Biomass pyrolysis kinetics: A comparative critical review with relevant agricultural residue case studies

Premises of creation of Internet portal designed to provide access to participants of educational and scientific process for the joint creation, consolidation, concentration and rapid spreading of educational and scientific information resources in its own depository are considered. CMS-based portal content management systems’ potentiality is investigated. Architecture for Internet portal of MES of Ukraine’s information resources is offered.

Створення порталу інформаційно-довідкових ресурсів міністерства освіти і науки україни

Physics-based coupled fire–atmosphere models are based on approximations to the governing equations of fluid dynamics, combustion, and the thermal degradation of solid fuel. They require significantly more computational resources than the most commonly used fire spread models, which are semi-empirical or empirical. However, there are a number of fire behaviour problems, of increasing relevance, that are outside the scope of empirical and semi-empirical models. Examples are wildland–urban interface fires, assessing how well fuel treatments work to reduce the intensity of wildland fires, and investigating the mechanisms and conditions underlying blow-up fires and fire spread through heterogeneous fuels. These problems are not amenable to repeatable full-scale field studies. Suitably validated coupled atmosphere–fire models are one way to address these problems. This paper describes the development of a three-dimensional, fully transient, physics-based computer simulation approach for modelling fire spread through surface fuels. Grassland fires were simulated and compared to findings from Australian experiments. Predictions of the head fire spread rate for a range of ambient wind speeds and ignition line-fire lengths compared favourably to experiments. In addition, two specific experimental cases were simulated in order to evaluate how well the model predicts the development of the entire fire perimeter.

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A physics-based approach to modelling grassland fires

Part I. Introduction: 1. Mediterranean-type climate (MTC) ecosystems and fire 2. Fire and the fire regime framework 3. Fire related plant traits Part II. Regional Patterns: 4. Fire in the Mediterranean basin 5. Fire in California 6. Fire in Chile 7. Fire in the Cape region of South Africa 8. Fire in southern Australia Part III. Comparative Ecology, Evolution and Management: 9. Fire-adaptive trait evolution 10. Fire and the origins of Mediterranean-type vegetation 11. Plant diversity and fire 12. Alien species and fire 13. Fire management of Mediterranean landscapes 14. Climate, fire and geology in the convergence of Mediterranean-type climate ecosystems References Index.

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Fire in Mediterranean Ecosystems: Ecology, Evolution and Management

On 16 November 2002, the first official case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recorded in Guangdong Province, China. Panic ensued. Uncertainty about its causes and contagious consequences brought many neighbouring economies across Asia to a standstill. Hotel occupancy rates in Hong Kong fell from over 80 % to less than 15 %, while among Beijing’s 5-star hotels occupancy rates fell below 2 %.

Rethinking the financial network

A multiphase formulation for fire propagation in heterogeneous combustible media

The propagation of wind-aided line fires through fuel beds is simulated by using a multiphase approach. In this approach, a gas phase flows through N solid phases which constitute an idealized reproduction of the heterogeneous combustible medium. A set of time-dependent equations is obtained for each phase and the coupling between the gas phase and the solid phases is rendered through exchange terms of mass, momentum, and energy. Turbulence is approached by using a RNG k−e statistical model constructed from the Favre averaging method. The radiative transfer equation extended to multiphase media is solved using the discrete ordinates method (DOM). Soot formation is taken into account for the evaluation of the absorption coefficient of the soot/fuel particles/combustion products mixture using the gray gas assumption. First-order kinetics is incorporated to describe water vaporization, pyrolysis, and char combustion processes. The solution is performed numerically by a finite-volume method including a high-order upwind convective scheme and a flux limiter strategy along with a projection method for the pressure–velocity coupling. This model has been applied to describe the unsteady behavior of wind-aided fires spreading through a litter of dead pine needles and the induced hydrodynamics. The numerical results obtained from our model are presented and compared to measurements and predictions from other laboratory-based models.

Bernard Porterie

Papers

A multiphase formulation for fire propagation in heterogeneous combustible media

Firespread through fuel beds: Modeling of wind-aided fires and induced hydrodynamics

Modeling transport and combustion of firebrands from burning trees

Width effects on the early stage of upward flame spread over PMMA slabs: Experimental observations

Experimental observations on the steady-state burning rate of a vertically oriented PMMA slab