model for FDS Fire Simulation. Karlsruhe, Germany: Ninth International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, 21-26 September 2008. 1329-1340.
- Spearpoint, M. J. (2007) Transfer of architectural data from the IFC building product model to a fire simulation software tool. Journal of Fire Protection Engineering, 17, 4, 271-292.
- Dimyadi, J.A.W., Spearpoint, M.J. and Amor, R. (2007) Generating Fire Dynamics Simulator geometrical input using an IFC-based building information model. Journal of Information Technology in Construction, 12, 443-457.
- Spearpoint, M.J. (2006) Fire engineering properties in the IFC building product model and mapping to BRANZFIRE. International Journal on Engineering Performance-Based Fire Codes, 7, 3, 134-147.