Repeatability of free-burning fire experiments using heterogeneous forest fuel beds in a combustion wind tunnel
Joshua J. Mulvaney A , Andrew L. Sullivan B D , Geoffrey J. Cary A and Glenys R. Bishop C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.
B CSIRO Land and Water, GPO Box 1700, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
C Statistical Consulting Unit, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: Andrew.Sullivan@csiro.au
International Journal of Wildland Fire 25(4) 445-455 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF15068
Submitted: 19 March 2015 Accepted: 17 November 2015 Published: 9 February 2016
Abstract
Combustion wind tunnels are often used to investigate the propagation of free-moving fires through solid-phase fuels, typically standardised ‘artificial’ fuel beds. However, the results of such studies are difficult to apply directly to wildland fire situations primarily due to the disparity between the generally uniform artificial fuel and the heterogeneous fuel found in nature. To explore the feasibility of using heterogeneous ‘natural’ fuel beds in subsequent combustion wind tunnel experiments, this study quantified the variability in forward rate of fire spread resulting from the use of heterogeneous fuel beds in a combustion wind tunnel under a given set of burning conditions. The experiment assessed the effects of fuel type and air speed, and controlled for the effects of fuel moisture content, fuel load and fuel particle size. It was found that the variability in rate of spread increased with its mean, but the overall residual variance (σ2e <0.025, s.e. 0.011) was low compared with the effects of air speed and fuel type. This demonstrates that heterogeneous fuel beds can be used in combustion wind tunnel experiments without introducing a large degree of variability.
Additional keywords: bushfire, CSIRO Pyrotron, fire behaviour, laboratory experimentation, wildfire, wildland fire.
References
Anderson HE, Rothermel RC (1965) Influence of moisture and wind upon the characteristics of free-burning fires. Symposium (International) on Combustion 10, 1009–1019.Anderson WR, Catchpole EA, Butler BW (2010) Convective heat transfer in fire spread through fine fuel beds. International Journal of Wildland Fire 19, 284–298.
| Convective heat transfer in fire spread through fine fuel beds.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Beer T (1991) The interaction of wind and fire. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 54, 287–308.
| The interaction of wind and fire.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Billing PR (1980) Some aspects of the behaviour of the Caroline Fire of February 1979. Forestry Commission of Victoria Fire Research Branch, No. 7. (Melbourne)
Burgan RE, Rothermel RC (1984) BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system – FUEL Subsystem. USDA Forestry Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, General Technical Report INT-167. (Ogden, UT)
Burrows ND (1999) Fire behaviour in Jarrah forest fuels: 1. Laboratory experiments. CALMscience 3, 31–56.
Catchpole EA, Catchpole WR, Rothermel RC (1993) Fire behavior experiments in mixed fuel complexes. International Journal of Wildland Fire 3, 45–57.
| Fire behavior experiments in mixed fuel complexes.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Catchpole WR, Catchpole EA, Butler BW, Rothermel RC, Morris GA, Latham DJ (1998) Rate of spread of free-burning fires in woody fuels in a wind tunnel. Combustion Science and Technology 131, 1–37.
| Rate of spread of free-burning fires in woody fuels in a wind tunnel.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXjs1Ggsbo%3D&md5=6ed0cac850b344e02c6736fdfbce5013CAS |
Chatto K, Tolhurst KG (1997) Development and testing of the Wiltronics T–H fine fuel moisture meter, Fire Management Branch Research Report No. 46. (Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Melbourne).
Cheney NP, Gould JS, Catchpole WR (1998) Prediction of fire spread in grasslands. International Journal of Wildland Fire 8, 1–13.
| Prediction of fire spread in grasslands.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cheney NP, Gould JS, McCaw WL, Anderson WR (2012) Predicting fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forest in southern Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 280, 120–131.
| Predicting fire behaviour in dry eucalypt forest in southern Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cruz MG, Fernandes PM (2008) Development of fuel models for fire behaviour prediction in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands. International Journal of Wildland Fire 17, 194–204.
| Development of fuel models for fire behaviour prediction in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) stands.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cruz MG, Plucinski MP (2007) Billo Road fire: report on fire behaviour phenomena and suppression activities. Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, Report No. A.07.02. (Canberra)
Cruz MG, Sullivan AL, Gould JS, Sims NC, Bannister AJ, Hollis JJ, Hurley RJ (2012) Anatomy of a catastrophic wildfire: the Black Saturday Kilmore East fire in Victoria, Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 284, 269–285.
| Anatomy of a catastrophic wildfire: the Black Saturday Kilmore East fire in Victoria, Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cruz MG, McCaw WL, Anderson WR, Gould JS (2013) Fire behaviour modelling in semi-arid mallee-heath shrublands of southern Australia. Environmental Modelling & Software 40, 21–34.
| Fire behaviour modelling in semi-arid mallee-heath shrublands of southern Australia.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Curry JR, Fons WL (1938) Rate of spread of surface fires in the Ponderosa pine type of California. Journal of Agricultural Research 57, 239–267.
