Merryweather, G., Spearpoint, M.J.
Flame spread experiments were conducted in an ASTM E 1321 Lateral ignition and Flame Transport (LIFT) apparatus and a Reduced scale Ignition and Flame spread Test (RIFT) adaptation of the cone...
Lifts for evacuation - Human behaviour considerations (2009)
The concept of using lifts for evacuation form high rise buildings in fires and other emergency events is gaining momentum around the world, with the recent inclusion of clauses in the International...
A review of instability criteria of smoke layers under sprinkler spray (2009)
Three different criteria have been developed to determine the smoke layer behavior under sprinkler spray and these are known as the Bullen criterion, the Zhang criterion and the Li criterion. A...
Recent BRANZFIRE enhancements and validation (2008)
This article is based on a presentation given at the SFPE New Zealand Chapter Annual General Meeting in November 2007 and describes the result of projects carried out by students and staff at the...
The New Zealand Building Act 2004 and the involvement of the New Zealand Fire Service (2008)
Prior to 1992, fire safety regulations in New Zealand operated under a prescriptive regime. Such prescriptive requirements provided direct guidance in specific terms for those designing buildings and...
Design fires for vehicles in road tunnels (2008)
Cheong, M.K., Spearpoint, M.J., Fleischmann, C.M.
Fire in road tunnels is a unique design problem which can lead to serious consequences if not addressed appropriately. Observations from full scale tunnel fire experiments have indicated the heat...
Fire emergencies and people (2008)
How we behave in a fire can be due to many factors such as familiarity with the building and its alarm systems as Michael Spearpoint from the Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering at...
This article examines the various types of technology used in modern buildings, tunnels, vehicles etc. to detect unwanted and potentially life-threatening fires. In selecting a detection system there...
Merryweather, G., Spearpoint, M.J.
The results from ignition tests conducted using the Lateral Ignition and Flame spread Test (LIFT) apparatus, Reduced scale Ignition and Flame spread Test (RIFT) apparatus, and ISO 5657 ignitability...
Analysis of vehicle fire statistics in New Zealand parking buildings (2007)
The risk of fire in parking buildings is dependant on the probability of a fire occurring and the severity of the fire. This paper reviews the research data available on vehicle fires and suggests...
Trial evacuation of an industrial premises and evacuation model comparison (2007)
Ko, S.Y., Spearpoint, M.J., Teo, A.
This paper describes a trial evacuation from an industrial premises and compares the results with two evacuation modelling programs. In the trial evacuation it was found that most people appeared to...
Dimyadi, J.A.W., Spearpoint, M.J., Amor, R.
Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is an advanced simulation tool used by fire engineers. The work described in this paper enables geometrical information to be transferred to the simulation tool using...
Sharing fire engineering simulation data using the IFC building information model (2007)
Spearpoint, M.J., Dimyadi, J.A.W.
Fire engineers use computer-based fire simulation models to determine the spread of fire and smoke; the response of a structure to high temperatures and the movement of people exiting from a...
Transfer of architectural data from the IFC model to a fire simulation software tool (2007)
A standardized, object-oriented building product model for buildings is introduced that can be used as a means of electronic exchange between various software tools. The ability to transfer...
Assessing the sprinkler activation predictive capability of the BRANZFIRE fire model (2007)
Wade, C., Spearpoint, M.J., Bittern, A., Tsai, K.
This paper describes an investigation into the sprinkler response time predictive capability of the BRANZFIRE fire model. A set of 22 fire/sprinkler experiments are simulated where the sprinkler...
Fire engineering properties in the IFC building product model and mapping to BRANZFIRE (2006)
The Industry Foundation Class (or IFC) Model is a standardised, object-oriented “building product model” that provides an electronic description of buildings. Entities are defined in the model to...
Entrainment of air into a balcony spill plume (2006)
Harrison, R., Spearpoint, M.J.
This article examines various uncertainties relating to calculation methods for the balcony spill plume. The approach of physical scale modeling is used in the analysis. Comparisons are made between...
A computational flame length methodology for propane jet fires (2006)
Cumber, P.S., Spearpoint, M.J.
This paper presents a flame length methodology that mimics the human eye or camera using a CFD framework to calculate the flame structure. A parabolic flow model which accounts for turbulent...
Cost-benefit analysis of sprinklers for property protection in New Zealand parking buildings (2006)
The provision of fire protection measures in parking buildings is an ongoing debate within the fire protection industry. This article presents a cost-benefit analysis model for the installation of...
Modeling lifted methane jet fires using the boundary-layer equations (2006)
Cumber, P.S., Spearpoint, M.J.
The focus of this article is turbulent lifted jet fires. The main objective is to present a lifted jet fire methodology using the boundary-layer equations as a basis. The advantages of this are that...
Smoke management issues in buildings with large enclosures (2006)
Harrison, R., Spearpoint, M.J.
Buildings that provide sporting, entertainment, and leisure facilities (e.g. sports arenas, exhibition halls, etc) can often contain large enclosed spaces or voids. In the event of a fire, these...
Crowd characteristics and egress at stadia (2004)
This paper investigates emergency egress considerations of stadia by examining occupant characteristics and discussing how effective crowd management can be used to improve evacuation procedures. The...
The effect of pre-movement on evacuation times in a simulation model (2004)
The evacuation time of a building in an emergency can be broken down into a number of constituent times including the pre-evacuation time and the travel time. This paper examines how distributions of...
Properties for fire engineering design in New Zealand and the IFC building product model (2003)
This paper examines the information needs of Fire Engineers and relates those needs to the IFC Building Product Model. It identifies what is already provided in the IFC 2x Model and how in particular...
Integrating the IFC building product model with fire zone models (2003)
Buildings that provide sporting, entertainment, and leisure facilities (e.g. sports arenas, exhibition halls, etc) can often contain large enclosed spaces or voids. In the event of a fire, these...
The application of most computer-based fire models is dependent on the user supplying the rate of heat release data that describes the design fire for a chosen scenario. Having access to a database...
Spearpoint, M.J., Quintiere, J.G.
This paper experimentally and theoretically examines the ignition of 50 mm thick samples of wood in the Cone Calorimeter. Four species of wood were exposed to a range of incident heat fluxes up to 75...
Spearpoint, M.J., Mowrer, F.W., McGrattan, K.
A fully furnished compartment fire was conducted in a 5.2 m by 4.6 m by 2.4 m high room. Ventilation was provided through a single open doorway 0.9 m wide and 2.0 m high. Ignition of a pillow located...
Practical comparison of smoke detector sensitivity standards (1999)
Spearpoint, M.J., Smithies, J.N.
In 1995 it was proposed that the British Standard for domestic smoke alarms be revised in order to bring the fire sensitivity tests established in the British Standard, BS 5446 : Part 1 : 1990, into...