Clarifying the meaning of mantras in wildland fire behaviour modelling: reply to Cruz et al. (2017)

William Mell (1) , Albert Simeoni (2) , Dominique Morvan (3) , J. Kevin Kevin Hiers (4) , Nicholas Skowronski (5) , Rory M Hadden (6)

1 Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab
2 Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA
3 M2P2 - Laboratoire de Mécanique, Modélisation et Procédés Propres
4 Tall Timbers Research Station
5 Forest Research, Northern Research Station
6 WPI - Department of Fire Protection Engineering

In a recent communication, Cruz et al. (2017) called attention to several recurring statements (mantras) in the wildland fire literature regarding empirical and physical fire behaviour models. Motivated by concern that these mantras have not been fully vetted and are repeated blindly, Cruz et al. (2017) sought to verify five mantras they identify. This is a worthy goal and here we seek to extend the discussion and provide clarification to several confusing aspects of the Cruz et al. (2017) communication. In particular, their treatment of what they call physical models is inconsistent, neglects to reference current research activity focussed on combined experimentation and model development, and misses an opportunity to discuss the potential use of physical models to fire behaviour outside the scope of empirical approaches.

Mots clés: Additional keywords: CFD; empirical models; physics-based models

Domaines: Génie des procédés

William Mell, Albert Simeoni, Dominique Morvan, J. Kevin Kevin Hiers, Nicholas Skowronski, et al.. Clarifying the meaning of mantras in wildland fire behaviour modelling: reply to Cruz et al. (2017). International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2018, 27 (11), pp.770. ⟨10.1071/Wf18106⟩. ⟨hal-02114662⟩