Mathematical simulation of the forest fire thermal effect on root system fragments of coniferous tree

Abstract

We present the numerical simulation results of heat transfer in a layered structure of the root branch when exposed to a high temperature from a forest fire in this paper. The problem is solved by the method of finite differences in a cylindrical coordinate system using a one-dimensional formulation. Typical exposure times and temperatures in the forest fire front are considered. The temperature distributions are presented for the system “root fragment-soil-forest fuel-air”. We revealed the character of the temperature distribution and the depth of the soil layer heating to the values which are dangerous for the coniferous tree root system.