- Author
- Sanderlin, J. C. | Ball, J. A. | Johanson, G. A. | Ewing, L. E.
- Title
- Urban Fire Simulation. Version 2. Technical Report. December 10, 1981-February 14, 1983.
- Coporate
- Mission Research Corp., Santa Barbara, CA
- Sponsor
- Defense Nuclear Agency, Alexandria, VA
- Report
- MRC-R-1390; DNA-TR-92-20, February 1, 1993, 116 p.
- Contract
- DNA-001-82-C-0071
- Keywords
- urban fires | simulation | mass fires | fire storms | ignition | fire behavior
- Identifiers
- nuclear burst; nuclear blast; urban site
- Abstract
- A model of mass fire onset and propagation is described. This is Version 2 of a model developed earlier for DNA. This computer model takes the simulation from the detonation of one, or a few, nuclear weapons over an urban site. The detonation(s) ignite fires, generally paper and fabrics, within rooms of houses and offices that are in view of a burst point. Blast wave(s) extinguish some of the initial ignitions, cause secondary ignitions, and can turn a region from Ground Zero into rubble. As ignited structures burn they, in turn, ignite other structures,until an eventual lack of fuel allows the fire to burn out. The rate at which fuel is used,i.e., the rate at which energy is released, governs the indraft surface winds, which also affect fire propagation. Indraft conditions can be great enough that a fire storm exists. The user describes an urban area geometrically as triangular tracks with the number of structures in each occupancy class (Residential, High Rise, Industrial, etc.), locates the weapon detonation points, and weapon yields. Output requests produce graphical tract maps of wind, track burning status, and energy release at selected times.