Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A transport model for a disk-shaped firebrand in 3D space has been formulated for the purpose of spotting simulation. In the model, firebrand transport is described by solving the conservation equations of momentum and angular-momentum, simultaneously. The airborne firebrand receives the aerodynamic forces and moment from the surrounding fluid, which varies in time and space due to the change in its location and orientation. An approximate form of the Navier-Stokes equations appropriate for low-Mach number flow was applied for the fluid motion. LES (Large Eddy Simulation) on buoyant flow downstream of a square heat source was carried out, and transport behaviors of various firebrands were investigated. Then, a scaling dimensionless parameter * B for the transport was derived. Numerically obtained mean travel distance to the windward direction, as well as its s.d. (standard deviation), were correlated with * B with reasonable accuracy.