Interactions and Spreading of Adjacent Large Area Fires
Abstract
Multiple nuclear weapon bursts in an urban area could lead to separate large area fires. If sufficiently far apart, each fire burns independently and little, if any, fire spread is expected. For small separations, the flow fields generated by each fire can interact and fire spread may result. Singularity theory is used to model the flow field generated by a single large area fire. The defined singularity distribution is based on theoretical and numerical solutions for large area fires. Several distributions are used to simulate the effect of multiple nuclear weapon bursts in an urban area. For some placements, the area fires remain independent. Spread and merging of area fires is indicated in several examples. The results suggest that multiple bursts can lead to merging of area fires and thus greatly increased burnout areas. Keywords: Fire Fronts; Fire Spread; Large Area Fires; Multi burst; Multiple Fires; Urban Fires; Nuclear Explosion Damage.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 31, 1986
- Accession Number
- ADA176338
Entities
People
- D. Weihs
- R. D. Small