A/Prof Trent Penman

This study is identifying the thresholds beyond which dynamic fire behaviour becomes a dominant factor, the effects that these dynamic effects have on the overall power output of a fire, and the impacts that such dynamic effects have on fire severity. This will necessarily include consideration of other factors such as how fine fuel moisture varies across a landscape. The research team is investigating the conditions and processes under which bushfire behaviour undergoes major transitions, including fire convection and plume dynamics, evaluating the consequences of eruptive fire behaviour (spotting, convection driven wind damage, rapid fire spread) and determining the combination of conditions for such behaviours to occur (unstable atmosphere, fuel properties and weather conditions).

This project was commissioned and funded entirely by Energy Networks Australia and is aiming to create a standardised approach for assessing the cost of catastrophic bushfires that involve powerlines.

This project was commissioned and funded entirely by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria.

This project was commissioned and funded entirely by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria.