Fire-Front Propagation Using the Level Set Method

Published

April 1, 2009

Author(s)

Ronald G. Rehm, Randall J. McDermott

Abstract

Propagation of an outdoor fire front in wildland or in a combination of wildland and structural fuels (the so-called wildland-urban interface or WUI fire), can be modeled as an initial-value problem using either a Lagrangian or an Eulerian description. The equations associated with each description are presented, and the methods used to solve the equations are discussed. Some comparisons between the two methods are also made. The emphasis in this report is on the Eulerian equations and on the level-set numerical method. Earlier studies had presented the Lagrangian formulation, and a method-of-lines solution. Advantages of the Eulerian/level-set method are discussed, and several examples that illustrate these advantages are presented.

Citation

Technical Note (NIST TN) - 1611

Report Number

1611

NIST Pub Series

Technical Note (NIST TN)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

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Keywords

level set method, mathematical model, outdoor fire spread, physics-based fire model, wildland-urban-interface

Citation

Rehm, R. and McDermott, R. (2009), Fire-Front Propagation Using the Level Set Method, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=900149 (Accessed October 23, 2025)