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7 - Wind and Canopies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2022

By
François Pimont ,
Jean-Luc Dupuy  and
Rodman Linn
Edited by
Kevin Speer  and
Scott Goodrick
Kevin Speer
Affiliation:
Florida State University
Scott Goodrick
Affiliation:
US Forest Service
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Summary

This chapter aims to summarize current knowledge regarding the fluid dynamics of wind in canopies and to emphasize aspects that are the most relevant in the context of forest fires. We describe the main characteristics of wind flows in the lower part of the boundary layer, starting from the main features in homogeneous canopies, including velocity and turbulence profiles and characteristics of turbulent structures. Then we address two specific cases of heterogeneous canopies, the clearing-to-forest and the forest-to-clearing transitions, which have been extensively studied. The next section is dedicated to wind flow modeling and how such modeling is used in fire models. Finally, special focus is placed on wind measurement in the context of fire experiments. In this chapter, the feedbacks of fire on wind, as well as atmospheric stability, are not addressed. More information on these topics can be found in Chapters 4 and 8, respectively.

Keywords

mesoscalecanopyEkmanReynolds averageNavier-Stokeslaminar
Type
Chapter
Information
Wildland Fire Dynamics
Fire Effects and Behavior from a Fluid Dynamics Perspective
 , pp. 183 - 208
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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