Modelling the fire propagation from the fuel bed to the lower canopy of ornamental species used in wildland–urban interfaces
L. Terrei A B , A. Lamorlette A and A. Ganteaume B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A IRSTEA RECOVER-EMR, 3275 route de Cézanne, 13182 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 5, France.
B M2P2 UMR7340 Centrale Marseille Plot 6, 38 rue Joliot-Curie, 13451 Marseille, France.
C Corresponding author. Email: anne.ganteaume@irstea.fr
International Journal of Wildland Fire 28(2) 113-126 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF18090
Submitted: 31 January 2018 Accepted: 29 November 2018 Published: 8 February 2019
Abstract
South-eastern France is strongly affected by wildfires mostly occurring in the wildland–urban interfaces (WUIs). A WUI fire is often initiated in dead surface fuel, then can propagate to shrubs and trees when the lower canopy is close to (or touches) the ground. Whereas a previous study assessed the fire propagation from the fuel bed to the lower canopy of different species used as ornamental vegetation in this region, the objectives of the current work consisted of checking if the modelling of this fire propagation was possible using WFDS (Wildland–Urban Interface Fire Dynamical Simulator) in comparing experimental and modelling results. Experimental and modelling constraints (i.e. branch geometric definition, branch motion due to convection) showed differences in some of the recorded data (such as time to ignition, ignition temperature, mass loss and maximum temperature), but comparisons of variation in mass loss and temperature over time showed that modelling the fire propagation at the scale of a branch was possible if the branch fuel-moisture content remained lower than 25%. For both experiments and modelling, the ranking of species according to their branch flammability highlighted identical groups of species.
Additional keywords : fuel flammability, WFDS, WUI vegetation.
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