Understanding structure ignition vulnerabilities using mock‐up sections of attached wood fencing assemblies

Suzuki, Sayaka; Manzello, Samuel L.

doi:10.1002/fam.2716

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…While it is interesting to conduct full-scale experiments, this is very expensive and not always practical, so efforts are underway to devise far cheaper reduced-scale experiments to provide more indepth scientific understanding of firebrand shower ignition of construction components. In particular, fencing assemblies, roof assemblies, and mulch beds were also studied with a bench-scale firebrand generator, comparing the results with larger-scale experiments (Suzuki and Manzello 2019b;Suzuki and Manzello, 2022d). Developing a methodology with a benchscale firebrand generator shows a path to provide standard test methods in the future.…”

Section: Firebrand Ignition Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The world is burning: What exactly are firebrands and why should anyone care?

Manzello¹,

Suzuki²

2023

Front. Mech. Eng.

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Large outdoor fires have become commonplace all over the world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines large outdoor fires as an urban fire, tsunami-generated fire, volcano-generated fire, wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire, wildland fire, or informal settlement fire, where the total burnout area is significant. Perhaps of all the large outdoor fires, it is wildland fires that spread into urban areas, simply called WUI fires that attract the most attention. A glance at the recent headlines in the summer of 2022 reveals numerous catastrophic WUI fires all over Europe. Across the Atlantic Ocean in the USA, there is yet another destructive WUI fire raging in the USA state of California. With the increasing risks from a changing climate, these large outdoor fire disasters are only going to become more and more commonplace all over the world. More homes will be lost and more lives will be lost. It is the authors opinion that a targeted, multi-disciplinary approach is needed to address the large outdoor fire problem. In this short, invited paper to Horizons in Mechanical Engineering, it is argued that large outdoor fire problem is a fascinating and challenging research area and that engineers have the necessary skills and training to impact a problem that influences millions upon millions of people all over the world. An important danger, present in all large outdoor fires, are firebrands. Firebrands are introduced for non-specialist readers, and the most recent literature is reviewed. Several challenges are discussed, in particular, areas where engineers may help move the needle forward on this globally important topic.

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Section: Firebrand Ignition Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The world is burning: What exactly are firebrands and why should anyone care?

Manzello¹,

Suzuki²

2023

Front. Mech. Eng.

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“…Until now, only a few full-scale studies have focused on the fire hazard of multiple wooden houses in China. Notably, the smoke concentration and the temperature distribution during fire spread are closely related to a series of conditions [23,24], such as the fire separation between adjacent buildings [25], the combustion structure [26], the relative slope [27], the roof temperature [28], the external wind speed at the time of fire [29], the moisture content of wood [30], and the atmospheric temperature [31,32]. Therefore, the main factors influencing fire spread need to be analyzed by actual fire tests [33,34].…”

Section: Literature For Wooden Houses Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Mechanism of Fire Spread between Full-Scale Wooden Houses from Internal Fires

et al. 2022

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In ancient villages, the spread of uninterrupted fires caused great damage to clustered wooden houses. Thus, the spread of fire among wooden houses should be systematically studied to explore its characteristics. Statistical analysis is a feasible way to study the characteristics and underlying mechanisms of fire in full-scale wooden houses. In this study, 4 full-scale wooden buildings were built in an ethnic village in Guizhou Province, and the fire spread test was conducted by igniting a 0.63-MW power wood crib. To investigate the fire spread, the visual characteristics were observed, and the temperatures and heat radiation at special locations were monitored with thermocouples and radiation flowmeters, respectively. The effect of relative slope, heat radiation, and wind direction on fire spread characteristics was established by mathematical statistics, and the measured temperatures were used to verify the statistics’ regularity. The results showed that in wooden houses, fire spread was mainly influenced by the slope, the distance between houses, and wind direction. When the inner wall of a wooden house is protected by a fireproof coating, the thermal radiation spread and fire spread are both slower. The slope and distance had the same influence weight (0.41) on fire spread; however, since they affect the process in different ways, they should be analyzed separately for fire risk evaluation. The findings of this study provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the fire spread process in wooden buildings.

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“…Flaming ignition occurred when shredded hardwood mulch was arranged at the base of the fencing assemblies. A study of double redwood lattice fencing assemblies on mulch beds subjected to firebrand showers at wind speeds of 4 m/s to 9 m/s (9 mi/h to 20 mi/h) showed rapid growth of flames over the entire assembly [20].…”

Section: Fence Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Low, medium, and high wind speeds corresponded to average values along the centerline in the ranges 5 m/s to 9 m/s (11 mi/h to 20 mi/h), 10 m/s to 13 m/s (22 mi/h to 29 mi/h), and 14 m/s to 18 m/s (30 mi/h to 40 mi/h), respectively. The low wind speed category was selected to overlap with the conditions for experiments on fences performed by Manzello and colleagues in Japan [20].…”

Section: Wind Speed and Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from fences and mulch

Butler

2022

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A series of field experiments was conducted to examine the effects on fire spread toward a structure for combustible fences and mulch under conditions that may be encountered in a wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire. The fire behavior of a variety of materials, designs, and configurations were studied under various wind conditions. The 187 experiments were split into five categories: mulch only, fence only, fence plus mulch, parallel fences, and long range firebrand experiments. Fence materials included western redcedar, California redwood, pine, vinyl, and wood-plastic composites, and fence styles included privacy, lattice, and good neighbor (board on board). The tested mulch types were shredded hardwood, mini pine bark nuggets, pine straw, rubber, and artificial turf. A wind machine provided a mean wind speed between 6 m/s and 14 m/s (13 mi/h to 31 mi/h). The fence and/or mulch bed was ignited by a propane burner on the ground at the end farthest from the structure. A small structure was located between 0 m and 1.83 m (0 ft to 6 ft) downwind of the fence or mulch bed as a target for flames and firebrands. A target mulch bed at the base of the structure tested the ability of firebrands produced by the burning fence and mulch bed to ignite spot fires that threatened the structure.

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Understanding structure ignition vulnerabilities using mock‐up sections of attached wood fencing assemblies

Cited by 5 publications

References 7 publications

The world is burning: What exactly are firebrands and why should anyone care?

The world is burning: What exactly are firebrands and why should anyone care?

Characteristics and Mechanism of Fire Spread between Full-Scale Wooden Houses from Internal Fires

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from fences and mulch

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