Urban-Wildland Fires: On the Ignition of Surfaces by Embers.
Urban-Wildland Fires: On the Ignition of Surfaces by
Embers.
(437 K)
Manzello, S. L.; Cleary, T. G.; Shields, J. R.; Yang, J.
C.
E3 - Fire Research III/Paper E12;
Combustion Institute/Western States, Central States and
Eastern States. Fourth (4th) Joint Meeting of the U.S.
Sections. Hosted by The Eastern States Section of the
Combustion Institute and Drexel University. E3 - Fire
research III/Paper E12. March 20-23, 2005,
Philadelphia, PA, 1-6 pp, 2005.
Keywords:
combustion; urban fires; wildland fires; ignition;
moisture content; wood; geometry; computational fluid
dyanmics; transport processes; experiments
Abstract:
An experimental apparatus has been built to investigate
the ignition of surfaces as a result of impact with
burning embers. The apparatus allowed for the ignition
and deposition of both single and multiple embers onto
the target surface. The moisture content of the surfaces
used was varied and the test surfaces considered were
pine needle beds and shredded paper beds. Embers were
simulated by machining wood (pinus ponderosa) into small
disks of uniform geometry and the size of the disks was
varied. Ember simulation was necessary since it is
difficult to capture and characterize embers from an
actual burning object. The ember ignition apparatus was
installed into the Fire Emulator / Detector Evaluator
(FE/DE) to investigate the influence of an air flow on
the ignition propensity of a surface. Results of this
study are presented.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899