Ignition, Propagation, and Emissions of Smoldering Combustion: Experimental Analysis and Physics Based Modelling

Abstract

Smoldering combustion plays a dangerous role in many prescribed and wildland fires. Smoldering burns can last much longer (i.e., days to weeks) and provide relatively more smoke and other pollution than flaming burns. For example, Figure 1 shows the smoke being released during a prescribed burn in Silver Lake, OR. An increased ability to predict the spread rate and emission release rate of smoldering burns for a wide range of fuels and conditions is needed to help reduce the detrimental impacts of smoldering burns on humans (e.g., smoke in Figure 1) and the environment. Unfortunately, our ability to understand and predict smoldering behavior is limited to just a few fuels (e.g., peat) and conditions. The overall goal of this effort was to obtain the scientific understanding needed to develop tools for assessing risks of ignition, spread, and emissions from smoldering combustion for fuels and conditions applicable to the DoD.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 14, 2022
Accession Number
AD1216985

Entities

People

  • Bret Butler
  • David Blunck
  • Kyle E. Niemeyer
  • Wei M. Hao

Organizations

  • Oregon State University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Alkanes
  • Alkenes
  • Burning Rate
  • Chemical Reaction Properties
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Chemical Synthesis
  • Chemistry
  • Combustion
  • Combustion Products
  • Ecology
  • Environment
  • Fires
  • Heat Of Combustion
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Pyrolysis
  • Thermal Conductivity

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.