Wind behaviour in junction fires

Abstract: Junction fires involve the merging of two fire fronts and have the potential to exhibit a rapid increase in the rate of spread and fire intensity over a short period of time. While there are several studies simulating this phenomenon at various scales, there is a lack of experimental results to verify the models and further understand the interactions between local weather, fuel, and fire. This study presents experimental results obtained during a prescribed fire in the Little Desert, Victoria, Australia. Our measurements show instantaneous wind speeds and turbulence spectra, demonstrating that during the fire, energy is distributed across the entire frequency range. The turbulence characteristics presented will help in understanding and developing more reliable fire models for dynamic fire behaviors. Keywords: Extreme fire behaviour, Junction fire, Wind measurement, Fire dynamics, Field experiment