SAFIR\u2014the name is a compression of \u201csafety\u201d and \u201cfire\u201d\u2014is a software program that analyzes structures\u2019 behavior when they are on fire. It allows structural fire engineers to evaluate heat transfer that determines how the structure\u2019s temperature will increase in the case of fire and to study the mechanics at play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With more than 300 global users in academia and industry, the product has a devoted following in its niche. SAFIR Day, an online event that Gernay hosts each fall, welcomes about 100 attendees from all over the world who share use cases for the software and learn best practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using SAFIR, the BRE Group has evaluated the safety of several historic landmarks in the UK\u2014including Admiralty Arch (left) and the Natural History Museum (right).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Admiralty-Arch-300x227.jpg\" "\\"Admiralty")
\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Natural-History-Museum-London-BRE-Group-2-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Natural")
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cAs structural engineers, we have the responsibility to design safe and resilient built environments. In doing so, we need to think about extreme events that could destroy these structures, and fire is one of these hazards that we cannot fully control,\u201d says Gernay. A go-to expert for media outlets in the aftermath of devastating fires, such as the one that damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris in 2019, Gernay says his goal with SAFIR is to help structural engineers design buildings that can withstand fire\u2014or at least not spread it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The software relies on the use of finite element analysis, which dices a structure into discrete linked elements and then models the behavior of each in reaction to its environment. Splitting a structure into discrete parts allows for more precision and the study of non-uniform forces as opposed to treating the entirety as a \u201clumped mass\u201d solution. \u201cIf you don\u2019t discretize, the models become very coarse and may not lead to precise solutions,\u201d says Spencer Quiel, associate chair and associate professor of structural engineering at Lehigh University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quiel used SAFIR to analyze the I-95 collapse for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT). He zeroed in on evaluating the highway\u2019s girders\u2019 response to the fire, with SAFIR delivering a model that correctly predicted the damage to the north and southbound lanes. The DOT can now use the model to predict the behavior of the state\u2019s other highways under fire stress. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Gernay2_JHU0555.jpg\")
<\/strong>\u2014 Thomas Gernay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
THE ORIGINS OF SAFIR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Gernay\u2019s passion for structural fire engineering re- search began during his student days at Li\u00e8ge University in Belgium, where he received his doctorate. His advisor, Professor Jean-Marc Franssen, began building SAFIR in the 1990s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For his doctoral thesis, Gernay wanted to develop a model to simulate how concrete behaves when it is exposed to fire. Even though concrete doesn\u2019t burn, it loses strength and deforms at elevated temperatures. By the time Gernay completed his PhD in 2012, he had added significantly to SAFIR\u2019s code. SAFIR has gathered momentum since, with both Gernay and Franssen adding to its strengths. Among the newer capabilities: pre- and post-processors that enable users to bypass extensive coding; the addition of interfaces with more types of fire models; and various material models, including timber and novel types of steels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creating a numerical model using SAFIR and validating it through laboratory fire testing enables engineers to ensure that the software accurately represents elevated temperature structural behavior. Once validated, the numerical model can be used to evaluate fire resistance for a specific structure under various conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This approach has been particularly valuable for the BRE Group, says Octavian Lalu, principal fire engineer at the UK-based structural engineering research facility. The team uses SAFIR to assess the fire resistance of historic buildings and evaluate their compliance with modern building codes. Since in-situ testing is complex and expensive, scenario-based numerical modeling of fire effects with SAFIR provides a practical, cost-effective alter- native. Using SAFIR, the BRE Group has evaluated the safety of several historic landmarks in the UK\u2014 including Admiralty Arch, Manchester Town Hall, and the Natural History Museum, among many others\u2014to determine whether existing fire resistance meets regulation or whether remedial solutions (additional protection) may be needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another advantage of SAFIR is that it facilitates getting buy-in from multiple parties like investors, government officials, and contractors, which is key for industry projects, says Jeremy Chang, technical director at Holmes Aus & NZ, a structural and fire engineering firm headquartered in New Zealand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe greater the number of user-defined variables, the more parameters you have to negotiate and the longer the discussions take,\u201d Chang says. Because SAFIR has key data\u2014like material strength and deformation and more\u2014built-in, those validated parameters need not be reverified, shortening project approval times. Chang turned to SAFIR in the wake of the convention center fire in New Zealand, ultimately finding most of the structure\u2019s remaining steel members were salvageable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to using SAFIR for conducting post- mortem analysis after fires, both industry players like Holmes Aus & NZ and academia use the software to provide fire safety recommendations for structures. For example, engineer Kevin Mueller at global structural engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti used the software to predict the behavior of an airport frontage road in response to a potential tanker truck fuel fire. A service corridor snaked through the lower level of the road, so the project\u2019s goal was to ensure the front-end road structure would survive a fire. <\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Holmes_NZICC_4.jpg\")
Such assessments are necessary because \u201cunderstanding risk is the first step in mitigating it and if we don\u2019t understand risk, we won\u2019t know where to put resources,\u201d Quiel says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
THE FUTURE WITH SAFIR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Gernay also notes that evolving trends in structure design and materials could introduce unexpected fire risks. The growing popularity of mass timber (in some cases wood is considered a renewable resource) or the use of lithium-ion batteries in data centers, for example, might change the way fire could develop in buildings. New modular constructions have connections that could be weak points for fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Negar Elhami-Khorasani, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo, has been researching wildfires, including those that ravaged LA in January 2025. She says SAFIR could be used for the evaluation of urban structures affected by such disasters. The results could inform the design of buildings and structures more resistant to fires. It is an interesting use case for SAFIR because most structural fire modeling assumes the fire originates from within, not outside the structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs we see [an] evolution in the built environment, we can use SAFIR to design these facilities to make them safe,\u201d Gernay says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key, he adds, is that SAFIR enables performance-based design, which focuses on a building\u2019s performance outcomes rather than simply on construction provisions without attention to system behavior. \u201cPerformance-based design is really how structural engineers can bring value and enable innovation to support changes in the built environment,\u201d Gernay says. \u201cSAFIR is a key tool to enable that.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By better understanding heat transfer, Thomas Gernay is making structures SAFIR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":49514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"issue":[42],"class_list":["post-49460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-spring-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n