Fire & Explosion Investigations

Capabilities and Services

• Fire Dynamics Modeling

  Fire dynamics modeling is crucial to understanding how heat and smoke move throughout a building or area, such as during a wildfire. Our fire modeling capabilities are frequently used to support fire cause and origin investigations. Exponent uses the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and the Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport (CFAST), which are developed and distributed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

• Combustible Dust Hazard Analysis & Facility Inspections

  To mitigate the risks of industrial explosions and fires due to combustible dust particles and finely divided powders, several National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards on combustible dust require industrial facilities to complete a dust hazard analysis (DHA) every five years and to complete a new DHA before implementing a new process or expanding a facility. Exponent helps stakeholders identify equipment and processes that pose dust hazards and implement corrective actions to reduce the risk of combustible dust explosions.

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• Explosions, Deflagrations, and Detonations

  For more than 50 years, Exponent's engineers and scientists have investigated several thousand separate explosions that have involved a wide range of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. A wide range of industries — petroleum and chemical, defense and aerospace, oil and gas utilities, insurers, and law firms — call on us when they need to understand why and how an explosion occurred, the strength of the explosion, and how to prevent a similar event.

• Fire Origin and Cause Investigations

  Our team has investigated thousands of fires involving countless products and applications. Exponent engineers specialize in fluid flow evaluations, such as smoke and plume propagation modeling. In addition to traditional fire investigation tools, we use innovative techniques such as 3D surveying methods, photogrammetry, video and image analysis, and three-dimensional computer animation. At our Phoenix Test and Engineering Center (TEC), our experts perform large-scale fire and explosion testing.

• Heavy Equipment Fires

  The investigation of heavy equipment fires — such as farm equipment or construction vehicles — requires experience with the many systems involved. Exponent provides the rigorous scientific expertise, conducting field inspections, laboratory testing, and technical analysis of hydraulic systems, bearing performance and failure, debris accumulation, electrical system performance and distribution, mechanical systems, and more.

• Transportation Fires

  Exponent engineers provide a wide range of services associated with the investigation and prevention of fires associated with automobiles, motorcycles, buses, heavy trucks, recreational vehicles, and heavy equipment. Exponent engineers currently serve in multiple organizations associated with motor vehicle fire safety, including the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Fire Safety Committee and the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Technical Committee responsible for NFPA 1192-Recreational Vehicles.

• Wildland Fires

  Wildland fires cause enormous damage every year in the United States. Exponent's multidisciplinary teams of thermal engineers, environmental scientists, and arson investigators provide comprehensive, on-site fire investigations, analyze burn damage, and use cutting-edge research tools and technology to define the origin, determine the fire's path, and demonstrate emissions dispersion. Our civil engineering and environmental practices assist in the detailed surveys of area of origin, conduct aerial surveys of the burn damage, and GIS data for computer simulations. Our ecological practice can assist in the assessment of damage and consult on rehabilitation of the burned areas.

• Summary of Services

  • Analysis of performance-based design alternatives for facilities and dust-handling equipment
  • Code and engineering consulting for unique operations, equipment, and facilities
  • Combustible dust testing
  • Development of methods to mitigate fire and explosion hazards
  • Dust hazard analyses (DHAs) of new and existing facilities
  • Engineering evaluations of process risks and hazards associated with product flow, personal protective equipment, life safety and egress, fire suppression, standard operating procedures, maintenance, and other process related issues.
  • Evaluation of proposed and existing fire suppression and explosion protection systems
  • Evaluation of OSHA citations and proposed mitigation methods
  • Explosion origin, cause, and propagation analysis
  • Facility reviews
  • Inspections for compliance with regulations, consensus standards, and best practices
  • Fire modeling and smoke modeling
    • Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
    • Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)
    • Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport (CFAST)
  • Fire origin and cause investigation