2011
Completed
Ray Ault (Lead); Jim Thomasson
University of Alberta
Alberta Forestry, Parks and Tourism; Northwest Territories Environment and Natural Resources
Collecting the data to calculate the variables in Byram’s Fire Intensity Equation (1959) is time consuming and labour intensive. So in 2005 students in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Alberta developed an instrument called the thermal cube, which FPInnovations has been using to measure fire intensity on its research projects. This instrument measures fire intensity in kW/m2, but most operational wildland firefighting training resources refer to fire intensity in kW/m and there is no easy conversion between the two. This project will develop a robust, easily deployable sensor that will measure wildfire intensity in the field and will provide a measurement relevant to wildfire operations.