- Author
- Lommasson, T. E.
- Title
- Preliminary Investigation of Firestorm Start-Criteria. Technical Note.
- Coporate
- Dikewood Corp., Albuquerque, NM
- Sponsor
- Office of Civil Defense, Washington, DC
- Report
- DC-TN-1050-1, June 15, 1965, 32 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- fire storms | energy release rate | wind velocity | fire spread
- Identifiers
- radial inrush-wind velocity; fire induced convection column; inflow aperature; fire storm buildup
- Abstract
- A quantitative hypothesis is developed that relates inrush wind velocity at the edge of a potential firestorm area to the release rate of fires within the area and to the size of the area itself. The effects of spread from initial fires are considered and criteria are derived to estimate the way in which the fires are likely to develop with time. the hypothesis was applied to German World War II firestorm and group fire situations and appears to yield reasonable results in predicting the occurrences of each. The hypothesis may be applied to nuclear attacks against urban target areas.