Collaborative Research: A Fundamental Investigation of Fire Initiation and Fire Behavior in Sparse Vegetation

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0932842FletcherThe purpose of this collaborative research project is to develop advanced modeling technology for describing fire initiation and propagation in vegetation with low canopy bulk density. The ability to predict the spread of wildland fires is paramount in protecting life, property, and natural resources. Current operational models predict overall fire behavior well for the conditions for which the model was correlated (e.g., dead fuel beds), but they do not perform as well for live bushes or trees with high moisture content. Detailed physical models, at either laboratory or landscape scale, require improved sub-grid scale models of combustion, especially to describe fire behavior in vegetation that does not act like a dense fuel bed due to the relative sparseness of the vegetation. This technology will be based on fundamental combustion measurements of live fuels, but it will apply to models of landscape-scale fires. The research objective will be achieved via four inter-related tasks: (1) flame propagation measurements in live leaves and small branches, (2) fire spread measurements in shrubs for varying bulk densities, (3) flame propagation models of bushes and trees, and (4) multi-bush fire behavior models.The research will provide a cohesive picture of the phenomenon of fire spread starting from ignition of a single fuel element, such as a leaf, to a self-sustaining fire spreading through a larger fuel array such as a forest. The fundamental physical and chemical processes investigated are also relevant to the problem of surface fire propagation leading to ignition of crown fires. An improved fundamental understanding of fire behavior in sparse vegetation will be beneficial in promoting better predictive capability in other areas such as fire safety or arson investigation pertaining to identifying ignition sources. Gaining an understanding of the conditions under which a fire may or may not propagate within a sparse vegetative fuel bed will provide understanding of how to control fire spread more effectively in these fuel types through improved fuel management. This research program focused on fire behavior in sparse vegetation will stimulate interest in graduate studies among ethnic minorities and women in engineering at both at UCR and BYU by providing a new and innovative means of exploring ignition and combustion from single fuel elements to fire spread through multiple fuel elements. Graduate and undergraduate students trained at UCR and BYU will have the unique opportunity to interact closely with scientists at the USDA Forest Service laboratories in Riverside and Montana. This research has the potential to be used by international organizations concerned with fire spread in shrub lands which includes Australia, countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, South Africa, and Chile.