Summary of workshop for fire structure interaction and urban and wildland-urban interface (WUI) Fires–operation Tomodachi–fire research

Manzello, Samuel L.; Yamada, T.; Jeffers, Ann E.; Ohmiya, Yoshifumi; Himoto, Keisuke; Fernandez‐Pello, A. C.

doi:10.1016/j.firesaf.2013.03.021

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is worth noting that NIST Dragon has now been reproduced by other research laboratories. For example, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), as well as ADAI in Portugal has used the NIST Dragon concept to generate firebrand showers in their facilities [35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposing Decking Assemblies to Continuous Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

Manzello¹,

Suzuki²

2014

Fire Saf. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A series of experiments were conducted to examine potential vulnerabilities of wood decks to continuous, wind-driven firebrand showers. Sections of wood decks (1.2 m by 1.2 m) were constructed and attached to a reentrant corner assembly. The deck/reentrant corner assembly was then exposed to continuous, winddriven firebrand bombardment generated by the newly developed NIST full-scale Continuous Feed Firebrand Generator (NIST full-scale Continuous Feed Dragon) installed in the Building Research Institute's (BRI) Fire Research Wind Tunnel Facility (FRWTF). Three different wood deck types were exposed to wind-driven firebrand showers at wind speed of 6 m/s; Western Red Cedar, Douglas-Fir, and Redwood. For each wood deck tested (exposed to a total firebrand mass flux of 17.1 g/m 2 s), firebrands accumulated on the deck surface, and each wood deck type was observed to ignite by flaming ignition. The average time to flaming ignition was 437 s for Cedar, 934 s for Douglas-Fir, and 756 s for Redwood. Therefore, wood decks were observed to be vulnerable to ignition from continuous, wind-driven firebrand showers. Results of these experiments are discussed in detail.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposing Decking Assemblies to Continuous Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

Manzello¹,

Suzuki²

2014

Fire Saf. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The first of these workshops, known as -Operation Tomodachi -Fire Research‖ was held in Tokyo, Japan on July, 2012 [51]. Tomodachi means friendship in Japanese.…”

Section: Recruiting the Next Generation Of Reserchers To Fire Safety mentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling the Investigation of Structure Vulnerabilities to Wind- Driven Firebrand Showers in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Manzello¹

2014

Fire Saf. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wind-driven firebrand showers are a major cause of structural ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires. Past firebrand investigations have not been able to quantify the vulnerabilities of structures to ignition from firebrand showers, as it is difficult to develop a measurement method to replicate wind-driven firebrand attack on structures that occur in actual WUI fires. To address this problem, research has been undertaken in an intricate area involving the quantification of structure vulnerabilities to wind-driven firebrand showers. This type of firebrand research has never been possible prior to the development of the NIST Firebrand Generator, also referred to as the NIST Dragon. Due the complexity of the WUI fire problem, great strides must be made to recruit the next generation of researchers to fire safety science from diverse backgrounds. This paper closes with a discussion of ongoing workshop activities intended to achieve this, as well as some challenges for future WUI fire research.

show abstract

“…Japan does not have a large problem of fires spreading from the wildlands to communities, such as the WUI fire problem in the USA and other countries [3]. Rather, Japan experiences many earthquakes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After large earthquakes, many fires may simultaneously occur that can easily overwhelm fire-fighting resources. Since most Japanese cities are densely populated, severe fire spread can occur within these urban areas [3]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This results in showers of wind-driven firebrands. Structure ignition by firebrand showers is an important fire spread mechanism in both WUI and urban fires [3–7]. The development of more ignition resistant structures in large outdoor fires, not only WUI fires, but urban fires in Japan, will greatly benefit fire services as it is envisioned that firefighting resources may be better used to battle such fires.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Full-Scale Experimental Investigation to Quantify Building Component Ignition Vulnerability from Mulch Beds Attacked by Firebrand Showers

2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Structure ignition by wind-driven firebrand showers is an important fire spread mechanism in large outdoor fires. Experiments were conducted with three common mulch types (shredded hardwood mulch, Japanese Cypress wood chips, and pine bark nuggets) placed adjacent to realistic-scale reentrant corners. In the first series of experiments, mulch beds were placed adjacent to a re-entrant corner constructed with wood studs and lined with oriented strand board (OSB) as the sheathing. The premise behind conducting experiments with no siding treatments applied was predicated on the notion that bare OSB mulch contact would be a worst-case scenario, and therefore, a wall assembly in the most vulnerable state to mulch ignition. In the second series of experiments, vinyl siding was applied to the re-entrant corner assemblies (wood studs/OSB/moisture barrier/vinyl siding), and the influence of vertical separation distance (102 mm or 203 mm) on wall ignition from adjacent mulch beds was determined. The vertical separation distance was maintained by applying gypsum board to the base of the re-entrant corner. The siding itself did not influence the ignition process for the mulch beds, as the mulch beds were the first to ignite from the firebrand showers. In all experiments, it was observed that firebrands produced smoldering ignition in the mulch beds, this transitioned to flaming ignition, and the re-entrant corner assembly was exposed to the flaming mulch beds. With no siding treatments applied, the flaming mulch beds ignited the re-entrant corner, and ignition was observed to propagate to the back side of re-entrant corner assembly under all wind speeds (6 m/s to 8 m/s). With respect to the re-entrant corners fitted with vinyl siding, the mulch type, vertical separation distance, and wind speed were important parameters as to whether flaming ignition was observed to propagate to the back-side of a reentrant corner assembly. Mulches clearly pose an ignition hazard to structures in large outdoor fires.

show abstract

Summary of workshop for fire structure interaction and urban and wildland-urban interface (WUI) Fires–operation Tomodachi–fire research

Cited by 18 publications

References 29 publications

Exposing Decking Assemblies to Continuous Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

Exposing Decking Assemblies to Continuous Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

Enabling the Investigation of Structure Vulnerabilities to Wind- Driven Firebrand Showers in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Full-Scale Experimental Investigation to Quantify Building Component Ignition Vulnerability from Mulch Beds Attacked by Firebrand Showers

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About