Exploratory simulations on the effectiveness of sand protection strategies against firebrand accumulation in wildfires
Author(s)
Dossi, Simona
Węgrzyński, Wojciech
Rein, Guillermo
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Firebrands are the leading cause of infrastructure damage during wildfires. However, dedicated protections specifically designed to mitigate firebrand accumulation, remain limited. In contrast, infrastructure protection strategies against sand accumulation have been developed, implemented and studied in detail. Because both sand and firebrands are airborne particles, this paper explores the potential applicability of sand protection strategies to mitigate firebrand exposure. A literature review of existing protection strategies from both sand and firebrands is presented, followed by exploratory numerical simulations using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The simulations study the effectiveness of shielding a simplified cubic structure from particles simulating firebrand exposure under varying ambient wind speeds (4, 6, and 8 m/s). Two sand protection strategies are simulated, a trench and wall protection; results indicate the selected protections have the potential to reduce firebrand exposure to a target obstacle. The findings provide novel insights into the feasibility of translating sand protection strategies to firebrand mitigation and establish a foundation for innovative infrastructure solutions against wildfires.
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2025-02-02
Citation
Fire and Materials, 2025, 49 (5), pp.805-823
ISSN
0308-0501
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
805
End Page
823
Journal / Book Title
Fire and Materials
Volume
49
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Fire and Materials published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1002/fam.3286
Subjects
FDS
firebrand
protection
sand
wildfires
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-02-23