Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar

Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar Series

Title: Wildfire Engineering: Integrating Models and Data to Develop Solutions

Abstract: Wildland fires are a critical part of a healthy ecosystem. However, the rapid expansion of the wildland-urban interface, coupled with climate change and human activities, has dramatically increased wildfire hazards in recent decades. Today, wildfires rank among the most significant natural threats to social, economic, ecological, and infrastructure systems. This presentation introduces the wildfire challenge to the engineering community and highlights our team's recent advancements in wildfire simulation, data analysis, and risk assessment.

Simulating wildfires is a complex, multi-physics, and multi-scale process essential for both pre-fire risk assessment and active-fire emergency response. This presentation provides an overview of state-of-the-art wildland fire modeling techniques, emphasizing our contributions to fuel characterization and fire spot modeling. To address the challenges of collecting observational wildfire data, we have developed a deep learning method that enhances the spatial resolution of satellite data. This new development supports the integration of computational models and data, advancing capabilities for wildfire digital twinning and enabling near real-time wildfire monitoring for emergency response.

Additionally, the presentation outlines the development of a probabilistic wildfire risk assessment framework, inspired by decades of progress in earthquake risk engineering. This framework accounts for uncertainties across different systems to quantify wildfire risk as the probability of loss. Finally, we explore key technical challenges in wildfire monitoring, simulation, and data assimilation and present a forward-looking vision for wildfire engineering research. The objective is to engage the engineering community in addressing this critical and evolving challenge through innovative contributions.

Bio: Dr. Hamed Ebrahimian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He is the recipient of the 2024 Nevada Jason Geddes Rising Researcher award and the NSF CAREER award. Dr. Ebrahimian joined UNR in 2019, following a senior engineering position in industry and a postdoctoral appointment at Caltech. He earned his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 2015 and a second master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2013, both from UC San Diego. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Ebrahimian worked for several years as a consulting engineer and structural designer in his home country.

Dr. Ebrahimian's research lies at the intersection of computational and data methods, focusing on prediction, monitoring, data assimilation, model inversion, and uncertainty quantification. The application of his research expands from civil infrastructures to offshore wind turbines, and recently wildland fires. He is currently leading a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary research project in wildfire engineering and risk assessment. Drawing from his background in earthquake engineering and structural mechanics, he applies his expertise in computational modeling and data-driven approaches to advance wildfire engineering research.

NOTE: At this time, in-person Mechanical and Civil Engineering Lectures are open to all Caltech students/staff/faculty/visitors.