RESEARCH FACILITIES

STRUCTURAL FIRE TESTING & RESEARCH LABORATORY (LUFTRL)

Fire represents one of the most severe natural hazards to people, environment, and structures. Unfortunately, there are a large number of deaths and great deal of property destruction caused by fire everywhere in the world even in developed countries. Although the few recent versions of the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) has successfully contributed to reducing Canada’s fire loss record in the past 10 years, there is a serious lack of understanding, experimental data, design tools, and most importantly qualified personnel to facilitate structural fire safety design. Also, with the relatively new trend in Canada of adopting objective-based codes that prescribe performance objectives rather than specific building methods or material, more experimental research in the area of structural fire engineering is urgently required. Research in this crucial area will allow fire protection codes and standards to account for the realistic response of different structural members and assemblies in actual fires, and thus result in more cost-effective designs.

A new Fire Testing and Research Laboratory has been constructed using a Leaders Opportunity Fund awarded to Dr. Salem by Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). This unique infrastructure project has also been funded by Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (OMRI), Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Coorperation (NOHFC), and Lakehead University.

For more information about the state-of-the-art Fire Testing and Research Laboratory (click here)