Anderson 13 fuel model

Description

The Anderson 13 fuel model, also known as the Albini 13, is a widely recognized system used in wildfire modeling to categorize vegetation types based on their burning characteristics. Developed by Hal Anderson in the 1980s [1], these models classify surface fuels into 13 groups based on parameters such as fuel load, moisture content, and expected fire behavior. Each fuel model provides an idealized description of vegetation structure, from fine grasses and brush to timber and logging slash, enabling prediction of flame length, fire spread rate, and intensity under given environmental conditions.

Firebench dataset content

Variable name in dataset	Unit	Standard Variable Name	type	Source
fcwh	m	fuel_wind_height	float64	[2]
fcz0	m	fuel_roughness_height	float64	[2]
ffw	-	fuel_fraction_consumed_flame_zone	float64	[2]
fgi	kg m-2	fuel_load_dry_total	float64	[1]
fuel_name			object	[1]
fueldens	lb ft-3	fuel_density	float64	[2]
fueldepthm	m	fuel_height	float64	[1]
fuelmce	%	fuel_moisture_extinction	float64	[1]
ichap	-	fuel_chaparral_flag	int32	[2]
k_tc	W m-1 K-1	fuel_thermal_conductivity	float64	[2]
savr	ft-1	fuel_surface_area_volume_ratio	float64	[2]
se	-	fuel_mineral_content_effective	float64	[2]
st	-	fuel_mineral_content_total	float64	[2]
weight	-	fuel_sfireburnup_consumption_cst	float64	[2]
windrf	-	fuel_wind_reduction_factor	float64	[3]
fuel_load_1h	ton acre-1	fuel_load_dry_1h	float64	[1]
fuel_load_10h	ton acre-1	fuel_load_dry_10h	float64	[1]
fuel_load_100h	ton acre-1	fuel_load_dry_100h	float64	[1]
fuel_load_live	ton acre-1	fuel_load_dry_live	float64	[1]

Usage

Import the Anderson fuel model data using FireBench with:

import firebench.tools as ft
fuel_data = ft.import_anderson_13_fuel_model()

The data is stored in the dictionnary fuel_data. The keys are the standard variable names and the values are numpy array associated with pint unit.

blockdiagram

Compatibility with fire models

Compatibility levels:

Full: The data contained in the fuel model covers all the fuel input needed by the fire model
Partial: The data contained in the fuel model covers some of the fuel input needed by the fire model
None: The data contained in the fuel model covers none of the fuel input needed by the fire model

Fire model	Category	Compatibility level
Rothermel_SFIRE	ROS vegetation	Full
Balbi_2022_fixed_SFIRE	ROS vegetation	Full
Hamada_1	ROS urban	None
Hamada_2	ROS urban	None

References

[1] Anderson, H. E. (1982). Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior. USDA Forest Service google schola, 2, 3820-3824.

[2] WRF-SFIRE version W4.4-S0.1

[3] Baughman, R. G., & Albini, F. A. (1980, April). Estimating midflame windspeeds. In Proceedings, Sixth Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology, Seattle, WA (pp. 88-92).