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Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering Année : 2014

Modelling of Eruptive Fire Occurrence and Behaviour

Joseph Chatelon
Jean-Louis Rossi
D.X. Viegas
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Résumé

Eruptive fires are one of the main causes of human losses in forest fire fighting. The sudden change in fire behaviour due to a fire eruption is extremely dangerous for fire-fighters because it is unpredictable. Very little literature is available to support either modelling or occurrence prediction for this phenomenon. In this study, an unsteady physical model of fire spread is detailed, which describes the initiation and development of eruptive fires with an induced wind sub-model. The latter phenomenon is proposed as the mainspring of fire eruptions. Induced wind is proportional to the rate of spread and the rate of spread is in a non-linear relationship with induced wind. This feedback can converge or diverge depending on the conditions. The model allows both explaining why an eruption can occur and predicting explicitly its occurrence according to meteorological conditions, topographic parameters, fuel bed properties and fire front width. The model is tested by comparing its results to a set of experiments carried out at laboratory scale and during an outdoor wildfire, the Kornati accident. Nomenclature A Model parameter, radiation contribution B Stefan-Boltzmann constant (W·m-2 ·K-4) b ∞ Asymptotic parameter for the rate of spread C p Specific heat of vegetative fuel (J·kg-1 ·K-1) C pa Specific heat of ambient air (J·kg-1 ·K-1) e Depth of fuel bed (m) H Flame height (m) l Flame length (m) L Flame base depth (m) m Moisture content (weight of water/total weight) p Slope of the straight-line from Eq. (17) (m·s-1) p ∞ Asymptotic parameter for the rate of spread (m·s-1) R Rate of spread (m·s-1) R' Non dimensional rate of spread R b Rate of spread due to the flame base radiation (m·s-1) R f Rate of spread due to the flame body radiation (m·s-1) R ∞ Asymptotic value of the rate of spread (m·s-1) R p Asymptotic parameter for the rate of spread (m·s-1) r 0 Rate of spread factor (m·s-1) r 00 Rate of spread factor (m 2 ·s-1
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Dates et versions

hal-01241607 , version 1 (10-12-2015)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-01241607 , version 1

Citer

Jacques-Henri Balbi, Joseph Chatelon, Jean-Louis Rossi, Albert Simeoni, D.X. Viegas, et al.. Modelling of Eruptive Fire Occurrence and Behaviour. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 2014. ⟨hal-01241607⟩
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