Oregon State University CIRE Lab – Project Burn to Learn

Poster Image
Event poster; details follow in description
Poster Session
B
Poster Number
04
Project Author(s)
Adael Scatena
Institution
Oregon State University
Project Description

This study investigates the relationship between a structure size (determined by its height, width, and length) and flame characteristics observed while burning (measured by flame height and width). Nine sheds were burned in total: three small (0.6x0.6x1 m), three medium (1.2x1.2x1.8 m), and three large (2.4x2.4x3.2 m). Each burn was recorded, and data from three small, two medium, and two large sheds were processed using image recognition software in MATLAB. Flame height and width were plotted over time, revealing linear relationships between shed dimensions and flame characteristics. Specifically, flame height was found to correlate with shed height (y = 1.754x – 0.6771) and shed width (y= 2.147x – 0.180), while flame width showed relationships with shed height (y = 1.787x –0.5214) and shed width (y = 2.1841x – 0.0108). These findings provide insights into predicting fire behavior based on structural dimensions, and provided us relationships that can help reduce fire spread due to direct flame contact in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires.