Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials

Prof. dr. ir. Ruben Van Coile

Ruben Van Coile.jpg

Name: Ruben Van Coile
Title: Prof. dr. ir.
Function: Professor
Ruben.VanCoile@UGent.be

Secretariat:
Mrs. Marijke Reunes (T + 32 9 264 55 35)

Overview

Ruben Van Coile is professor in Structural Fire Engineering at Ghent University (UGent) since 2017. Ruben’s main expertise is in probabilistic structural fire safety engineering, including the application of risk and reliability methods. He has degrees in civil engineering, fire safety engineering and law, and has been a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh and a practicing structural fire safety engineer in London, UK. Ruben leads the “Structural fire engineering” research group. For more information on structural fire engineering research you can visit this webpage.

Research activities

  • Structural performance during and after fire
  • Probabilistic risk assessment
  • Reliability-based decision-making and lifetime cost-optimization

Publications

Scientific career

  • Professor (100% docent) in Structural Fire Engineering, Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials, Ghent University, since October 2017
  • Post-doctoral researcher structural fire safety, BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering, the University of Edinburgh (UK), October 2016 – September 2017
  • Fire Safety engineer, WSP, London (UK), August 2015 – October 2016
  • Post-doctoral researcher Structural Fire Safety, Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials, Ghent University, April 2015 – August 2015
  • PhD student (FWO fellow), Department of Structural Engineering and Building Materials, Ghent University, October 2011 – April 2015

Prof. Van Coile has also been a visiting scholar at the University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources (Vienna, Austria), the University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Canada), and Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA).

Awards

  • 2018 Bigglestone Award: Award for the paper in Fire Technology ‘that best represents excellence in the communication of fire protection concepts’, for the paper ‘An Unbiased Method for Probabilistic Fire Safety Engineering, Requiring a Limited Number of Model Evaluations’ (Van Coile et al., 2017)
  • 2016 Interflam Best Paper Runner Up Award, for the conference paper ‘Efficient Method for Probabilistic Fire Safety Engineering
  • 2014 Brenner Award for the presentation ‘Structural safety and cost optimization for Brenner Base Tunnel linings exposed to fire’
  • 2011 BSVM material science award for master dissertation ‘Effect of fire on the safety level of concrete elements’
  • 2010 ‘ENCI-studieprijs’ honorable mention for master dissertation ‘Effect of fire on the safety level of concrete elements’

Committees and working groups

International

  • Convener of the fib (International Federation for Structural Concrete) task group on fire design of concrete structures.
  • Convener of the fib (International Federation for Structural Concrete) working party on post-fire assessment of concrete structures.
  • Member of ISO/TC 92/SC 4 - Fire safety engineering
  • Member of FSH/24 (British Standards Institution – revision of PD7974-7 Application of fire safety engineering principles to the design of buildings. Probabilistic Risk Assessment.)

    National

    • Deputy member of the derogation committee for fire safety within the Belgian Home Office (Afwijkingscommissie, FOD Binnenlandse Zaken)
    • Member of the Belgian mirror committee of CEN/TC 127
    • Member of the Belgian mirror committee of ISO/TC 92

    Editorial tasks

    • Member of the Editorial Board of Fire Technology
    • Member of the Editorial Board of Fire Safety Journal
    • Guest Editor for a special issue of Fire Technology on “Probabilistic Methods in Fire Safety Engineering”  (Van Coile, Hopkin and Lange guest editors), 2019

    Engineering experience - selected projects

    • Probabilistic external fire spread evaluation for Bishopsgate 22 (London, UK)
    • Gatwick airport expansion study: fire strategy (London, UK)
    • Passive fire protection evaluation for the Conwy road tunnel (Conwy, UK)
    • Structural fire protection for Foster+Partners lightweight pavilion "Principal Place" (London, UK)
    • Cost-benefit evaluation for fire protection in Dutch tunnels (Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands)
    • Structural response of unprotected multi-storey steel warehouse in the early stages of a growing fire (UK).

    Current teaching activities

    • Structural Fire Engineering
    • Applications of Advanced Structural Fire Engineering
    • Risk Management
    • Fire Safety Strategy Project
    • Analysis of Structures