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Estimating fuel response time and predicting fuel moisture content from field data
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 13:04 authored by Catchpole, EA, Catchpole, WR, Viney, NR, McCaw, WL, Jonathan Marsden-SmedleyJonathan Marsden-SmedleyWe develop a method for estimating equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and fuel moisture response time, using data collected for Eucalyptus twig litter. The method is based on the governing differential equation for the diffusion of water vapour from the fuel, and on a semi-physical formulation for EMC (Nelson 1984), based on the change in Gibbs free energy, which estimates the EMC as a function of fuel temperature and humidity. We then test the model on data collected in Western Australian mallee shrubland and in Tasmanian buttongrass moorland. This method is more generally applicable than those described by Viney and Catchpole (1991) and Viney (1992). The estimates of EMC and response time are in broad agreement with laboratory-based estimates for similar fuels (Anderson 1990a; Nelson 1984). The model can be used to predict fuel moisture content by a book-keeping method. The predictions agree well with the observations for all three of our data sets.
History
Publication title
International Journal of Wildland FireVolume
10Pagination
215-222ISSN
1049-8001Department/School
School of Geography, Planning and Spatial SciencesPublisher
CSIRO PublishingPlace of publication
Collingwood, AustraliaRepository Status
- Restricted