Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Tao, Zhenxiang
• Bathras, Bryce
• Kwon, Byoungchul
• Biallas, Ben
• Gollner, Michael J.
• Yang, Rui

Titel

Effect of firebrand size and geometry on heating from a smoldering pile under wind

Ist Teil von

• Fire safety journal, 2021-03, Vol.120, p.103031, Article 103031

Ort / Verlag

Lausanne: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Smoldering firebrands can be lofted over long distances, easily igniting spot fires. This poses a threat to structures in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where wildland fires spread into and within communities. This study investigates the influence of firebrand size and makeup on heating from a pile to a recipient surface in a small-scale wind tunnel. Two sizes of fluted birch wooden pins and wooden discs, one size of cylindrical birch dowels, two lengths of eucalyptus sticks, and pine bark flakes were used to simulate firebrands; all with 4 g of smoldering brands deposited. The porosity of the different firebrand piles, the heat flux to an inert test surface, spatial measurements of surface temperature, and videos of the experiments were recorded and analyzed. It was found that the realistic fuels, i.e. pine bark and eucalyptus sticks, could achieve higher peak heat fluxes than artificial birch fuels at higher wind speeds, which exhibited little change with geometry. This change was not due to material makeup alone, but also the way in which the bulk density and height of the pile changed for different smoldering fuels. •Wooden dowels, pins, discs, eucalyptus sticks and pine bark simulated firebrands .•Wind had the most significant effect on heat flux and temperature.•The geometry of pre-cut wooden fuels did not strongly affect heating.•The bulk density or porosity of stick and pine bark piles strongly affected heating.