Double-layered metal mesh screens to contain or exclude thermal radiation from bush fires

Abstract

A computational technique is used to establish a view factor correlation for the target-object — screen — bushfire arrangement for aligned, double-layered screens consisting of woven wire, square-celled elements. The results indicate that the average view factor between an infinite fire and a target object of the same size as the square cell is related to the porosity of screens. The spacing of two layers only affects the view factor if two screen layers are very close. The results also show that it is possible to block up to about 98% of the direct radiant heat flux by using a low porosity (25%) double-layered screen.