The contribution of radiant heat transfer to laboratory-scale fire spread under the influences of wind and slope

Abstract

Abstract In a previous study, a two-dimensional non-stationary model of fire spread across a fuel bed including slope effects was proposed. Enhancement of the radiant heat transfer process ahead of the fire front under wind and slope conditions is provided in the current paper. Predictions are compared to data recorded during laboratory-scale experimental fires conducted across different pine needles bed under wind and slope conditions. Influence of these environmental factors on rate of spread, temperature–time profiles and fire front shapes is then presented. Predictions reveal that effects of flame radiation alone can account for observations up to limit value of slope angle and wind velocity for which convective mechanisms cannot be neglected. Below this limit observations are quantitatively well reproduced by the model.