A Surface Energy Balance Model for Predicting Temperature Evolution of Random-Shaped Smoldering Objects in Open Environments

In this paper, a new computational model, Temperature Evolution of Random-shaped Smoldering Objects (TERSO), is developed to predict the temperature evolution of objects with any complex shapes under variable environmental conditions. The model is applicable to natural and manmade random-shaped objects (or a collection of objects) in an open atmosphere under the influence of local diurnal solar radiation and/or smoldering heat. In this regard, a detailed surface energy balance analysis is performed in high spatiotemporal resolution over three-dimensional objects of any shape. The model performance was validated against several existing measured data in the literature. TERSO provides temperature modeling capabilities for several applications that involve arbitrary-shaped objects of any size, whether smoldering or non-smoldering, that are hanging (e.g., fruits), in-flight (e.g., firebrands), or surface-mounted (e.g., buildings). The discrete, high-resolution surface temperature information obtained from the model can also provide unsteady thermal boundary conditions for computational fluid dynamics simulations when coupled physics is desired.