Implicit-Explicit Methods for a Convection-Diffusion-Reaction Model of the Propagation of Forest Fires

Numerical techniques for approximate solution of a system of reaction-diffusion-convection partial differential equations modeling the evolution of temperature and fuel density in a wildfire are proposed. These schemes combine linearly implicit-explicit Runge-Kutta (IMEX-RK) methods and Strang-type splitting technique to adequately handle the non-linear parabolic term and the stiffness in the reactive part. Weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) reconstructions are applied to the discretization of the nonlinear convection term. Examples are focused on the applicative problem of determining the width of a firebreak to prevent the propagation of forest fires. Results illustrate that the model and numerical scheme provide an effective tool for defining that width and the parameters for control strategies of wildland fires.