Live Member Webinar: Design Fire Scenarios for Hazard Assessment of Modern Passenger Vehicles
Upcoming Live Webinar: July 30th, 2025, from 11:00 - 12:00 P.M. EDT (-4 UTC)
Description
Full-scale testing of battery electric (BEVs) and internal combustion engine (ICEVs) passenger vehicles has historically shown peak heat release rates (HRRs) ranging from 5-10 MW. However, the vehicles tested in these studies are smaller with less energy capacity than vehicles currently on the market. This presentation will present a recently developed model to extrapolate data from full-scale vehicle fire tests to evaluate the fire hazard associated with larger passenger vehicles. Data are used from 38 full-scale vehicle experiments in the public literature to develop and validate the model. The validated model is then used to develop conservatively bounding fire scenarios for vehicles representative of the current market environment. No significant difference was observed in the HRRs between the similarly sized ICEVs and BEVs in this work; however, the predicted HRRs for both vehicle types significantly exceeded existing design guidance. While the model may be shown to be overly conservative in future testing, it is validated using the data that currently exists, and points to an alarming trend in the fire protection industry, where the hazard posed by single-passenger vehicles may exceed existing design guidance.
Speaker
Jonathan Hodges, PhD
Professional Development Credits
1.0 PDH
Fees
SFPE Members: Free
SFPE Non-members: $35.00
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Questions? Please email us at [email protected].
Speaker
Jonathan Hodges, PhD
Dr. Hodges began his career as an intern in the Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (RDT&E) division at Jensen Hughes while working towards his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech where his research focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and fire modeling. He began working full-time in the RDT&E division after graduating in 2018. He has developed models for commercial and government clients and has been managing the modeling service line within the RDT&E division since 2021. His team continues to focus on the intersection of fire risk assessment, computational modeling, and artificial intelligence.
Dr. Hodges is an international expert in model verification and validation. He is a member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) task group updating the engineering guidance on Fire Model Substantiation, with his primary involvement in the model verification and validation chapter. He has published two handbook chapters on “Intelligent Firefighting” and “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Firefighting”. He has also presented at two of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)’s workshops on Artificial Intelligence. He has also used his extensive experience in fire modeling to support SFPE in developing new guidance on probabilistic risk assessment for local fire exposures.
