This study chronicles the development and integration of a smoke detector activation algorithm that describes the response time of a smoke detector into a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) fire model. Although the activation algorithm could be used with any CFD smoke movement model, the results here address specifically its application to the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The fire model predicts the...

Increasing wildfire activity in recent decades, partially related to extended droughts, along with concern over potential impacts of future climate change on fire activity has resulted in increased attention on fire–climate interactions. Findings from studies published in recent years have remarkably increased our understanding of fire–climate interactions and improved our capacity to delineate...

Fire behavior was measured and modeled from eight 1 ha experimental plots located in the Francis Marion National Forest, South Carolina, during prescribed burns on February 12 and February 20, 2003. Four of the plots had been subjected to mechanical chipping during 2002 to remove woody understory growth and to reduce large downed woody debris from the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The re...

A comprehensive methodology has been developed for obtaining and using smoke toxicity data for fire hazard analysis. This bench-scale method can simulate diverse fire conditions and identify extremely toxic smoke under both pre- and post-flashover conditions. However, incidence data show that most of the fire deaths in the U.S. occur outside the room of fire origin from smoke and toxic gases th...

Emergency smoke ventilation for a uni-directional traffic road tunnel is studied using a CFD modelling approach. Fire scenarios in an uphill ramp for congested traffic conditions have been considered. Based on a longitudinal smoke ventilation system with a damper smoke-extraction device on the ceiling soffit, the impact of longitudinal ventilation (LV) control, operation of fire suppression int...

Two important tunnel safety technologies are addressed. The majority of long road tunnels have ventilation systems. In the event of a fire in a tunnel, such systems will influence fire development in a number of different ways. Recent research and observations on these influences are presented. The effects discussed are critical ventilation velocity for smoke control and the influence of ventil...

[1] Aerosol light absorption can be intense close to local sources such as wildland and oil fires, with smoke that disperses into the boundary layer and, with enough lift, into the upper atmosphere where it may be transported around the globe. Filter-based methods such as the Particle Soot Absorption Photometer (PSAP) are most commonly used to quantify aerosol light absorption aloft. This paper...

Fire safety is considered as one of the major objectives in design, construction and specially tunnel operation. The hot and toxic smoke propagation is a fundamental reason of human losses during a fire inside the tunnels. Therefore, an exact analytical investigation on the probable fire scenarios and its destructive effects for passengers, vehicles and structure are the main part of the tunnel...

r.-Previous research has found that exposure to fire-related cues enhances germination of some plant species, and such species may exist in frequent-fire southwestern United States Pinus ponderosa forests. I performed four greenhouse experiments with Penstemon barbatus, a perennial forb common in P ponderosa forests, testing seed responses to liquid and air smoke, charred P ponderosa wood and l...