In this installment of a 13-part series, The Combustion Institute recognizes the Distinguished Papers selected from among the scientific papers presented during the 37th International Symposium on Combustion. Congratulations to Wei Gao, Naian Liu, Yan Jiao, Xiaodong Xie, Ying Pan, Zilong Li. Xisheng Luo, Linhe Zhang, and Ran Tu for winning the DPA in the Fire Research colloquium.
Their authoritative paper, Flame length of buoyant turbulent slot flame has advanced research in the area of flame length for buoyant turbulent slot flame. Slot flame has been rarely studied in correlation to circular flame, although it is the most typical flame in wildland fires, building fires, and industrial fires. Flame length research is of importance when the need arises to calculate the radiative pre-heating of fire front for developing fire spread models in wildland fires, as well as in determining the safety separation distance between buildings or industrial facilities.
The team’s paper presents a new physical model to predict the flame length for buoyant turbulent slot flame. With the model being physical and not empirical, it is independent of fuel types and flame scales. Therefore, the new model allows the accurate prediction of the flame length of turbulent slot flame with different fuel supply rates, fuel types, and flame scales.
Their findings directly benefit modelers who intend to develop fire spread models based on the fire front preheating calculations. In practical application, firefighters can use the model to assist in determining safety separation distance during building fires or oil/gas fires. The team’s research efforts took place at the State Key Laboratory of Fire Science in China.
Over 1,600 papers were submitted to the 37th Symposium in 13 combustion science colloquia. Those papers were categorized by teams of colloquium coordinators and co-chairs, and then distributed to approximately 1,000 scientific reviewers. One paper in each discipline was awarded the recognition of Distinguished Paper.
The 13 Distinguished Papers undergo committee review for consideration to receive the Silver Combustion Medal that will be awarded January 2021 during the 38th International Symposium in Adelaide, Australia. A paper selected for this honor exemplifies quality, achievement, and significance to advance a field of combustion science. Distinguished papers are selected biennially from among the scientific papers presented during the International Symposium on Combustion and accepted for publication in the Proceedings of The Combustion Institute.