Thesis Modeling Wind in Complex Terrain for Use in Fire Spread Prediction

OF THESIS MODELING WIND IN COMPLEX TERRAIN FOR USE IN FIRE SPREAD PREDICTION Currently, no methods of predicting microscale, terrain influenced winds are available to fire managers. This study evaluated three methods of providing surface wind information to fire growth models. One was simply a uniform wind speed and direction, a method that has been traditionally used, and the other two types were based on numerical models used in the pollutant dispersion and wind power generation fields. The models were a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and a mass-consistent model. The accuracy of the models in simulating flow fields over two terrains with available measured data was assessed. While both models performed well on the upwind and tops of hills, the mass-consistent model had significant error on the lee side. The CFD model did better here. The effect of the simulated flow fields on fire spread was examined using the FARSITE model. Comparison of using the simulated wind fields and traditional uniform wind fields was highlighted. Two historical fires with available weather and