Experimental validation of a numerical model for the transport of firebrands

The paper deals with the experimental validation of a numerical model for the transport and combustion of cylindrical and disk-shaped firebrands. The model solves the conservation equations of brand mass, kinetic and angular momentum, and volume. Validation consists in predicting the mass and spatial distributions of glowing firebrands that were produced from the experimental generator developed by Manzello and coworkers [S.L. Manzello, J.R. Shields, T.G. Cleary, A. Maranghides, W.E. Mell, J.C. Yang, Y. Hayashi, D. Nii, T. Kurita, On the development and characterization of a firebrand generator, Fire Saf. J. 43 (2008) 258–268]. Ten thousand firebrands per run are released with initial conditions that are randomly generated according to probability distribution functions deduced from experimental mass and spatial distributions under no-wind conditions. Whatever the wind conditions considered, numerical results are found to be in good agreement with experimental data.