@article {bnh-8368, title = {Up-scaling fuel hazard metrics derived from terrestrial laser scanning using a machine learning model}, journal = {Remote Sensing}, volume = {15}, year = {2023}, month = {02/2023}, pages = {1273}, abstract = {

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}, keywords = {ALS, canopy, cover, elevated, field data, fuel hazard, fuel layers, fuel metrics, height, near-surface, random forest, up-scaling, visual assessments}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15051273}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/5/1273}, author = {Ritu Taneja and Luke Wallace and Samuel Hillman and Karin Reinke and James Hilton and Simon Jones and Bryan Hally} } @article {bnh-7359, title = {Physics-Based Simulations of Flow and Fire Development Downstream of a Canopy}, journal = {Atmosphere}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {06/2020}, abstract = {

The behavior of a grassland fire propagating downstream of a forest canopy has been simulated numerically using the fully physics-based wildfire model FIRESTAR3D. This configuration reproduces quite accurately the situation encountered when a wildfire spreads from a forest to an open grassland, as can be the case in a fuel break or a clearing, or during a prescribed burning operation. One of the objectives of this study was to evaluate the impact of the presence of a canopy upstream of a grassfire, especially the modifications of the local wind conditions before and inside a clearing or a fuel break. The knowledge of this kind of information constitutes a major element in improving the safety conditions of forest managers and firefighters in charge of firefighting or prescribed burning operations in such configurations. Another objective was to study the behavior of the fire under realistic turbulent flow conditions, i.e., flow resulting from the interaction between an atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) with a surrounding canopy. Therefore, the study was divided into two phases. The first phase consisted of generating an ABL/canopy turbulent flow above a pine forest (10 m high, 200 m long) using periodic boundary conditions along the streamwise direction. Large Eddy Simulations (LES) were carried out for a sufficiently long time to achieve a quasi-fully developed turbulence. The second phase consisted of simulating the propagation of a surface fire through a grassland, bordered upstream by a forest section (having the same characteristics used for the first step), while imposing the turbulent flow obtained from the first step as a dynamic inlet condition to the domain. The simulations were carried out for a wind speed that ranged between 1 and 12 m/s; these values have allowed the simulations to cover the two regimes of propagation of surfaces fires, namely plume-dominated and wind-driven fires

}, keywords = {canopy, fire spread, grassland fire, Large Eddy Simulation, physics-based model}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11070683}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/7/683}, author = {Gilbert Accary and Duncan Sutherland and Nicolas Frangieh and Khalid Moinuddin and Ibrahim Shamseddine and Sofiane Merdji and Dominique Morvan} } @article {bnh-6638, title = {Recirculation regions downstream of a canopy on a hill}, number = {538}, year = {2020}, month = {01/2020}, institution = {Bushfire \& Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The large eddy simulation (LES) is performed to study the flow characteristics of atmospheric boundary layer over forested hills. The sparse and dense canopies are introduced in the hill structure and modelled by homogenous leaf area density. A pressure driven flow is established under neutrally stratified condition to explore the effect of hill and canopy induced perturbations including velocity speed-up, separation, attachment and recirculation. The presence of recirculation zone in the lee side of the can change the behavior of the flow field significantly. To be specific, the smoke and firebrand transport, spotfire ignition and fire intensity can be influenced by the formation of recirculation zone in the lee side forested hill. Moreover, the flow separation and attachment in the lee side of the hill or in near forest clearing can change the fire behavior and rate of spread significantly. This study extends previously developed physics-based simulations for the flow through forest canopies over flat surfaces by Duncan et al. [1] with inclusion of hilly terrains. The motivation is to develop a predictive model for the firebrand transport and spotfire ignition model extending the previous work of Rahul et al. [2], where a physics based firebrand model is developed and validated against laboratory-scale experimental data. How the recirculation can affect the formation and growth of firebrand transport and spotfire ignition in the hilly terrain is the long-term goal of this study. The streamwise mean velocity is increases with increases of hill height and canopy densities over a forested hill. The flow recirculation zone is nicely captured on the lee side of the hill with various degrees of size and shape with respect to vegetation densities and hill sizes. The size and shape of the recirculation zones largely depend on the steepness of the hill although canopy density has some contribution as well. The results of streamwise mean velocities, mean pressure, Reynolds stresses and streamlines of velocity fields are captured in this study, which are qualitatively in good agreement with the existing literature. Overall the simulation results show the applicability of FDS in such complex simulation that can be used in future studies for the fire simulation of hilly terrain.

}, keywords = {canopy, downstream, fire simulation, hilly terrain, recirculation}, issn = {538}, author = {Nazmul Khan and Duncan Sutherland and Khalid Moinuddin} }