A simple but effective bushfire model: analysis and real-time simulations

Abstract

We introduce a simple mathematical model for bushfires accounting for temperature diffusion in the presence of a combustion term which is activated above a given ignition state. The model also takes into consideration the effect of the environmental wind and of the pyrogenic flow. The simplicity of the model is highlighted from the fact that it is described by a single scalar equation, containing only four terms, making it very handy for rapid and effective numerical simulations which run in real-time. In spite of its simplicity, the model is in agreement with data collected from bushfire experiments in the lab, as well as with spreading of bushfires that have been observed in the real world. Moreover, the equation describing the temperature evolution can be easily linked to a geometric evolution problem describing the level sets of the ignition state.