Interdisciplinary Team Receives NSF FIRE Grant to Study FireScreens for Wildfire Safety
MIE Professor Yiannis Levendis, CEE Professor Luca Caracoglia, Affiliated Faculty Michelle Laboy, and MIE Assistant Professor Jeffrey Lipton were awarded a $1.06M NSF Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) grant for “Investigating Potential Solutions to Reduce Wildfire Risk Through Structural Hardening.”
Abstract Source: NSF
To respond effectively to wildfire and to protect human life and the built environment at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), this Fire Science Innovations through Research and Education (FIRE) project pioneers and advances the design and use of FireScreens as elements of home hardening. These elements will be used to intercept flying firebrands, burning embers that travel long distances from the fire front and ignite spot fires. FireScreen material selection, mesh size, structure, and placement will be thoroughly investigated to quantify their effectiveness for ember interception, quenching, and extinction using experiments and detailed modelling. The combustion behavior of small firebrands that manage to penetrate the FireScreens will be evaluated to assess their flaming/smoldering characteristics, measure their combustion rates, and evaluate their incendiary potential in case they land on flammable matter inside a house. In addition to testing commercially available screens, this research introduces purpose-made novel screen materials of optimized properties. Installation of the FireScreens will consider fire propagation paths formed within openings, cavities, and other vulnerable locations at the exterior envelope of typical houses.
This project will validate the capturing and cooling interactions of FireScreens with flying embers at different wind speeds and directions. Modelling and experimental validation will guide the deployment of effective fire containment and protection methods using the FireScreens. Their effectiveness will be assessed from: (a) wind speed and turbulence, enabling direct estimation of wind loads and impact of flying embers on benchmark FireScreens, (b) experimental determination of fundamental combustion parameters of burning embers that will be used to calculate the direct and indirect loads on the FireScreens (fire spotting), and (c) examination of FireScreen efficiency by wind-tunnel experiments. FireScreens must meet the standards of high effectiveness in capturing, cooling, and extinguishing embers, and must have low weight and low cost. To promote integration as architectural elements into building envelopes, they should also be aesthetically pleasing. Catastrophes caused by wildfires at the WUI are extreme global phenomena and sources of large carbon emissions. However, if containment of wildfire threats is pursued, lives, personal property, and communities will be saved. The project will integrate research and educational activities and disseminate findings to the academic community, state and federal agencies, and communities that are often affected by forest fires. The project will train graduate student researchers, and senior-level undergraduate student teams will design materials and installations of FireScreens. Local fire departments will also be involved.
Related NSF FIRE stories: Northeastern Joins $2M NSF-Funded Effort to Build Resilience Against Wildfire and Its Cascading Aftershocks and Liu to Lead New $1.2M Collaborative NSF Grant on Wildfire Emissions