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Title: Heat transfer and vascular cambium necrosis in the boles of trees during surface fires
Author: Dickinson, M. B.;
Source: Forest Fire Research & Wildland Fire Safety; Viegas, ed. 1-10
Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
Description: Heat-transfer and cell-survival models are used to link surface fire behavior with vascular cambium necrosis from heating by flames. Vascular cambium cell survival was predicted with a numerical model based on the kinetics of protein denaturation and parameterized with data from the literature. Cell survival was predicted for vascular cambium temperature regimes measured during experimental heating of Bolivian tree species by wick fires. Predicted cell survival was a threshold function of peak temperatures because (1) vascular cambium temperatures rise to a maximum and then decline relatively slowly and (2) cell mortality rates rise exponentially with temperature. Peak vascular cambium temperatures, in turn, were described by an equation derived from a dimensional analysis of the variables governing conduction heat transfer (i.e., the temperature gradient through the stem, flame residence time, bark and wood thermal diffusivity, and bark thickness). The heat-transfer and cell-survival models are combined to provide an index of vulnerability to vascular cambium necrosis in surface fires.
Keywords: conduction heat transfer, vascular cambium necrosis, fire behavior, bark thickness, thermal diffusivity, cell survival
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Dickinson, M. B. 2002. Heat transfer and vascular cambium necrosis in the boles of trees during surface fires. Forest Fire Research & Wildland Fire Safety; Viegas, ed. 1-10
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