Parallel Implementation of the Algorithm to Compute Forest Fire Impact on Infrastructure Facilities of JSC Russian Railways

Nikolay Viktorovich Baranovskiy,Aleksey Podorovskiy,Aleksey Malinin

doi:10.3390/a14110333

Abstract

Forest fires have a negative impact on the economy in a number of regions, especially in Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas. An important link in the fight against fires in WUI areas is the development of information and computer systems for predicting the fire safety of infrastructural facilities of Russian Railways. In this work, a numerical study of heat transfer processes in the enclosing structure of a wooden building near the forest fire front was carried out using the technology of parallel computing. The novelty of the development is explained by the creation of its own program code, which is planned to be put into operation either in the Information System for Remote Monitoring of Forest Fires ISDM-Rosleskhoz, or in the information and computing system of JSC Russian Railways. In the Russian Federation, it is forbidden to use foreign systems in the security services of industrial facilities. The implementation of the deterministic model of heat transfer in the enclosing structure with the complexity of the algorithm O (2N2 + 2K) is presented. The program is implemented in Python 3.x using the NumPy and Concurrent libraries. Calculations were carried out on a multiprocessor cluster in the Sirius University of Science and Technology. The results of calculations and the acceleration coefficient for operating modes for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 48 and 64 processes are presented. The developed algorithm can be applied to assess the fire safety of infrastructure facilities of Russian Railways. The main merit of the new development should be noted, which is explained by the ability to use large computational domains with a large number of computational grid nodes in space and time. The use of caching intermediate data in files made it possible to distribute a large number of computational nodes among the processors of a computing multiprocessor system. However, one should also note a drawback; namely, a decrease in the acceleration of computational operations with a large number of involved nodes of a multiprocessor computing system, which is explained by the write and read cycles in cache files.

Highlights

Forest fires represent a natural phenomenon that causes economic and societal losses around the world [1,2]
The purpose of this work is a numerical study of heat transfer processes in the enclosing structure of a wooden building near the moving forest fire front using parallel
One should note a drawback, namely, a decrease in the acceleration of computational operations with a large number of involved nodes of a multiprocessor computing system, which is explained by the write and read cycles in cache files

Summary

Introduction

Forest fires represent a natural phenomenon that causes economic and societal losses around the world [1,2]. The spread of WUI zones provides greater contact between wild vegetation and anthropogenic activity, which can cause an increase in the zones of possible sources of ignition and, as a consequence, an increased destructive effect [5,6]. Heat is transferred down to colder areas deeper in the soil, which can lead to an increase in soil temperature in shallow subsurface layers up to 600 ◦C [7]. Such extremely high temperatures can irreversibly change the biological and chemical properties of the soil, significantly reduce the water content in the soil and damage all organisms contained within [8–11]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion