Analytical Studies of Refractive Index Variation in Pine Needles Media under Wildfire Conditions

In this paper, a range of refractive indexes found in simulations of fire scenarios, considering the Cold Plasma Model, is explored. The Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) was used to model a Pinus Pinaster fuel bed burning in a linear burner. The effects of maximum and minimum refractive index values were analysed using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method, aiming to understand how electric characteristics of a plasma may affect the electromagnetic wave propagation. Results clearly indicate the need to further investigate the propagation phenomena under wildfire conditions.