MECHANISMS OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN THE LOCALIZATION OF GROUND FOREST FIRES WITH THE USE OF BARRIER STRIPS

Results of fi eld experiments on determination of the macroscopic mechanisms of heat and mass transfer in the localization of a ground forest fi re with the use of a barrier strip in the form of a wetted layer of forest combustible materials (needles, leaves, twigs, and their mix), positioned upstream of the front of combustion of such materials, are presented. Most attention has been concentrated on the complex analysis of the infl uence of the dispersity of a water aerosol (the concentration of the water droplets in it and their sizes), used for the formation of a barrier strip, on the parameters of this strip. It is shown that the conditions of effective localization and suppression of the fl aming and thermal decomposition of forest combustible materials can be realized in the case where a group of barrier strips of different widths, wetted to different depths, is formed in front of a forest fi re. The parameters of barrier strips (the volume of water supplied to a strip, the width of the strip, the depth of its wetting, and the specifi c density of the water in it) necessary and suffi cient for the localization of ground forest fi res of different sizes were estimated.
Results of fi eld experiments on determination of the macroscopic mechanisms of heat and mass transfer in the localization of a ground forest fi re with the use of a barrier strip in the form of a wetted layer of forest combustible materials (needles, leaves, twigs, and their mix), positioned upstream of the front of combustion of such materials, are presented. Most attention has been concentrated on the complex analysis of the infl uence of the dispersity of a water aerosol (the concentration of the water droplets in it and their sizes), used for the formation of a barrier strip, on the parameters of this strip. It is shown that the conditions of effective localization and suppression of the fl aming and thermal decomposition of forest combustible materials can be realized in the case where a group of barrier strips of different widths, wetted to different depths, is formed in front of a forest fi re. The parameters of barrier strips (the volume of water supplied to a strip, the width of the strip, the depth of its wetting, and the specifi c density of the water in it) necessary and suffi cient for the localization of ground forest fi res of different sizes were estimated.
Author:  G. V. Kuznetsov, D. V. Antonov, I. S. Voitkov, A. G. Islamova, S. S. Kropotova, and N. E. Shlegel'
Keywords:  ground forest fi re, forest combustible materials, pyrolysis, combustion, fi eld experiments, barrier strip
Page:  775-788