WinGPYRO: A software platform for kinetic study of forest fuels

Mass loss is a significant factor in fire modeling. In this work, 4 Mediterranean species were studied in order to identify thermal degradation mechanisms. These parameters were correlated to thermal behavior obtained by thermogravimetry experiments, with investigations conducted on samples of the 4 species. A scientific software tool developed by chemists, which provides the bench scientist with an easy-to-use, rapid and interactive method for accurate simulations of thermal degradation mechanisms, is of relevance to this context. The software platform WinGPYRO, developed in this study, allows the determination of a set of kinetic parameters (activation energy, pre-exponential factor and model schemes) by application of a Kinetic Hybrid Method (KHM). Kinetic schemes were processed in WinGPYRO, which manages and facilitates comparisons of both numerical results and experimental data. Simulation was based on Gpyro, an open-source computer model, which describes the thermal response of solid materials exposed to radiative or convective heating, including thermo-oxidative pyrolysis of the condensed phase. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.