Unique fire oven at LTU

For future fire engineers, the new testing environment with the fire oven at LTU is a fantastic opportunity for practical exercises. Here, they are able to see, under safe circumstances, what the emergency services experience in reality on rescue operations, when a building's pillars collapse due to load and fire.

- Last week was the first time we used the new fire oven in teaching, and for the students it was really an experience, when they could translate theory into practice, says Proffessor Milan Veljkovic.

Today an experiment is performed in which a wooden columns are subjected to a load of 120 kN (equivalent to 12 tons) and simultaneously heated to 500 degrees, in the end gaps Code. The entire process in the furnace can be followed on a monitor, as well as data on the temperature distribution within the specimen, load and time.

- LTU will now really go in for investing in good equipment for Experimental activities. Our engineering students should be able to see, hear and feel what they have studied and simulated in their computers, says Ulla Grönlund, head of the Dept of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering.

The new fire oven means that the fire engineers at LTU studying postgraduate fire technology with specialization in structural engineering, now have the opportunity to their own lab. Here they can see which features a building has when it is about to collapse under fire.They can also study how the design and dimensions affect a building on fire.

The new fire oven at Complab at LTU is the only of its kind in Sweden and can also be used for product development for structures subjected to load and fire. Right now the lab test a new product, a steel column filled with a special concrete to delay the pillar that deficiencies, if exposed to fire.

-Here at Complab we can test new structural materials and innovative design elements, while we develop them, says Milan Veljkovic.

The Owen has been part-funded by the NSS project on Safety & Security, the EU's regional funds, the Kempe Foundations and the institution's strategic funds.