A two-dimensional model of fire spread across a fuel bed including wind combined with slope conditions

Morandini, Frédéric; Santoni, Paul‐Antoine; Balbi, Jacques-Henri; Ventura, J. C.; Mendes-Lopes, J. M. C.

doi:10.1071/wf01043

Cited by 27 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Experimental work was an important part of this project and has been carried out at different scales, from controlled field fire to laboratory experiments performed on burning trays of different dimensions. Results obtained by the authors in the frame of Efaistos have already been used for the purpose mentioned above (Bellemare 2000;Morandini et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flame characteristics, temperature - time curves, and rate of spread in fires propagating in a bed of Pinus pinaster needles

Mendes-Lopes

Ventura

Amaral

2003

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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An extensive set of experiments was carried out in order to collect data to validate fire propagation models being developed in the context of an European research project. The experiments were performed in a dedicated burning tray (2.0 m × 0.70 m working section), where wind velocity, fuel moisture content and slope were varied to study fire propagation in beds of Pinus pinaster needles.All the runs were videotaped and, from the recordings, information on flame geometry (i.e. flame height, flame length and flame angle) and rate of spread was obtained. Temperature measurements were also carried out by a small tower of six thermocouples at different heights above the fuel bed.Results show that headfire rate of spread increases steeply with wind speed for wind-driven fires but does not depend on wind speed for backing fire spread rates. Rate of spread increases slightly with slope for up-hill propagation, and is not slope dependent for down-hill cases. Rate of spread decreases when fuel moisture content increases. Flame angle and flame height are also dependent on wind velocity, slope, and fuel moisture content. The importance of temperature for fire propagation is discussed, emphasizing the role of radiation heat transfer in the process. Correlations between temperature and other indicators of fire behaviour (namely the rate of spread) are presented. Results are discussed and compared.The results obtained provide a good database for the assessment of fire propagation models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flame characteristics, temperature - time curves, and rate of spread in fires propagating in a bed of Pinus pinaster needles

Mendes-Lopes

Ventura

Amaral

2003

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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“…Forest fire studies rely heavily on computational modelling [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. However, there are limitations to the level of detail these models can reach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutual influence between surface fire propagation and a tree trunk

Mendes-Lopes

Ventura

Santos

2008

WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

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Computational modelling of fire propagation is becoming one of the main tools for forest fire studies. Complex physical models are coping with increasingly larger scales and meshes that no longer can accommodate trees at individual level. Therefore, it is important to know how fire propagation is influenced by tree trunks under windy conditions in order to include that information in the model and in the cells that contain trees. It is also important to know how the flame affects the trunk, especially in its leeward side where the flame may stay attached.To gather that type of information, a set of experiments was performed in a wind tunnel especially prepared to carry out fire propagation tests in forest fuel beds. A Pinus pinaster trunk was mounted vertically in the centre of the 1.70 m long measuring zone. Temperature time profiles were measured in the windward, lateral, and leeward sides of the trunk, with three thermocouples vertically aligned in each of those three sides. Rate of spread, flame angle, and flame height were obtained from video movies, as well as flame height and residence time of the attached flame in the near-wake of the trunk.Qualitative and quantitative results show that flame propagation is not particularly sensitive to the trunk's presence, except in the near-wake of the trunk. Under certain circumstances, flames attached to the leeward side of the trunk can be much taller than the flame's main body and can remain in that zone for longer periods than elsewhere.

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“…Ignition temperature is approximated to be approximately 300 1C (e.g., in Morandini et al, 2002) and it is used in the experiment to define flame depth of the grassfires.…”

Section: Temperature Of the Grassfire Flamementioning

confidence: 99%

Plant alkali content and radio wave communication efficiency in high intensity savanna wildfires

Mphale

Heron

2007

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

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A two-dimensional model of fire spread across a fuel bed including wind combined with slope conditions

Cited by 27 publications

References 15 publications

Flame characteristics, temperature - time curves, and rate of spread in fires propagating in a bed of Pinus pinaster needles

Flame characteristics, temperature - time curves, and rate of spread in fires propagating in a bed of Pinus pinaster needles

Mutual influence between surface fire propagation and a tree trunk

Plant alkali content and radio wave communication efficiency in high intensity savanna wildfires

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