The experiment was
conducted to demonstrate the behavior of fire propagation in wildlands using a
matchsticks forest model. A model forest was designed on a flame resistant
clay, on top of which matchsticks were inserted and kept vertical to the ground
by keeping space between them constant with the help of aluminum grid. The data
for distance travelled by fire with time were taken at wide range of slopes
from downhill of ﹣25° to uphill of 45° on a model forest of packing
ratios 0.08 and 0.04. The minimum rate of fire spread was observed around 15° downhill. The data collected from this experiment
follow tan2θ and agree
with the Rothermel’s mathematical model of fire propagation except at elevation
above 35° for low packing ratio.
Cite this paper
Karna, P. , Karna, R. and Karna, S. (2017). Effect of Slope and Packing Ratio on the Behavior of Matchsticks Burnings. Open Access Library Journal, 4, e3737. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103737.
Punckt, C., Bodega, P.,
Kaira, P. and Rotermund, H. (2015) Wildfires in the Lab: Simple Experiment and
Models for the Exploration of Excitable Dynamics. Journal of Chemistry Education, 92, 1330-1337. http://doi.org/10.1021/ed500714f
Rothermel, R. (1972) A Mathematical
Model for Predicting Fire Spread in Wildland Fuels. USDA Forest Service, Research
Paper INT-115, Ogden, Utah, USA, 40. https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/32533