Supporting young researchers

Curiosity is one of the most important qualities of a good engineer. It drives research, testing, and the search for ever better solutions - both in the world of science and business. And when these two worlds intersect, projects like this can emerge.

Recently, we had the pleasure of sharing our practical experience and supporting the research for a master’s thesis carried out by Michał Surma from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The thesis focuses on analyzing the impact of fire protection systems on temperature increase in steel structural elements exposed to fire conditions. The tested elements after fire resistance trials were presented last Thursday during the event “Design, Build, Destroy - Edition 3”, organized by the “KONKRET” Scientific Circle, of which Michał is an active member.

“The aim of the research and the resulting master’s thesis is to expand knowledge in the field of fire engineering in building structures. To obtain reliable data and conduct fire resistance tests effectively, we needed equipment specifically designed for such processes and fully reliable in operation. The products provided by Guenther Polska definitely met our expectations, allowing us to obtain valuable material for further analysis,” emphasizes Michał Surma.

The master’s thesis has been divided into three main sections. The first focuses on the review and description of applied fire protection systems, as well as the analysis of existing research presented in technical literature. The second describes laboratory testing of steel elements protected with different thicknesses of fire-resistant coatings. The third section attempts to recreate the laboratory model using commercially available fire analysis software and includes calculations carried out in accordance with Eurocodes.

The research results will be published in a scientific article following the publication of the master’s thesis. Thank you for your trust - we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a successful graduation and look forward to reading the article with great interest.