Fire Behavior and Heat Release as Source Conditions for Smoke Modeling

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  • Authors: Goodrick, Scott L.; Tarnay, Leland W.; Anderson, Bret A.; Coen, Janice L.; Furman, James H.; Linn, Rodman; Riggan, Philip J.; Schmidt, Christopher C.
  • Publication Year: 2022
  • Publication Series: Book Chapter
  • Source: In: Peterson, David L.; McCaffrey, Sarah M.; Patel-Weynand, Toral, eds. 2022. Wildland Fire Smoke in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-87045-4_3

Abstract

Modeling smoke dispersion from wildland fires is a complex problem. Heat and emissions are released from a fire front as well as from post-frontal combustion, and both are continuously evolving in space and time, providing an emission source that is unlike the industrial sources for which most dispersion models were originally designed. Convective motions driven by the fire’s heat release strongly couple the fire to the atmosphere, influencing the development and dynamics of the smoke plume. This chapter examines how fire events are described in the smoke modeling process and explores new research tools that may offer potential improvements to these descriptions and can reduce uncertainty in smoke model inputs. Remote sensing will help transition these research tools to operations by providing a safe and reliable means of measuring the fire environment at the space and time scales relevant to fire behavior.

  • Citation: Goodrick, Scott L.; Tarnay, Leland W.; Anderson, Bret A.; Coen, Janice L.; Furman, James H.; Linn, Rodman R; Riggan, Philip J.; Schmidt, Christopher C. 2022. Fire Behavior and Heat Release as Source Conditions for Smoke Modeling. In: Peterson, David L.; McCaffrey, Sarah M.; Patel-Weynand, Toral, eds. 2022. Wildland Fire Smoke in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 51-81 Chapter 3. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87045-4_3.
  • Keywords: Atmosphere models, Coupled fire, Energy release, Fire behavior, Fire progression, Remote sensing
  • Posted Date: August 18, 2022
  • Modified Date: November 9, 2022

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