1. Improving Wildland Fire Models Mark Jarvis Supervisor: Dr. John Daily Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Colorado at Boulder Introduction to Research, 10/13/04 - 1/5

2. Motivation for Research Natural wildfires affect atmospheric conditions and threaten life, property and natural resources Current models of fire behavior neglect chemical kinetics and reaction mechanisms Biomass is a chemically diverse fuel What compounds are predictive of overall combustion behavior? Introduction to Research, 10/13/04 - 2/5

3. Mechanism of Flame Propagation Introduction to Research, 10/13/04 - 3/5 Heat Flux Fuel Drying Pyrolysis H2OH2O Flammable Gasses Chars Combustion Air Products Heat Biomass Fuel: Cellulose, Hemicellulose, Lignin Extractives - major constituents of needles, leaves and bark. Volatile Compounds

4. Research Approach Investigate pyrolysis products of extractive compounds in the literature Select a synthetic compound of similar chemical structure Analyze the combustion products of this model species in air: –GCMS –LIF –Chemkin Introduction to Research, 10/13/04 - 4/5

5. Summary Wildland fire behavior poorly understood Characteristic reaction kinetics and mechanisms needed to improve current models Data collected from the aforementioned methods will be analyzed with Chemkin to elucidate candidate mechanisms Introduction to Research, 10/13/04 - 5/5