Back to Search Start Over

QES-Fire: a dynamically coupled fast-response wildfire model

Authors :
Matthew J. Moody
Jeremy A. Gibbs
Steven Krueger
Derek Mallia
Eric R. Pardyjak
Adam K. Kochanski
Brian N. Bailey
Rob Stoll
Source :
International Journal of Wildland Fire. 31:306-325
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
CSIRO Publishing, 2022.

Abstract

A microscale wildfire model, QES-Fire, that dynamically couples the fire front to microscale winds was developed using a simplified physics rate of spread (ROS) model, a kinematic plume-rise model and a mass-consistent wind solver. The model is three-dimensional and couples fire heat fluxes to the wind field while being more computationally efficient than other coupled models. The plume-rise model calculates a potential velocity field scaled by the ROS model’s fire heat flux. Distinct plumes are merged using a multiscale plume-merging methodology that can efficiently represent complex fire fronts. The plume velocity is then superimposed on the ambient winds and the wind solver enforces conservation of mass on the combined field, which is then fed into the ROS model and iterated on until convergence. QES-Fire’s ability to represent plume rise is evaluated by comparing its results with those from an atmospheric large-eddy simulation (LES) model. Additionally, the model is compared with data from the FireFlux II field experiment. QES-Fire agrees well with both the LES and field experiment data, with domain-integrated buoyancy fluxes differing by less than 17% between LES and QES-Fire and less than a 10% difference in the ROS between QES-Fire and FireFlux II data.

Details

ISSN :
14485516 and 10498001
Volume :
31
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
International Journal of Wildland Fire
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........cdbb3a9a47a524f3aca31f7c3e9f8f66