Current Funded Projects
Simulation of the Effects of Convection and Radiation on Pyrolysis and Ignition of Moist Live Fuels
Faculty: Babak Shotorban and Shankar Mahalingam
Students: Selina Ferguson and Bangalore Yashwanth
Collaborators: David R. Weise (Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service), Thomas H. Fletcher (Brigham Young University), Sara S. McAllister (RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula), and William M. Jolly (RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula)
Funded by United States Department of Agriculture
Higher-Order Two-Fluid Methods for Simulations of Particle-Laden Flow
Faculty: Babak Shotorban
Student: Quang Truong (San Diego State University)
Collaborator: Gustaaf Jacobs (San Diego State University)
Funded by National Science Foundation
In this research, a high-order two-fluid method is formulated based on a new set of coupled two-fluid PDEs and a higher-order numerical method. The two-fluid model is obtained from the first principles utilizing an Eulerian approach for the description of particles. In the Eulerian frame, the particle phase is modeled through a set of Eulerian transport equations obtained from the Liouville equation governing the fine-grained probability density function of particle properties. The transport equations are discretized through a high-order resolution, hybrid multidomain WENO-spectral method. The high-resolution method is projected to improve over existing lower-order method by capturing discontinuous interfaces and shocks sharply, while accurately resolving small scale, unsteady particle-laden flow features. The focus of this proposal is on the formulation of a stable and consistent capturing of discontinuous particle-gas interfaces as well as a stable and consistent source coupling between the particle and gas phases.
A Fundamental Investigation of Fire Initiation and Fire Behavior in Sparse Vegetation
Faculty: Shankar Mahalingam and Babak Shotorban
Students: Ambarish Dahale and Satyajeet Padhi
Collaborator: Thomas H. Fletcher (Brigham Young University)
Funded by National Science Foundation
The purpose of this collaborative research project is to develop advanced modeling technology for describing fire initiation and propagation in vegetation with low canopy bulk density. The ability to predict the spread of wildland fires is paramount in protecting life, property, and natural resources. Detailed physical models, at either laboratory or landscape scale, require improved sub-grid scale models of combustion, especially to describe fire behavior in vegetation that does not act like a dense fuel bed due to the relative sparseness of the vegetation. This technology will be based on fundamental combustion measurements of live fuels, but it will apply to models of landscape-scale fires. The research objective will be achieved via four inter-related tasks: (1) flame propagation measurements in live leaves and small branches, (2) fire spread measurements in shrubs for varying bulk densities, (3) flame propagation models of bushes and trees, and (4) multi-bush fire behavior models. The research will provide a cohesive picture of the phenomenon of fire spread starting from ignition of a single fuel element, such as a leaf, to a self-sustaining fire spreading through a larger fuel array such as a forest. The fundamental physical and chemical processes investigated are also relevant to the problem of surface fire propagation leading to ignition of crown fires. Gaining an understanding of the conditions under which a fire may or may not propagate within a sparse vegetative fuel bed will provide understanding of how to control fire spread more effectively in these fuel types through improved fuel management.
Animation: Crown fuel is Chamise shrub with moisture content of 31.5 %. Flames are represented by isosurfaces of gas-phase temperature equal to 500 K.
Past Funded Projects
Exploring The Role of Fuel Moisture on Pyrolysis Gas Flame Structure and Its Influence on Fire Behaviour
Faculty: Shankar Mahalingam and Babak Shotorban
Student: Selina Ferguson
Funded by United States Department of Agriculture
Stochastic Charge Fluctuations of Dust Particles with Time-varying Currents in Plasmas
Faculty: Babak Shotorban
Funded by UAH through Junior Faculty Distinguished Rsearch Award
Uncertainty Quantification of Turbulence Models with High-performance Computing
Faculty: Babak Shotorban
Funded by UAH through Junior Faculty Distinguished Rsearch Award
Nonisothermal Large-eddy Simulation of Particle-laden Turbulent Flows through Equilibrium Eulerian Approachs
Faculty: Babak Shotorban
Funded by UAH through Research Mini-Grant Award
A Robust Two-fluid Approach for Direct Simulation of Particle-laden Flows
Faculty: Babak Shotorban
Funded by UAH through Research Mini-Grant Award