Dr. Biteau specializes in fire protection engineering and the characterization of materials under fire conditions. He applies fire dynamics, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics principles to investigate the origin and causes of fires and for the prevention of fires and explosions. Dr. Biteau has experience in thermal and combustion analyses; risk and egress analyses; and fire, explosion, and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling. He is familiar with small and large-scale fire experiments based on internationally accepted standards (ASTM, ISO).
Dr. Biteau’s research focused on the thermal and chemical characterization of energetic materials (pyrotechnics, propellants, explosives) susceptible to burn under low oxygen or inert atmospheres. He developed a methodology to estimate the Heat Release Rate from the combustion of energetic materials by coupling thermal analyses (DSC, TGA) and principles of oxygen (OC) and carbon oxides (CDG) calorimetry. He also defined the uncertainty associated with this methodology and identified the minimum material information that is required to obtain acceptable precision on the heat release estimation.
Before joining Exponent, Dr. Biteau carried out several CFD analyses of ventilation systems. The analyses included the study of clean rooms during a fire to assess the spread of toxic gases and the temperature rise inside the facility. His experience also includes the study of the smoke moving performance of the ventilation system in tunnel. He has performed calorimetric studies on porous fuels beds to describe transport mechanisms associated with wildland fires. He was part of the egress analysis of a high-rise building in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and participated in the design, preparation, and supervision of the large-scale fire tests conducted in Dalmarnock (UK). He provided consulting services for the fire and flammability characterization of materials such as pyrotechnics and polymers.
Bartoli P, Simeoni A, Biteau H, Santoni PA, Torero JL. Determination of the main parameters influencing forest fuel combustion dynamics. Fire Safety Journal 2010, in press.
Biteau H, Fuentes A, Marlair G, Torero JL. The Influence of oxygen on the combustion of a fuel/oxidizer mixture. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2010; 34(3):282–289.
Biteau H, Fuentes A, Marlair G, Torero JL. Ability of the fire propagation apparatus to characterise the heat release rate of energetic materials. Journal of Hazard Materials 2009; 166(2–3):916–924.
Abecassis-Empis C, Reszka P, Steinhaus T, Cowlard A, Biteau H, Welch W, Rein G, Torero JL. Characterisation of Dalmarnock fire test one. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2008; 32(7):1334–1343.
Schemel CF, Simeoni A, Biteau H, Rivera JD, Torero JL. A calorimetric study of wildland fuels. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 2008; 32(7):1381–1389.
Conference Publications
Biteau H, Fuentes A, Marlair G, Bertrand JP, Torero JL. A methodology to characterise thermal and chemical effects of energetic materials by use of the FM-global fire propagation apparatus. Proceedings, 11th International Conference, Interflam07, Vol. 1, pp. 427–439, London, England, September 3–5, 2007.
Biteau H, Fuentes A, Marlair G, Torero JL. Heat release rate of energetic materials by calorimetric methodology. 5th Mediterranean Combustion Symposium, Monastir, Tunisia, 2007.
Biteau H, Fuentes A, Marlair G, Brohez S, Torero JL. Ability of the fire propagation apparatus to characterise thermal effects of energetic materials. Proceedings, EUROPYRO 2007, pp. 367–382, Beaune, France, October 8–11, 2007.
Abecassis Empis C, Snorrason D, Lee J, Reszka P, Steinhaus T, Cowlard A, Biteau H, Stratford T, Gillie M, Rein G, Welch S, Torero JL. The Dalmarnock fire tests. IFE AGM, Cambridge, July 2007. [IFE Bodycote Warrington Fire Research Prize for the Best Fire Safety Engineering Paper 2007].
Marlair G, Biteau H, Branka R, Torero JL. Extending the use of the fire propagation apparatus to qualify burning scenarios of energetic materials and oxidative properties of chemicals. Proceedings, 35th International Pyrotechnics Seminar, pp. 677–686, Fort Collins, CO, July 13–18, 2008.
Biteau H, Steinhaus T, Schemel C, Simeoni A, Marlair G, Bal N, Torero JL. Calculation methods for the heat release rate of materials of unknown composition. Proceedings, 9th International Symposium, Fire Safety Science, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2008.
Branka R, Marlair G, Biteau H. Characterisation of sparklers and Bengal flames using the fire propagation apparatus. Proceedings, 11th International Symposium on Fireworks, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, April 20–24, 2009.
Other Publications
Biteau H, Marlair G, Drysdale D, Torero JL. Characterisation of the thermal and chemical effect of energetic materials not likely to detonate. 31st International Symposium on Combustion, Work in Progress Poster, Heidelberg, Germany, August 2006.
Biteau H, Marlair G, Torero JL, Measuring the rate of heat release from burning energetic materials by fire calorimetry, IGUS-EPP Meeting, Verneuil-en-Halatte, France, April 23–25, 2007.
Reszka P, Steinhaus T, Biteau H, Carvel RO, Rein G, Torero JL. A study of fire durability for a road tunnel: Comparing CFD and simple analytical models. Proceedings, ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Methods in Tunnelling (EURO:TUN 2007), Vienna, Austria, August 27–29, 2007.
Books Chapters
Reszka P, Abecassis-Empis C, Biteau H, Cowlard A, Steinhaus T, Fletcher I, Fuentes A, Gillie M, Welch S. Experimental layout and description of the tests. The Dalmarnock Fire Tests: Experiments and Modelling. Rein, Abecassis-Empis, Carvel (eds), 2007.