 
Researchers Assist Firefighters with Improved Wildfire Modeling
Mechanical engineering faculty Shankar Mahalingam and Jana Milford are leading a new National Science Foundation research project to study and model wildfires. The research is expected to significantly improve capabilities for modeling wildfires, enabling fire behavior analysts to make effective decisions on firefighting strategies. The project is a joint initiative between CU-Boulder, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service in Missoula, Montana. Terry Clark from NCAR and Don Latham from the Forest Service are co-leading the project. The specific goal of the research is to improve capabilities for modeling atmosphere-fire coupling, as might occur during intense burning in wildland fires. Mahalingam is leading the development and implementation of turbulent combustion models into NCAR's atmosphere-fire coupled models, while Milford's focus is on modeling fuel pyrolyis and transport of pollutants generated by combustion. Wildland fires fall into three categories: ground fires, surface fires, and crown fires. Ground fires occur in the duff layer, between the loose surface fuels and mineral soil. Fire spread rates are of the order of centimeters per hour. Surface fires involve loose dead fuels on the forest floor or grasses on open land. They travel at speeds of meters per minute. Crown fires occur in extensive brush or small tree fields, especially in regions like Southern California, and they can travel at speeds of kilometers per hour. Crown fires, of course, are the most dangerous to lives and property. However, any given fire can switch categories, depending on fuel conditions, terrain, and wind. Intense fires also can exhibit a phenomenon called spotting, where a burning particle is ejected beyond the fire perimeter. These can lead to initiation of new fires, making firefighting much more difficult. In July, professors Mahalingam and Milford, along with faculty colleague John Daily, scientists Terry Clark, Janice Coen, and Larry Radke (all from NCAR) and CU graduate student Yottana Khunatorn, traveled to Alaska to obtain field data from a controlled burn at the Caribou-Poker Creek Research Watershed near Fairbanks. The fire was part of Frostfire, an NSF funded project to study the role of fire in permafrost terrain in the boreal forest. The group observed and recorded data using three video cameras - color, black and white, and infrared - as well as a dual spectrometer. Data from the field study is being analyzed and is expected to help in model development and validation.  Engineering Home |
The United States spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to combat and extinguish wildland fires in the Western United States and Alaska alone. These fires result in human and animal casualties and cause extensive damage to both private and public property. Forest fires also can have a significant impact on vegetation, chemical and physical properties of soils, and can alter the wildlife in the affected area.