A physical model for wildland fires

Balbi, Jacques-Henri; Morandini, Frédéric; Silvani, Xavier; Filippi, Jean Baptiste; Rinieri, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/j.combustflame.2009.07.010

Cited by 87 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The SFIRE code currently supports the semiempirical fire-spread model of Rothermel (1972), inherited from the CAWFE code. Implementation of alternative firespread models -e.g., Balbi et al (2009);Fendell and Wolff (2001) -is in progress. The current code and documentation are available from OpenWFM.org.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances and applications of WRF–SFIRE

Mandel

Amram

Beezley

et al. 2014

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Coupled atmosphere-fire models can now generate forecasts in real time, owing to recent advances in computational capabilities. WRF-SFIRE consists of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with the fire-spread model SFIRE. This paper presents new developments, which were introduced as a response to the needs of the community interested in operational testing of WRF-SFIRE. These developments include a fuel-moisture model and a fuel-moisture-data-assimilation system based on the Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) observations, allowing for fire simulations across landscapes and time scales of varying fuel-moisture conditions. The paper also describes the implementation of a coupling with the atmospheric chemistry and aerosol schemes in WRF-Chem, which allows for a simulation of smoke dispersion and effects of fires on air quality. There is also a data-assimilation method, which provides the capability of starting the fire simulations from an observed fire perimeter, instead of an ignition point. Finally, an example of operational deployment in Israel, utilizing some of the new visualization and datamanagement tools, is presented.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances and applications of WRF–SFIRE

Mandel

Amram

Beezley

et al. 2014

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…When the application to wildfire is considered, the front velocity V(x, t) is identified by the RoS, which depends on wind intensity and direction, topography of the terrain, kind of vegetation, etc. Several models for the RoS have been proposed and validated [8,[25][26][27]; all of them can be straightforwardly implemented in the classical LSM.…”

Section: The Classical Level Set Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling and simulation of wildland fire in the framework of the level set method

Mentrelli

Pagnini

2016

Ricerche mat

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Among the modelling approaches that have been proposed for the simulation of wildfire propagation, two have gained considerable attention in recent years: the one based on a reaction-diffusion equation, and the one based on the level set method. These two approaches, traditionally seen in competition, do actually lead to similar equation models when the level set method is modified taking into account random effects as those due to turbulent hot air transport and fire spotting phenomena.The connection between these two approaches is here discussed and the application of the modified level set method to test cases of practical interest is shown.

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“…Several determinations of the ROS have been proposed in the literature; some are based on experimental data and others on certain physical insights (see e.g. Rothermel, 1972;Finney, , 2003Balbi et al, 2007Balbi et al, , 2009Mallet et al, 2009). …”

Section: Application Of the Level-set Methods To The Wildland Fire Promentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rothermel, 1972;Finney, , 2003Balbi et al, 2007Balbi et al, , 2009Mallet et al, 2009). For a deterministic motion, i.e.…”

Section: G Pagnini and A Mentrelli: Modelling Wildland Fire Propagamentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling wildland fire propagation by tracking random fronts

Pagnini

Mentrelli

2014

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Wildland fire propagation is studied in the literature by two alternative approaches, namely the reactiondiffusion equation and the level-set method. These two approaches are considered alternatives to each other because the solution of the reaction-diffusion equation is generally a continuous smooth function that has an exponential decay, and it is not zero in an infinite domain, while the levelset method, which is a front tracking technique, generates a sharp function that is not zero inside a compact domain. However, these two approaches can indeed be considered complementary and reconciled. Turbulent hot-air transport and fire spotting are phenomena with a random nature and they are extremely important in wildland fire propagation. Consequently, the fire front gets a random character, too; hence, a tracking method for random fronts is needed. In particular, the level-set contour is randomised here according to the probability density function of the interface particle displacement. Actually, when the level-set method is developed for tracking a front interface with a random motion, the resulting averaged process emerges to be governed by an evolution equation of the reaction-diffusion type. In this reconciled approach, the rate of spread of the fire keeps the same key and characterising role that is typical of the level-set approach. The resulting model emerges to be suitable for simulating effects due to turbulent convection, such as fire flank and backing fire, the faster fire spread being because of the actions by hot-air pre-heating and by ember landing, and also due to the fire overcoming a fire-break zone, which is a case not resolved by models based on the level-set method. Moreover, from the proposed formulation, a correction follows for the formula of the rate of spread which is due to the mean jump length of firebrands in the downwind direction for the leeward sector of the fireline contour. The presented study constitutes a proof of concept, and it needs to be subjected to a future validation.

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A physical model for wildland fires

Cited by 87 publications

References 27 publications

Recent advances and applications of WRF–SFIRE

Recent advances and applications of WRF–SFIRE

Modelling and simulation of wildland fire in the framework of the level set method

Modelling wildland fire propagation by tracking random fronts

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