The recipients of the 2013 Harry C. Bigglestone Award for Excellence in Communication of Fire Protection Concepts are Kristopher Overholt and Ofodike (D.K.) Ezekoye for their paper, “Characterizing Heat Release Rates Using an Inverse Fire Modeling Technique.” Overholt is a graduate student in civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering; Ezekiel is professor in the mechanical engineering department of the same school.
This paper explores an innovative concept that could prove key to the future of fire protection. The winners have developed an algorithm that uses the temperature readings from sensors inside a compartment to find the heat release rate curve of the fire. This contribution directly leads to an enhanced understanding of real fires and opens the way to new forensic reconstructions. As a token of appreciation, Springer has made the paper Open Access.
The Harry C. Bigglestone award is presented annually, along with a $5,000 cash prize, to the author(s) of the most outstanding paper submitted to Fire Technology during the previous calendar year, as voted by the International Editorial Board. This award is named after the late Harry C. Bigglestone, a trustee of the Fire Protection Research Foundation, and fellow and president of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. The award was presented at the General Section Reception at the NFPA Conference & Expo on Tuesday, June 12.