BURN: A Simulation of Forest Fire Propagation
by Marshall Veach
Advisors: Paul Coddington & Geoffrey Fox
Project conducted as part of the 1994 Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) Program in High-Performance Computing
conducted by the Northeast Parallel Architecture Center (NPAC)
at Syracuse University.
Abstract
A project is described which designed, implemented and evaluated a
simulation of
forest fire propagation as a cellular automaton in a parallel environment.
Fire models developed by Richard Rothermel were used as the basis for
propagation behavior. Furthermore, the simulation was developed to
support a variety of applications including fire
propagation prediction and the
evaluation of fire fighting effectiveness.
Introduction
The primary goal of this project was to design and implement a simulation
of forest fire propagation using the principles of Artificial Life. The
result of this work was a Fortran90 program called BURN. Using a set
of fire behavior equations devloped by Richard Rothermel, BURN simulates
fire spread as a cellular automaton. Currently, BURN supports thirty-three
distinct fuel types as well as cell specific wind, elevation and moisture
data; all at a resolution 400 square feet. The total burn space consists of
a 100x100 matrix; making the entire area simulated 40,000 square feet. While
this burn space may seem limiting, its dimensions are entirely arbitrary.
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Marshall S. Veach
Computer Science Department,
Texas A&M University, Texas.
e-mail: mveach@tamu.edu