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New Discovery, Blue Whirl published in PNAS

August 22, 2016 by admin

Successive frames showing transition between a laminar blue whirl and a yellow whirl taken from a high-speed video. Photo: University of Maryland

Successive frames showing transition between a laminar blue whirl and a yellow whirl taken from a high-speed video. Photo: University of Maryland


Fire tornados, or ‘fire whirls,’ pose a powerful and essentially uncontrollable threat to life, property, and the surrounding environment in large urban and wildland fires. But now, a team of researchers in the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD) say their discovery of a type of fire tornado they call a ‘blue whirl’ could lead to beneficial new approaches in reduced carbon emissions and improved oil spill cleanup.
A new paper recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) describes this previously unobserved flame phenomenon, which burns nearly soot-free. The paper’s authors are Huahua Xiao, assistant research scientist in the Department of Aerospace Engineering; Michael Gollner, assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering; and Elaine Oran, Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering in the Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Recent media coverage of the blue whirl research is below:

  • Popular Science, Gorgeous ‘Blue Whirl’ Flame Might Help Produce Cleaner Energy, August 5, 2016.
  • LiveScience, Watch A Blue Fire Tornado Spin, August 5, 2016.
  • New Atlas, New “blue whirl” fire tornados spin up a cleaner burn, August 7, 2016.
  • Gizmodo, Scientists Discovered a New Type of Fire, August 8, 2016.
  • Nature World News, This Soot-Free Blue Fire Could Help Produce Clean Energy, August 8, 2016.
  • Mental Floss, Researchers Discover a New Type of Fire Called ‘Blue Whirl’, August 8, 2016.
  • Business Insider, Scientists have discovered a new kind of fire, and it’s beautiful, August 8, 2016.
  • Discover Magazine Blogs, To Clean Up An Oil Spill, Light a Fire Tornado, August 8, 2016.
  • Quartz, Scientists just discovered a new type of eco-friendly fire, August 8, 2016.
  • The Engineer, ‘Blue whirl’ fires could help oil spill clean-up, August 9, 2016.
  • Nerdist, Scientists Discover the Ecological “Blue Whirl” Fire Tornado, August 9, 2016.
  • Science Alert, Scientists just discovered a new kind of fire, August 9, 2016.
  • Christian Science Monitor, Scientists discover the ‘blue whirl,’ a beautiful new kind of fire, August 9, 2016.

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Retweet on TwitterMichael Gollner Retweeted
16 Aug

Today's edition of the CA Fire Science Seminar is only a few hours away! We have a fantastic talk lined up for today featuring @erica_fischer from @OregonState. Link to register: . Organized by @gollnerfire @pyrogeog @CaFireScience

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Wildfire impacts on water infrastructure. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

August 16, 2022 at 2PM Pacific with Dr. Erica Fisher. More details coming soon!

berkeley.zoom.us

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16 Aug

The Berkeley Fire Lab is recruiting again! Positions available at the Postdoctoral, PhD, and undergraduate levels. Wildfires, fires on spacecraft, and fire dynamics... check us out! #wildlife @BayAreaPostdocs #Fire

Opportunities

We study combustion and fire phenomena using experimental and analytical techniques. A strong background in heat transfer, combustion, fluid mechanics...

firelab.berkeley.edu

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Retweet on TwitterMichael Gollner Retweeted
15 Aug

🔈🔥❄️New post-doc job opportunity at our Centre, @ImperialHazelab working with @GuillermoRein on the project FireFrost which looks at smouldering Arctic fires. Deadline 31st August - more info and how to apply here ⬇️

Post-doctoral opportunity: Arctic fires with an emphasis on smouldering combustion and fire spread - Leverhulme Wildfires Centre

Job summary Applications are invited for a Research Associate to study experimentally smouldering Arctic fires and join Imperial Hazelab which is the ...

centreforwildfires.org

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Retweet on TwitterMichael Gollner Retweeted
15 Aug

In this week's #MondayArchiveDig, I would like to highlight episode 22 with @gollnerfire You can talk about anything with Michael, really... but here we chose to dig into the role of combustion science and fluid mechanics in understanding fires.

Twitter feed video.
Image for the Tweet beginning: In this week's #MondayArchiveDig, I
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13 Aug

Wow https://t.co/b1nmkTMr62

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