Dr Xu Dai, a structural fire engineering expert at the University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been awarded a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship.
Dr Dai’s research focuses on extreme fire-induced structural collapses.
The overall aim of his new Fellowship is to improve building design to reduce the risk of structural failure in the event of a fire.
He will explore “travelling fires”, which refer to fires that spread progressively across a whole floor of a building or a large compartment. The aim is to better characterise this type of fire and evaluate the corresponding critical failure of steel-concrete composite floor structures at the system level.
Dr Dai said: “I am delighted to receive this prestigious award which will allow me to fully focus on my research for one year.
“The ultimate goal of my Fellowship is to mitigate losses arising from fire-induced structural failure worldwide by developing theoretical methods for performance-based design, via coupling structural engineering and fire engineering using advanced modelling and experimental techniques.”
Dr Dai is one of seven recipients awarded a RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, which support engineering research with benefits for society and economy.
Professor Anne Trefethen FREng, Chair of the RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships panel said: “This year’s awardees amply demonstrate just how wide-ranging and potentially impactful UK engineering research is. I am pleased that with the continued support of the Leverhulme Trust we are able to help more talented individuals and whose research projects I hope will deliver substantial benefits to society here and elsewhere in the world.”