Admission and Unit Information - Master of Fire Safety Engineering
Admission
Applicants must have an undergraduate degree, or higher, in engineering, building, construction, building surveying, architecture or physical science; or a Graduate Diploma in Fire Safety Engineering.
Applications from Australian citizens and holders of permanent resident visas must be made via the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC).
Applicants who have undertaken studies overseas may have to provide proof of proficiency in English. Local and International applicants who are applying through the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) will find details of minimum English proficiency requirements and acceptable proof on the UAC website. Local applicants applying directly to UWS should also use the information provided on the UAC website.
Overseas qualifications must be deemed by the Australian Education International - National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (AEI-NOOSR) to be equivalent to Australian qualifications in order to be considered by UAC and UWS.
Course Structure
Qualification for this award requires the successful completion of 80 credit points as per the recommended sequence below.
Semester 1
This unit introduces the role and functions of the building surveyor and the National Construction Code of Australia (NCCA). The topics include building legislation, NCCA general provisions, structure and philosophy. Students are required to understand the objectives, the function statements and the performance requirements of various sections of Volume One of NCCA. The concept of performance based approach is discussed and compared with the prescriptive approach. The content covers the relationship between research in the development of building codes and the role played by approval/certifying authorities in building assessment and approval. Legal obligations of building surveyors, their tasks of assessment, enforcement and documentation are also explained.
Fire Engineering 1 (Fire Dynamics)
This unit aims to develop a detailed knowledge of fire behaviour and dynamics in the built environment. Students will be able to understand fuels and combustion processes; the chemistry of combustion; flammability limits; ignition characteristics; and different types of flames and fire plumes. The content also covers the burning of liquids and solids; flammable vapour/air mixtures; extinction and extinguishment; flame spread mechanisms and modeling; flashover; fire resistance and fire severity; projection of flames from burning compartment openings; spread of fire from a compartment; production and measurement of smoke; and smoke movement.
Semester 2
This unit introduces the concept of risk assessment for fire safety systems relevant to life safety and property protection. The unit helps students develop an understanding of building occupant characteristics and human behaviour during fire emergencies. Parameters, methods and criteria for risk and economic assessments are covered in this unit.
This unit describes the various types and application of building services and fire safety systems. It introduces appropriate standards for building fire service system design and the methods of applying recommendations of fire engineering assessments with respect to building services and fire safety systems.
Semester 3
Fire Engineering 2 (Fire Models)
This unit aims to develop an understanding of various types of computational tools used in engineering design of fire safety systems. The fundamentals of control volume, applications of conservations laws in modeling and the form of predictive equations are explained. The content includes evaluations of fire severity, fire resistance levels of various types of building structures and elements. Hand calculation equations, zone models and field models are covered. The limitations of the models in representing the real phenomena are also discussed.
Fire Engineering Design and Assessment
This unit helps to develop a high level of knowledge of fire safety systems relevant to life protection and the design and assessment of such systems. The unit covers the process of fire safety engineering design and assessment including the fire engineering brief, conceptual design, regulatory objectives, fire safety engineering subsystems, verification methods, timeline analysis, design fires, evaluation of performance of passive and active fire protection systems, risk analysis and fire engineering project reporting.
Semester 4
Built Environment Research Project
The unit will help students to solve a general, technical or fundamental problem on an individual basis. The unit requires the student to identify a issue related to the fire safety engineering, construction or building industry, review and critically appraise current literature related to the issue, develop a research question, identify and apply the appropriate research methodology, prepare a research plan, collect and analyse data, communicate research findings with appropriate recommendations.
