Advanced Diagnostics

Advanced Diagnostics & Measurement Systems

Fire research at the University of Waterloo is underpinned by a comprehensive suite of high-resolution diagnostics spanning thermal, kinematic, chemical, and radiative measurements. These systems are deployed in experiments across scales, from bench-scale cone calorimeter tests to densely instrumented, full-scale burns in the Live Fire Research Facility.

Our goal is to generate quantitative, multi-parameter datasets suitable for developing detailed mechanistic relations and validating CFD, pool-fire, battery-failure, and wildfire models.

Data Acquisition & Core Sensing Infrastructure

A NI Compact FieldPoint / LabVIEW-based data acquisition system supports ~380 instrumented channels, allowing synchronized logging of temperature, pressure, velocity, heat flux, mass loss and species concentrations at 1–100 Hz and above.

  • Thermocouple arrays: custom networks of bare-bead and sheathed thermocouples for 1D–3D gas and surface temperature fields in large enclosures, burn-house compartments and outdoor test rigs.

  • Transducers and gauges: bi-directional probes, differential pressure transducers, CSAT anemometry, heat-flux gauges and load cells for flow, pressure, radiation and fuel-regression data.

These systems are integrated into the Large Fire Test Enclosure, two-storey burn house, and intermediate-scale test area, enabling full instrumentation of structural and pool-fire scenarios under controlled wind conditions up to ~11–13 m/s.

Velocity, Turbulence & Spray Diagnostics

Velocity and Turbulence Structure

High speed optical diagnostic systems are available for resolving turbulent flow fields in battery systems, pool fires and enclosure flows.

  • Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) for pointwise mean and fluctuating velocity components in medium-scale acetone and methanol pool fires. Datasets from pool-fire campaigns are widely used as benchmarks in the IAFSS MaCFP Working Group advancing computational fire models for prediction of detailed plume velocity and temperature structure

  • Ultrasonic/vane anemometry for measurement cross-validation, for large scale fires and for regions where optical access or seeding constraints limit LDV deployment.

  • Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) for capture of planar fields of mean and fluctuating velocity in fires and fire-related flows. 

These diagnostics support detailed characterization of mean plume structure, turbulence intensities and length scales in buoyant fires, battery discharges and ventilation-driven flows.

Droplet and Spray Characterization

A Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) is used for size–velocity distributions of spray, mist and particle-laden fields, including fire plumes, water-mist systems and additive-enhanced suppression sprays.


In newer research on water-mist suppression of buoyant turbulent diffusion flames, simultaneous OH-PLIF and Mie scattering imaging has been employed to resolve near-field interactions between the reaction zone and individual droplets, enabling quantitative assessment of radical-quenching, gas-phase cooling and droplet–flame coupling

Gas-Phase, Smoke & Analytical Chemistry Diagnostics

Time-Resolved Gas Analysis

  • FTIR for time-resolved, multi-species gas analysis of combustion products.

  • Novatech P-695 sampling system drawing exhaust to a bank of analyzers:

    • Servomex 4900C for O₂, CO, CO₂

    • Total Unburned Hydrocarbons

    • TML 41H for NOₓ

These systems are integrated with the cone calorimeter and smoke-density chamber for material-scale tests and are portable to intermediate- and large-scale setups.

TD-GC-MS and Speciation Protocols (Wildfire & Material Emissions)

A thermal-desorption GC-MS protocol has been developed for speciation of VOCs, sVOCs and PAHs sampled from cone-calorimeter exhaust and most recently applied to wildfire fuels research,

  • Custom sampling train integrated into  sample exhaust plume collects gases on TD tubes in defined time windows.

  • Methodology based on EPA TO-17 is refined with UW Analytical Chemistry lab support, including internal-standard optimization  to quantify trace organics.

Complementary methods such as TGA/DSC, SEM and XRD / ICP-OES analyses are employed for solid-phase characterization of ash and condensed residues, supporting work on heavy-metal volatilization and deposition in wildfire scenarios.

Low-Cost Sensor Arrays

A custom multi-sensor gas unit has been built for low-cost, time-resolved measurements of fire gases (e.g., CO, CO₂ and VOC surrogates) in large scale fire experiments and cone-calorimeter exhaust streams, with calibrated transit times and flow controls designed to align with reference analyzers