Augmentation of enabling firebrand shower in WRF-SFIRE

Principal Investigator: Ali Tohidi

IAB Mentor: Tim Chavez, CalFire

Despite advancements in coupled fire-atmosphere models, the contribution of firebrand showers, encompassing firebrand generation, transport, and spot ignition, remains inadequately accounted for in the overall rate of wildfire spread. Additionally, existing wildfire modeling frameworks lack a physics-based representation of spot fire ignition. To address these significant gaps, our research and development efforts, supported by the original project, have identified the following challenges and critical requirements:

Designing a novel convective heat transfer model specifically tailored for representing crowning in the WRF-SFIRE framework; integrating the crowning model seamlessly with the new fire spread model to enhance its accuracy and realism; developing a comprehensive set of physics-based ignition criteria to establish a feedback loop linking the deposited firebrands to the main fire spread model, enabling a more realistic representation of spot fire ignition.

By addressing these challenges, we aim to significantly enhance the capabilities of coupled fire-atmosphere models, enabling them to accurately capture the role of firebrand showers and spot fire ignition in wildfire spread. This research and development endeavor will contribute to the advancement of wildfire modeling and ultimately support more effective fire management decision-making.