Wildland Fire Behaviour : Dynamics, Principles and Processes.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (377 pages)
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- FOREWORD -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABOUT THE AUTHORS -- NOMENCLATURE -- 1 Introduction to wildfire science -- Fire science and the need for experiments -- Wildland fire science since 1900 -- Modelling and field-scale research -- The challenge of validation -- Outline of the book -- References -- 2 Fire and wildland fire behaviour -- The burning candle as a fire process -- Igniting and burning a candle -- Flame shape -- Flame size -- Candles and wildfires as coupled systems -- Wildfire behaviour triangle: fuels, weather, topography -- Wildfire classification -- Initial fire growth -- Line fire concept -- Wildfire behaviour -- Fire spread rate -- Fire shapes -- Fire area and perimeter -- Heat release and fireline intensity -- Flame length -- Fire characteristics chart -- Fire acceleration -- Summary -- Supplementary calculations -- Endnote -- References -- 3 Thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer -- Basic concepts, material properties and terminology -- Thermodynamics -- Fluid mechanics -- Boundary layers -- Vortex flows -- Ember lofting -- Heat transfer -- Conduction heat transfer -- Radiation heat transfer -- Convection heat transfer -- Combined heat transfer -- Summary -- Endnote -- References -- 4 Combustion -- Fuels -- Thermodynamics of combustion -- Combustion reactions -- Heat of combustion -- Flame temperatures -- Brief discussion of chemical kinetics -- Types of flames -- Premixed flames -- Non-premixedor diffusion flames -- Smouldering and glowing -- Summary -- Endnotes -- References -- 5 Ignition -- The ignition process -- Flaming ignition criteria -- Types of ignition -- Critical heat flux for ignition -- Predicting ignition times -- Factors that affect ignition time -- Live fuels -- Summary -- Endnotes -- References -- 6 The environment in wildfire dynamics -- Wildland fuel. Fuel particles and fuel beds -- Fuel moisture -- Live fuels -- Implications for fuel characterisation and classification -- Weather -- Winds -- Solar radiation -- Topography -- Fire configurations -- Flame front width and shape -- Backing fires and flanking -- Multiple flame zones and air-flow interactions -- Summary -- References -- 7 Wildfire spread -- System behaviour -- Model framework -- Fuel particles -- Burning rate -- Flame radiation heat transfer -- Solid glowing radiation -- Ambient environment radiation heat transfer -- Convection heat transfer -- Model function -- Modelled fire spread and behaviour -- Simple fire spread dynamics -- Fuel particle heating and ignition -- Fuel loading -- Flame front width -- Effects of wind -- Non-steadywind -- Effects of slope -- Effects of dead fuel moisture -- Effects of fuel continuity -- Positive and negative feedbacks -- Model improvements -- Combustion -- Ignition -- Wind -- Flame zone orientation -- Heat transfer -- Crown fire -- Summary -- References -- 8 Behaviours of large fires -- Crown fire -- Spotting and spot fires -- Fire shapes and growth patterns -- Burn streets -- Plumes and pyroconvective atmospheric storms -- Vorticity -- Pulsating or puffing -- Fire whirls -- Counter-rotating vortex pairs and wake vortices -- Vorticity-driven lateral spread -- Mass fires -- Summary -- References -- 9 Measurements in fire behaviour -- Sampling and experimental design -- Fire measurements -- Combustion and heat release -- Fuel consumption -- Heat release -- Flame zone properties -- Heat transfer -- Radiation -- Convection -- Ignition -- Rate of spread -- One-dimensional spread rate -- Two-dimensional spread rate and fire growth -- Environmental measurements -- Fuel moisture -- Weather and wind -- Temperature -- Relative humidity -- Summary -- References -- 10 Ignition techniques for experimental burning. Point ignition -- Single line ignition -- Heading fires -- Backing fires -- Flanking fires -- Other line ignitions -- Multiple line fires -- Strip head fire -- Flank fire -- Multiple spot ignitions -- Ring fire, centre fire, mass ignition -- Summary -- References -- 11 Conclusions -- Key principles and insights -- Principal value to researchers -- Principal value to managers -- APPENDIX A: PHYSICAL QUANTITIES AND UNITS -- APPENDIX B: THERMAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF AIR -- INDEX.
A detailed introduction to what is known and unknown about wildfire spread and its behaviours.