Grunde Jomaas
Grunde Jomaas is a Norwegian fire-safety scientist whose work spans combustion fundamentals, large-scale fire phenomena and the development of performance-based design tools. He is ERA Chair and Head of the Department for Fire-Safe Sustainable Built Environment at the Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute and Professor of Fire Science at the University of Primorska.
Education
Jomaas completed early training in fire-protection engineering at Stord/Haugesund College in Norway before earning a BSc in Fire Protection Engineering with summa-cum-laude honours from the University of Maryland in 2001. He then moved to Princeton University, where he obtained an MSc in 2005 and a PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2008; his dissertation, supervised by Professor Law, analysed the propagation and stability of expanding spherical flames.Career
After a short period as a staff engineer at Combustion Science and Engineering, Inc., Jomaas undertook post-doctoral research at École Centrale Paris. He joined the Technical University of Denmark in 2009, rising from assistant to associate professor and overseeing master’s programmes in fire safety and civil engineering. In 2016 he became Professor and BRE Chair of Fire Safety Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, where he also directed the local node of the International Master of Science in Fire Safety Engineering. Since 2021 he has led the EU-funded FRISSBE research centre at ZAG in Slovenia. He had visiting appointments at the University of Waterloo and the University of Queensland.Jomaas’ research integrates laboratory, field and micro-gravity experiments with analytical and numerical models. His early studies on flame instabilities established critical conditions for spherical-flame propagation, while subsequent projects explored pool-fire boil-over, photovoltaic-array fires and timber-building resilience. He is a long-time collaborator on NASA’s Saffire series of spacecraft-fire experiments.
Awards and honours
Recognition for Jomaas’ contributions includes the NFPA Bigglestone Award for best fire-technology paper and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers’ John L. Bryan Award for mentoring. In 2018, he shared the David A. Lucht Lamp of Knowledge Award.Selected works
- Jomaas, G., Zheng, X. L., Zhu, D. L., & Law, C. K.. Experimental determination of counterflow ignition temperatures and laminar flame speeds of C2–C3 hydrocarbons at atmospheric and elevated pressures. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 30, 193-200.
- Jomaas, G., Law, C. K., & Bechtold, J. K.. On transition to cellularity in expanding spherical flames. Journal of fluid mechanics, 583, 1-26.
- Poulsen, A., & Jomaas, G.. Experimental study on the burning behavior of pool fires in rooms with different wall linings. Fire Technology, 48, 419-439.