Skip to main content
Author(s):
Adam L. Atchley, Chad M. Hoffman, Sophie R. Bonner, Scott M. Ritter, Joseph J. O'Brien, Rodman Linn
Year Published:

Cataloging Information

Topic(s):
Simulation Modeling
Fire Effects

NRFSN number: 26905
FRAMES RCS number: 69576
Record updated:

Background: Crown scorch - the heating of live leaves, needles, and buds in the vegetative canopy to lethal temperatures without widespread combustion - is one of the most common fire effects shaping post-fire canopies. Despite the ability of computational fluid dynamic models to finely resolve fire activity and buoyant plume dynamics including heterogenous 3D distributions of forest canopy heating, these models have had only limited use in simulating fire effects and have not been used to evaluate crown scorch. Here, we demonstrate a method of evaluating crown scorch using a computational fluid dynamics model, FIRETEC, and validate this approach by simulating the experiments that were used to develop Van Wagner’s 1973 crown scorch model.

Results: The average scorch height prediction from FIRETEC compares well with the empirical model derived by Van Wagner, which is the most widely used empirical model for crown scorch. We further find that the 3D buoyant plume dynamics from a steady and homogeneous idealized heat source on the ground results in a spatially heterogenous crown scorch pattern reflecting complex heating dynamics that are best represented by percent scorch rather than height of scorch.

Conclusions: The ability of the computational fluid dynamics model to capture variation in crown scorch due to 3D buoyant plume dynamics provides direct links between forest structure, fire behavior, and fire effects that can be used by forest managers and researchers to better understand how fires result in crown damage under various environmental and management scenarios.

Citation

Atchley, Adam L.; Hoffman, Chad M.; Bonner, Sophie R.; Ritter, Scott M.; O'Brien, Joseph; Linn, Rodman R. 2024. Evaluating crown scorch predictions from a computational fluid dynamics wildland fire simulator. Fire Ecology 20:71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00291-x

Access this Document

Treesearch

publication access with no paywall

Check to see if this document is available for free in the USDA Forest Service Treesearch collection of publications. The collection includes peer reviewed publications in scientific journals, books, conference proceedings, and reports produced by Forest Service employees, as well as science synthesis publications and other products from Forest Service Research Stations.