Surface Forest Fires Modelling: Temperature and Oxygen Dynamics near Fuelbreaks

Abstract

The problem of computer modelling of the spread of surface forest fires in a two- dimensional formulation is considered. The results of numerical experiments investigating pos- sible scenarios of how fire spreads in different directions and its behaviour near fuelbreaks are presented. Several qualitative differences in geometry and dynamics of temperature density maps and oxygen concentration stream plots are determined and illustrated with interactive multidimensional graphics for various shapes and sizes of fuelbreaks, including the demonstration of the influence of the equilibrium wind speed in the forest canopy on the fire spread over the territory. Possible variations of the fire front movement in the direction of wind velocity and against it are identified and explained using representative examples.