Dr Xu Dai, University of Liverpool

Extreme fire-induced structural collapses continue to occur around the world, from the World Trade Center buildings collapse in New York City in 2001, to the recent London Luton Airport car park fire in 2023. A common factor is progressive fire spread over an entire floor plan in a large compartment, referred to as ‘travelling fires’. Dr Dai's research focuses on better characterising such fires and evaluating the corresponding critical failure of steel-concrete composite floor structures at the system level. His goal 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.