Dupuy JL (1995) Slope and fuel load effects on fire behavior – laboratory experiments in pine needle fuel beds. International Journal of Wildland Fire 5, 153–164.
| Slope and fuel load effects on fire behavior – laboratory experiments in pine needle fuel beds.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Dupuy J-L, Maréchal J (2011) Slope effect on laboratory fire spread: contribution of radiation and convection to fuel bed preheating. International Journal of Wildland Fire 20, 289–307.
| Slope effect on laboratory fire spread: contribution of radiation and convection to fuel bed preheating.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Finney MA, Cohen JD, Forthofer JM, McAllister SS, Gollner MJ, Gorham DJ, Saito K, Akafuah NK, Adam BA, English JD (2015) Role of buoyant flame dynamics in wildfire spread. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, 9833–9838.
| Role of buoyant flame dynamics in wildfire spread.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DC%2BC2MXhtFOksbnM&md5=8bce922e49fb2496b7c2fdbca1e16d7fCAS | 26183227PubMed |
Fleeter RD, Fendell FE, Cohen LM, Gat N, Witte AB (1984) Laboratory facility for wind-aided firespread along a fuel matrix. Combustion and Flame 57, 289–311.
| Laboratory facility for wind-aided firespread along a fuel matrix.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fons WL (1946) Analysis of fire spread in light forest fuels. Journal of Agricultural Research 72, 93–121.
Forestry Canada Fire Danger Group (1992) Development and structure of the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction System. Forestry Canada, Forestry Canada, Information Report ST-X-3. (Ottawa, ON)
Frandsen WH (1973) Using the effective heating number as a weighting factor in Rothermel’s fire spread model. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, General Technical Report INT-10. (Ogden, UT)
GenStat (2011) ‘14th Edition.’ (VSN International: Hemel Hempstead)
Gould JS, Lachlan McCaw W, Cheney NP (2011) Quantifying fine fuel dynamics and structure in dry eucalypt forest (Eucalyptus marginata) in Western Australia for fire management. Forest Ecology and Management 262, 531–546.
| Quantifying fine fuel dynamics and structure in dry eucalypt forest (Eucalyptus marginata) in Western Australia for fire management.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Grishin AM (1997) ‘Mathematical Modeling of Forest Fires and New Methods of Fighting Them.’ (Publishing House of Tomsk State University: Russia)
Linn R, Reisner J, Colman JJ, Winterkamp J (2002) Studying wildfire behavior using FIRETEC. International Journal of Wildland Fire 11, 233–246.
| Studying wildfire behavior using FIRETEC.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Matthews S (2010) Effect of drying temperature on fuel moisture content measurements. International Journal of Wildland Fire 19, 800–802.
| Effect of drying temperature on fuel moisture content measurements.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McArthur AG (1966) Weather and grassland fire behaviour. Commonwealth Department of National Development, Forestry and Timber Bureau Leaflet 100. (Canberra)
McArthur AG (1967) Fire behaviour in eucalypt forests. Commonwealth Department of National Development, Forestry and Timber Bureau Leaflet No. 107. (Canberra)
Mell W, Jenkins MA, Gould J, Cheney P (2007) A physics-based approach to modelling grassland fires. International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, 1–22.
| A physics-based approach to modelling grassland fires.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rothermel RC (1972) A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels. USDA Forestry Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-115. (Ogden, UT)
Rothermel RC, Anderson HE (1966) Fire spread characteristics determined in the laboratory. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Paper INT-30. (Ogden, UT)
Sandberg DV, Riccardi CL, Schaaf MD (2007) Reformulation of Rothermel’s wildland fire behaviour model for heterogeneous fuelbeds. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 37, 2438–2455.
| Reformulation of Rothermel’s wildland fire behaviour model for heterogeneous fuelbeds.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Santoni PA, Balbi JH (1998) Modelling of two-dimensional flame spread across a sloping fuel bed. Fire Safety Journal 31, 201–225.
| Modelling of two-dimensional flame spread across a sloping fuel bed.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:CAS:528:DyaK1cXmsFehu7Y%3D&md5=f6c1687ac5e15b92a78263f013db4abcCAS |
Schuette RD (1965) Preparing reproducible pine needle fuel beds. USDA Forestry Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Research Note INT-36. (Ogden, UT)
Sneeuwjagt TJ, Peet GB (1985) Forest fire behaviour tables for Western Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management. (Perth)
Sullivan AL (2009a) Improving operational models of fire behaviour. In ‘Combined IMACS World Conference/Modelling and Simulation Society-of-Australia-and-New-Zealand (MSSANZ)/18th Biennial Conference on Modelling and Simulation’. 13–17 July, Cairns, Australia. (Eds RS Anderssen, RD Braddock, LTH Newham) pp. 282–288. Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand and International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (Canberra, ACT)
Sullivan AL (2009b) Wildland surface fire spread modelling, 1990–2007. 2: Empirical and quasi-empirical models. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18, 369–386.
| Wildland surface fire spread modelling, 1990–2007. 2: Empirical and quasi-empirical models.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Sullivan AL (2009c) Wildland surface fire spread modelling, 1990–2007. 1: Physical and quasi-physical models. International Journal of Wildland Fire 18, 349–368.
| Wildland surface fire spread modelling, 1990–2007. 1: Physical and quasi-physical models.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Sullivan AL, McCaw WL, Cruz MG, Matthews S, Ellis PF (2012) Fuel, fire weather and fire behaviour in Australian ecosystems. In ‘Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World’. (Eds RA Bradstock, AM Gill, RD Williams) pp. 51–77. (CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood.)
Sullivan AL, Knight IK, Hurley RJ, Webber C (2013) A contractionless, low-turbulence wind tunnel for the study of free-burning fires. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 44, 264–274.
| A contractionless, low-turbulence wind tunnel for the study of free-burning fires.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Viegas DX (2004) A mathematical model for forest fires blowup. Combustion Science and Technology 177, 27–51.
| A mathematical model for forest fires blowup.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wolff MF, Carrier GF, Fendell FE (1991) Wind-aided firespread across arrays of discrete fuel elements. II. Experiment. Combustion Science and Technology 77, 261–289.
| Wind-aided firespread across arrays of discrete fuel elements. II. Experiment.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
