The Centre for Fire Research (ZeBra abbreviates German: Zentrum für Brandforschung)
investigates the fire behaviour and potential hazards associated with innovative construction methods and technologies supporting the energy transition. These technologies are increasingly being introduced into socially relevant areas such as housing and mobility. ZeBra aims to develop fundamentally new concepts for minimising the fire risks arising from innovative construction methods—such as structures made from combustible renewable materials or novel digitally fabricated components—in combination with future-oriented products used within buildings, including stationary energy-storage systems and electrically powered vehicles in garages.
The development and progression of a fire, as well as the ability to predict its behaviour, depend significantly on the products and systems incorporated into a building. Innovative fire-safe construction methods and products can only be successfully developed when fire development and spread, together with the resulting effects on people, can be accurately predicted using efficient and reliable numerical and physical models. ZeBra therefore develops experimental methods and numerical simulation approaches and conducts systematic research to achieve three principal objectives:
The new research facility consists of three main building sections: the experimental hall, a two-storey measurement-room and office wing, and the smoke-gas treatment system.
Large-scale fire tests are conducted in the experimental hall in the area served by Calorimeters 3 and 4. The smoke gases generated during the tests are captured by a movable extraction hood measuring 12 × 12 m and subsequently treated by the smoke-gas treatment system.
The measurement-room and office building accommodates small-scale test facilities for fire research, as well as offices, staff facilities and common rooms. A weather-protection enclosure is planned for the smoke-gas treatment system. An exhaust-gas measurement station is located on its roof for the collection and analysis of gas samples. Utility connection rooms and technical plant rooms are constructed as solid structural units integrated into the experimental hall.
Provision/ Special Feature
The ZeBra Center of Fire Safety Research is among the EU’s leading fire engineering research facilities by providing the research opportunities on large-scale fire load configurations with heat release rates up to 20 MW.
Location
Beethovenstr. 52, Building 2439, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Users
Institute of Building Materials, Concrete Construction and Fire Safety (iBMB) - Division of Fire Safety, iPAT, iRMB, IGÖ (all institutes of TU Braunschweig, Germany), Fraunhofer WKI
Floor area
1.197 m² working area (809 m² Experimental Hall and 388 m² Laboratories and Offices)
Construction Dates
Start of Construction Works: Spring 2020
Completion of Works: anticipated: 2022
Costs
Ca. € 22.49 million (buildings, research infrastructure and initial furnishings & equipment)
The video shows the construction progress from May 2020 until the opening in October 2023.
