Proceedings of the
The 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2023)
3 – 8 September 2023, Southampton, UK
Flame Front Spread Model of Forest Fire in Steep Canyon Terrain
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
ABSTRACT
Against the backdrop of global climate change, unusually intense and widespread forest fires are becoming more common, leading to significant human fatalities, as well as socioeconomic and ecological losses. In Europe alone, the damage inflicted by wildfires in 2022 is estimated to be at least €2 billion. To prevent and suppress forest fires effectively, it is crucial to understand their propagation behavior, especially in steep-sloped canyons where the risk of rapid spread is high. However, there has been limited research on this topic. In this study, we conduct a mathematical analysis of the existing gentle slope canyon model to improve our understanding of steep-slope canyon fires' behavior and enhance the accuracy of fire spread models. Our model is validated through publicly available experimental data, which demonstrates its accuracy. The derived fire spread model has practical implications for forest fire protection measures and fire suppression strategies in canyon terrain, helping to reduce the risk and impact of forest fires in the future.
Keywords: Forest fire, Steep canyon, Fire protection, Fire suppression.
