Author(s)

M. Boboulos, M. Purvis & D. Zafirov

Abstract

Conceptual research considering the option to fight forest fires by designing a carrier-body containing extinguishing agents that can be shot from a distance into the fire zone is presented in the current paper. This active method can be applied in situations where conventional fire-fighting cannot be employed, to remotely deliver extinguishing mixtures from a 2.5km distance, through controlling launching parameters as the starting angle and the shooting direction. The launching and flight of a projectile and a missile variant have been examined in this paper. Simulations for the variants in actual atmosphere have been produced, to obtain correlations between body parameters and its performance. Thus, aerodynamic causes and their effect in the body’s performance were determined. A design evaluation has been prepared to determine optimum body parameters, stability and geometry for the most suitable carrier design. Keywords: extinguishing agents, aerodynamic coefficients, optimal body shape, flight stability, trajectory dynamics, launching parameters. 1 Introduction Fire and ecosystems have co-existed for millennia and they will continue to do so. There is, however, a continuous change in their balance with a tendency for a fire increase and a forest reduction, due to human’s negligence or deliberate causing [1]. In recent decades, there has been a dramatic increase in both the fire Modelling, Monitoring and Management of

Keywords

extinguishing agents, aerodynamic coefficients, optimal body shape,flight stability, trajectory dynamics, launching parameters.