Modeling transport and combustion of firebrands from burning trees

Sardoy, Nicolas; Consalvi, Jean-Louis; Porterie, B.; Fernandez‐Pello, A. C.

doi:10.1016/j.combustflame.2007.04.008

Cited by 113 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The trajectories and burning rates of firebrands or heated particles lofted by fires have been studied more extensively [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Collectively, the studies suggest that small embers or particles are easily lofted and can travel long distances.…”

Section: Firebrand/particle Generation and Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ignition of Combustible Fuel Beds by Hot Particles: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

et al. 2010

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Abstract. The process of spotting occurs in wildland fires when fire-lofted embers or hot particles land downwind, leading to ignition of new, discrete fires. This common mechanism of wildland fire propagation can result in rapid spread of the fire, potentially causing property damage and increased risk to life safety of both fire fighters and civilians. Despite the increasing frequency and losses in wildland fires, there has been relatively little research on ignition of fuel beds by embers and hot particles. In this work, an experimental and theoretical study of ignition of homogeneous cellulose fuel beds by hot metal particles is undertaken. This type of well-characterized laboratory fuel provides a more controllable fuel bed than natural fuels, and the use of hot metal particles simplifies interpretation of the experiments by reducing uncertainty due to unknown effects of the ember combustion reaction. Spherical steel particles with diameters in the range from 0.8 mm to 19.1 mm heated to temperatures between 500°C and 1300°C are used in the experiments. A relationship between the size of the particle and temperature required for flaming or smoldering ignition is found. These results are used to assess a simplified analysis based on hot-spot ignition theory to determine the particle size-temperature relationship required for ignition of a cellulose fuel bed.

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Section: Firebrand/particle Generation and Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ignition of Combustible Fuel Beds by Hot Particles: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

et al. 2010

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“…In its generality, the final motion is the result of a series of complicated phenomena: lift, drag, stall, wake instability, vortex shedding and fluid-body interactions are just a few examples of what one has to consider when studying the free fall. These considerations can find direct application in several areas and problems such as firebrands transportation in forest fires [1], insect flight [2], fall of plant seeds [3][4][5], design of micro air vehicle for both civil and military purposes [6], prediction of small particles sedimentation [7] or fall of barks.…”

Section: James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)mentioning

confidence: 99%

On the uncertainty quantification of the unsteady aerodynamics of 2D free falling plates

Zorzi

Pereira

2015

Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn.

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“…A fireline propagating on a flat terrain covered by an idealised Pinus ponderosa ecosystem has been selected for simulation, following previous analyses by Sardoy et al (2007Sardoy et al ( , 2008 and Perryman et al (2013) of the same issues.…”

Section: Simulation Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, extremely important phenomena in wildland fire propagation are turbulent hot-air transport due to the turbulent nature of the atmospheric boundary layer that can consequently affect fire-atmosphere interactions (Clark et al, 1996;Potter, 2002Potter, , 2012aLinn and Cunningham, 2005;Sun et al, 2006;Filippi et al, , 2011Sun et al, 2009;Mandel et al, 2011;Forthofer and Goodrick, 2011), as well as the fire spotting phenomenon (Sardoy et al, 2007(Sardoy et al, , 2008; Kortas et al, 2009;Perryman, 2009;Bhutia et al, 2010;Koo et al, 2010;Wang, 2011;Morgante, 2011;Perryman et al, 2013). Both processes have a random character; therefore, the fire front motion turns out to be random.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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Modeling transport and combustion of firebrands from burning trees

Cited by 113 publications

References 26 publications

Ignition of Combustible Fuel Beds by Hot Particles: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

Ignition of Combustible Fuel Beds by Hot Particles: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

On the uncertainty quantification of the unsteady aerodynamics of 2D free falling plates

Modelling wildland fire propagation by tracking random fronts

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