Dr Sahani Hendawitharana

Biography

Sahani is a research associate focusing on enhancing building resilience against natural hazards, with a special focus on bushfires. Her research aims to provide sustainable solutions for bushfire-affected communities, helping them better understand their risks and adapt as resilient communities.

Before joining QUT for her PhD in 2019, she completed her BSc. Eng (Hons 1) and MSc, with her research focusing on developing a drought prediction model using machine learning techniques. During her PhD, she focused on integrating the knowledge of material properties with numerical modelling, advanced technologies, and full-scale fire tests to improve bushfire-safe rooms as a last resort option in bushfire-prone areas. Since completing her PhD, she has continued to focus on developing novel approaches to enhance the resilience of residential and community buildings in bushfire-prone areas.

With the predicted increase in the population affected by bushfires in Australia and across the globe in the next decade, Sahani is dedicated to translating her research findings into practical solutions to ensure the resilience of the built environment. She employs multidisciplinary engineering analyses and fosters industry collaborations and community engagement to achieve these goals.

Her research interests include;

• Using  computational modelling techniques to predict the bushfire performance of buildings
• Bushfire performance of materials in building components (such as walls and roofs) and accessories (such as solar panels) through material testing,
• Performance of buildings and building components in bushfire conditions using small-scale and full-scale fire testing
• Utilization of advanced technologies such as LiDAR and AI to improve bushfire resilience in urban interface.