@article {bnh-8303, title = {Initial growth of fires in eucalypt litter, from ignition to steady-state rate of spread: laboratory studies}, journal = {International Journal of Wildland Fire}, year = {2021}, month = {12/2021}, abstract = {

As part of an investigation of wildfire growth and acceleration, the initial growth of incipient fires burning in uniform dry eucalypt forest (Eucalyptus rossii,\ E. macrorhyncha) litter fuel of 1.2 kg m-2\ was studied in a combustion wind tunnel with a fuel bed width of 1.5 m. Fifty-eight fires of three ignition patterns (point, 400-mm line and 800-mm line) were carried out at two air speeds (1.25 and 2.0 m s-1) and two dead fuel moisture content (FMC) groups for each air speed (<=7.5\% and \>7.5\% oven-dry weight for the low air speed and <=5\% and \>5\% for the high air speed). The fraction of steady-state rate of spread reached as a function of time was determined and fitted to two theoretical fire growth models from the literature. The best model suggests the times for a point ignition fire to reach steady-state spread rate were ~38 and 50 min under the higher FMC for 2.0 m s-1\ and 1.25 m s-1\ air speeds, respectively, and ~25 min under the lower FMC for 2.0 m s-1. Future work will extend these results to field-scale fire behaviour, which will help improve operational response to wildfire outbreaks and planning of ignition patterns for prescribed burning.

}, keywords = {acceleration, combustion wind tunnel, experiments, Fire behaviour, fire development, fire growth, Pyrotron, Rate of spread}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1071/WF21094}, url = {https://www.publish.csiro.au/WF/WF21094}, author = {J.S. Gould and Sullivan, Andrew} }