
%0 Journal Article
%A Sullivan, A. L. 
%A Ellis, P. F. 
%A Knight, I. K. 
%T A review of radiant heat flux models used in bushfire applications
%J International Journal of Wildland Fire
%D 2003/03/13
%V 12
%N 1
%P 101-110
%K modelling; wildfires; firefighter safety; house protection.
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/WF02052
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WF02052 
%X The need to determine the radiant heat flux (RHF) from bushfires for fire behaviour prediction, firefighter safety, or building protection planning purposes has lead to the development and implementation of a number of RHF models, most of which are based on the Stefan-Boltzmann equation of radiative heat transfer. However, because of the complex nature of bushfire flames, a number of assumptions are made in order to make the implementation of the radiative heat transfer equation practical for wildland fire applications. The main assumptions are: bushfire flame characteristics (geometry, temperature), flame radiative qualities (emission type, emissivity), and the view of the flame at the receiving element. The common assumption of a uniform emissivity of unity and an isothermal rectangular emitting surface produces a generic RHF model described here as an &#39;opaque box&#39;. Because of the broad assumptions inherent in the opaque box model, it predicts the RHF of bushfires poorly. A comparison is made between the generic opaque box RHF model and the measurements of radiant heat flux emitted by a stationary propane-fuelled artificial bushfire flame front. Knowledge about the geometry and an understanding of the flame characteristics of a bushfire front are needed before generic RHF models will adequately describe the RHF emitted from bushfire flames. 
