Curriculum Vitae

Currently

I currently work as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) in Columbia, Maryland. I am involved in multiple projects requiring application and assessment of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code. I simulate life-size experiments performed by UL FSRI to investigate the robustness of several sub-models used in FDS. I am also involved in data analysis of large-scale experiments to derive scientific-based improvement of understanding hazards in such scnearios and provide tactical considerations for firefighting.

Education

2017 - 2021 University of Maryland, College Park Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering

Dissertation: Experiments and Semi-Empirical Modeling of Buoyancy-Driven, Turbulent Flame Spread over Combustible Solids in a Corner Configuration

2014 - 2016 Texas A&M University, College Station Masters in Chemical Engineering

Thesis: Application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to Study Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Pool Fires

Work Experience

2021 - Now Post-doctoral Researcher Research work to improve safety and operation of firefighters, people, and environment Fire Safety Research Institute, Columbia, Maryland, U.S.A

Regularly perform analysis of large-scale experimental data, present data in visualization to convey information to a broad range of audience, write research reports, perform Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) simulations to improve fire modeling.

2017 - 2021 Graduate Research Assistant Doctoral Research on flame spread and material flammability University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, U.S.A

Designed and built a large-scale fire experimentation facility for flame spread testing. Independently designed fast-response sampling system having a 13 second response time for a half Mega Watt exhaust hood to calculate heat release rate during flame spread over solids.
Examined pyrolysis and flaming combustion using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Microscale Combustion Calorimetry (MCC), Controlled Atmosphere Pyrolysis Apparatus II (CAPA II), Milligram-scale Flame Calorimetry (MFC), Cone Calorimetry for poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly (isocyanurate) (PIR), and oriented strand board (OSB).
Mentored junior graduate students and undergraduate researchers with experiments and data analysis.
Communicated and published research findings via conferences and journal publications.

2016 Student Co-op Development of 1D Fire Shelter-in-place (SIP) consequence analysis model Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants Inc., Houston, Texas, U.S.A

Performed individual research to develop a simplified 1D consequence analysis model for fire SIP situation using Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS), MATLAB, and VBScript.
Other responsibilities during the internship were assisting on-site jet fire and other experimentation activities which included setting up of the instrumentation such as radiometers, data acquisition system.
Consulting facility siting and risk analysis studies for chemical industries also fell under the job responsibility.

Publications

Journals

2021

Chaudhari D.M., Stoliarov S.I., Beach M.W., Suryadevara K.A., Polyisocyanurate foam pyrolysis and flame spread modeling, Appl. Sci. 11 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/APP11083463.
Chaudhari D.M., Fiola G.J., Stoliarov S.I., Experimental analysis and modeling of Buoyancy-driven flame spread on cast poly(methyl methacrylate) in corner configuration, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 183 2021 109433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2020.109433.
Fiola G.J., Chaudhari D.M., Stoliarov S.I., Comparison of Pyrolysis Properties of Extruded and Cast Poly(methyl methacrylate), Fire Saf. J. 120 2021 103083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2020.103083.

2017

Jain P., Reese A.M., Chaudhari D., Mentzer R.A., Mannan M.S., Regulatory approaches - Safety case vs US approach: Is there a best solution today?, J. Loss Prev. Process Ind. 46 2017 154–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2017.02.001.

Presentations

2021

Experiments and Modeling of Flame Spread over Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) in a Corner Configuration, 12th U.S Combustion Meeting (Eastern States, held virtually), College Station, Texas, May 2021 (oral presentation)
Comparison of Pyrolysis properties of Extruded and Cast Poly(Methyl Methacrylate), 13th International Symposium on Fire Safety Science (held virtually), Waterloo, Canada, April 2021 (oral presentation)

2019

Flame Spread on Black Poly (Methyl-Methacrylate) in Corner Configuration, FAA 9th Triennial International Fire & Cabin Safety Research Conference, Atlantic City, NJ, Oct 2019 (oral presentation)