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SUMMARY:Understanding wildfire propagation: an experimental study of param
 eters affecting Firebrand Transport - Jeffrey R. Koseff\, Stanford Univers
 ity
DTSTART:20231027T150000Z
DTEND:20231027T160000Z
UID:TALK206026@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Hatice Balci
DESCRIPTION:Increasing attention within the wildfire community in North Am
 erica has been on the role of spotfire spread in disastrous fire events th
 rough firebrand transport. Spot-fires arise when\nburning firebrands are l
 ofted into the tree canopy crossflow and transported much further downwind
  of the source fire to start secondary fires. Despite their significant ro
 le in rapidly increasing the rates of spread of wildfires\, there is a gen
 eral lack of understanding of what parameters control the transport of the
 se firebrands.\n\nIn the first part of the talk\, I will describe some of 
 the related work done on characterizing canopy flows with gaps. This work 
 was motivated by the need to understand the functioning of seagrass commun
 ities in the near-coastal ocean. In the second part of the talk\, I will m
 ake the connection of the seagrass work to understanding flows over terres
 trial canopies with gaps\, and the challenge of firebrand transport in suc
 h flows. Both studies were performed in a flume in the EFML.\n\nIn the fir
 ebrand study\, we model the interaction of four key physical parameters th
 at can affect firebrand transport. These include the shape of the firebran
 ds (modeled using particles)\, the nature of the buoyant thermal plumes th
 at loft the firebrands\, gaps in the tree canopy\, and the strength of the
  crosswind and ambient canopy turbulence. Our experimental study tracks th
 e characteristics of the particle transport (velocity\, spatial dispersion
  of settling position) through the use of PTV (Particle Tracking Velocimet
 ry). We also simultaneously characterize the shape and position of the buo
 yant plumes that loft the particles. Results suggest in addition to their 
 role in the initial lofting of the particles\, the nature of the buoyant p
 lumes at the time of lofting have a strong influence on where the particle
 s settle. We also find that the ambient turbulence\, due to the presence o
 f large-scale rollers at the anopy/crossflow interface\, also strongly aff
 ects the distribution of the particle settling distances.
LOCATION:MR2
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