Modeling and Simulation of Forest Fire Spreading

Abstract

Progressing climate changes have effects on forests. As a consequence, more and more woods will be endangered by forest fires. This is the motivation to get the needed information about forest fire propagation in order to enhance prevention concerning forest protection and firefighting. To model forest fire spreading we apply a physical model which considers the chemical and physical processes like combustion and heat and mass transfer mechanisms. Following this approach we are led to a time-dependent non-linear convection-diffusion-reaction-problem. Based on this framework, we present a numerical solution by a collocation method and a time-stepping scheme. Afterwards, we give an approach for stabilization which is needed in the numerical treatment of the underlying equations. Finally, we present some numerical simulations of forest fire spreading.