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Tag: fire whirl

  • Burning Oil Spills With Fire Whirls

    Burning Oil Spills With Fire Whirls

    Though they are relatively infrequent, large marine oil spills, like 2010’s Deepwater Horizon, are devastating and incredibly difficult to clean up. In many locations, the “best” option for responding to such disasters is burning off the oil before it can absorb enough water to sink. But these floating fires leave behind unburned oil and produce soot. To enhance the burn, researchers are looking at the possibility of triggering large-scale fire whirls.

    Often seen in wildfires, these fire vortices are intense and localized. Researchers made a more than 5-meter tall version in these experiments by arranging three walls that spun up the in-flowing air. The fire whirl sat above a pool of water topped in a layer of oil that served as the whirl’s fuel.

    Within the whirl, the fire’s burn rate was 40% higher than a typical pool fire, and soot production was 40% lower–showing that fire whirls can burn cleaner. But the whirls are more finicky to start and maintain. It’s not yet clear whether such intense whirls are possible in the chaotic conditions on the ocean. (Research and image credit: W. Cui et al.; via Eos)

    View of a large-scale fire whirl experiment built around an oil spill on a pool.
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    The Blue Whirl

    We wrote earlier this year about the discovery of a new type of fire whirl – the blue whirl – but now the authors have published video of the blue whirl in action! The blue whirl was discovered while investigating the use of fire whirls to more efficiently burn off oil spilled atop water. A tightly spinning yellow fire whirl produces less soot than a non-vortex burn; the blue whirl is even more efficient, producing little to no soot at all. Much remains to be learned about this new type of fire vortex, but in the meantime, enjoy some high-speed video of the blue whirl, particularly from 1:50 onward. (Video credit: M. Gollner et al.)

  • The Blue Whirl

    The Blue Whirl

    Researchers studying the use of fire whirls to burn off oil spills have discovered a new type of fire whirl – the blue whirl. Their results are currently reported in a pre-print paper on arXiv and await peer-review. In their experiment, the scientists ignited a puddle of fuel floating atop water. Compared to a typical flame, they observed that a tightly-spinning fire whirl burns hotter and produces less soot by burning more of the fuel. To the researchers’ surprise, their lab-scale yellow fire whirl evolved into a compact, bright blue whirl. The blue whirl has a laminar flame and makes little to no noise. Its bright blue color indicates even more efficient combustion than the yellow fire whirl. The lack of yellow color means the whirl is burning without producing any soot, a by-product of incomplete combustion. The authors hope a better understanding of blue whirls will lead to better methods for responding to oil spills. (Image credit: H. Xiao et al.)

  • Fire Tornado Pictures – National Geographic

    Fire Tornado Pictures – National Geographic

  • Fire Tornado Formation

    Fire Tornado Formation

    The phenomenon of a fire tornado caught our attention recently after the BBC published footage of one in Brazil. While it may look like the fiery wrath of a god, the fluid dynamics of a fire tornado are relatively simple (see figure above). Still, they make for some pretty wild video.