QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning

Linn, Rodman Ray; Goodrick, Scott; Brambilla, Sara; Brown, Michael John; Middleton, Richard Stephen; O'Brien, Joseph J.; Hiers, John Kevin

doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104616

Title: QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning

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Abstract

Coupled fire-atmospheric modeling tools are increasingly used to understand the complex and dynamic behavior of wildland fires. Multiple research tools linking combustion to fluid flow use Navier-Stokes numerical solutions coupled to a thermodynamic model to understand fire-atmospheric feedbacks, but these computational fluid dynamics approaches require high-performance computing resources. We present a new simulation tool called QUIC-Fire to rapidly solve these feedbacks by coupling the mature 3-D rapid wind solver QUIC-URB to a physics-based cellular automata fire spread model Fire-CA. QUIC-Fire uses 3-D fuels inputs similar to the CFD model FIRETEC, allowing this tool to simulate effects of fuel structure on local winds and fire behavior. Results comparing fire behavior metrics to the computational fluid dynamic model FIRETEC show strong agreement. As a result, QUIC-Fire is the first tool intended to provide an opportunity for prescribed fire planners to compare, evaluate and design burn plans, including complex ignition patterns and coupled fire atmospheric feedbacks.

Authors:

^[1]; Goodrick, Scott ^[2];

^[1];

^[1]; O'Brien, Joseph J. ^[2]; Hiers, John Kevin ^[3]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
USDA Forest Service Center for Forest Disturbance Science, Athens, GA (United States)
Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL (United States)

Publication Date:: 2019-12-28

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

OSTI Identifier:: 1581577

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-19-27513
Journal ID: ISSN 1364-8152

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Environmental Modelling and Software

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 1364-8152

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Earth Sciences; Fire behavior model; Fire-atmospheric feedbacks; Cellular automata; Prescribed fire model

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                    Linn, Rodman Ray, Goodrick, Scott, Brambilla, Sara, Brown, Michael John, Middleton, Richard Stephen, O'Brien, Joseph J., and Hiers, John Kevin. QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning.  United States: N. p., 2019. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104616.

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                    Linn, Rodman Ray, Goodrick, Scott, Brambilla, Sara, Brown, Michael John, Middleton, Richard Stephen, O'Brien, Joseph J., & Hiers, John Kevin. QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104616

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                    Linn, Rodman Ray, Goodrick, Scott, Brambilla, Sara, Brown, Michael John, Middleton, Richard Stephen, O'Brien, Joseph J., and Hiers, John Kevin. Sat .  
"QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104616.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1581577.

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@article{osti_1581577,

  title        = {QUIC-fire: A fast-running simulation tool for prescribed fire planning},

  author       = {Linn, Rodman Ray and Goodrick, Scott and Brambilla, Sara and Brown, Michael John and Middleton, Richard Stephen and O'Brien, Joseph J. and Hiers, John Kevin},

  abstractNote = {Coupled fire-atmospheric modeling tools are increasingly used to understand the complex and dynamic behavior of wildland fires. Multiple research tools linking combustion to fluid flow use Navier-Stokes numerical solutions coupled to a thermodynamic model to understand fire-atmospheric feedbacks, but these computational fluid dynamics approaches require high-performance computing resources. We present a new simulation tool called QUIC-Fire to rapidly solve these feedbacks by coupling the mature 3-D rapid wind solver QUIC-URB to a physics-based cellular automata fire spread model Fire-CA. QUIC-Fire uses 3-D fuels inputs similar to the CFD model FIRETEC, allowing this tool to simulate effects of fuel structure on local winds and fire behavior. Results comparing fire behavior metrics to the computational fluid dynamic model FIRETEC show strong agreement. As a result, QUIC-Fire is the first tool intended to provide an opportunity for prescribed fire planners to compare, evaluate and design burn plans, including complex ignition patterns and coupled fire atmospheric feedbacks.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104616},

  journal      = {Environmental Modelling and Software},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 125,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {12}

}

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