The role of helicity and fire–atmosphere turbulent energy transport in potential wildfire behaviour
Jiawei Zhang
A B * , Marwan Katurji B , Peyman Zawar-Reza B and Tara Strand A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A New Zealand Forest Research Institute, Scion, Rotorua, New Zealand.
B School of Earth and Environment, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
* Correspondence to: jiawei.zhang@scionresearch.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 32(1) 29-42 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22101
Submitted: 21 June 2022 Accepted: 5 December 2022 Published: 4 January 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: Understanding near-surface fire–atmosphere interactions at turbulence scale is fundamental for predicting fire spread behaviour.
Aims: This study aims to investigate the fire–atmosphere interaction and the accompanying energy transport processes within the convective boundary layer.
Methods: Three groups of large eddy simulations representing common ranges of convective boundary layer conditions and fire intensities were used to examine how ambient buoyancy-induced atmospheric turbulence impacts fire region energy transport.
Key results: In a relatively weak convective boundary layer, the fire-induced buoyancy force could impose substantial changes to the near-surface atmospheric turbulence and cause an anticorrelation of the helicity between the ambient atmosphere and the fire-induced flow. Fire-induced impact became much smaller in a stronger convective environment, with ambient atmospheric flow maintaining coherent structures across the fire heating region. A high-efficiency heat transport zone above the fire line was found in all fire cases. The work also found counter-gradient transport zones of both momentum and heat in fire cases in the weak convective boundary layer group.
Conclusions: We conclude that fire region energy transport can be affected by convective boundary layer conditions.
Implications: Ambient atmospheric turbulence can impact fire behaviour through the energy transport process. The counter-gradient transport might also indicate the existence of strong buoyancy-induced mixing processes.
Keywords: convective boundary layer, energy transport, fire behaviour, fire-atmosphere interaction, helicity, large eddy simulation, quadrant analysis, turbulence.
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