{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T12:13:48Z","timestamp":1771935228774,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771891200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT\u2014Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UID\/50022\/2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID\/50022\/2025"]}]},{"name":"FCT\u2014Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["LA\/P\/0079\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0079\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT\u2014Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UID\/04033\/2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UID\/04033\/2025"]}]},{"name":"FCT\u2014Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["LA\/P\/0126\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0126\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Fire"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Combustion duration is a fire behaviour feature relevant for both the effects and management of fire. We burned small-scale laboratory fuel beds (n = 135) of eight fuel types and developed empirical models to describe variation in flame residence and burn-out times, and fuel mass fraction loss rates during flaming and non-flaming combustion; each fuel sample was ignited at once and burned as a pile. Surface area-to-mass ratio of the fuel particles, by itself, allowed accurate prediction of all combustion properties with better performance than surface area-to-volume ratio. Fuel bed structure was also shown to have an influence, fuel load being the variable that further improved all predictions. This work provides evidence that surface area-to-mass ratio is an adequate descriptor of the combustion characteristics of forest fuel beds. Our expectation is that this approach will assist future modelling efforts to obtain simple empirical models to predict the combustion features of free-spreading fires in a wide range of vegetation types.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/fire9030094","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T10:14:44Z","timestamp":1771928084000},"page":"94","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Influence of Particle Surface Area-to-Mass Ratio on Flame Residence Time and Mass Loss Rate of Forest Fuel Beds"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6308-4235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos G.","family":"Rossa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Technology and Management (ESTG), Polytechnic University of Leiria (PL), Apartado 4163, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal"},{"name":"Association for the Development of Industrial Aerodynamics (ADAI), Associate Laboratory of Energy, Transports and Aeronautics (LAETA), University of Coimbra (UC), 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal"},{"name":"Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Inov4Agro, University of Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"}]},{"given":"David A.","family":"Davim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Inov4Agro, University of Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0336-4398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paulo M.","family":"Fernandes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Inov4Agro, University of Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1177\/0734904111434286","article-title":"Fuel bulk density and fuel moisture content effects on fire rate of spread: A comparison between FIRETEC model predictions and experimental results in shrub fuels","volume":"30","author":"Marino","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. 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Wildland Fire"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1071\/WF02041","article-title":"Reaction times and burning rates for wind tunnel headfires","volume":"12","author":"Nelson","year":"2003","journal-title":"Int. J. Wildland Fire"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Johnson, E.A., and Miyanishi, F. (2001). Fire effects on trees. Forest Fires, Behavior and Ecological Effects, Academic Press."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2839","DOI":"10.1139\/x06-158","article-title":"A heat transfer model of crown scorch in forest fires","volume":"36","author":"Michaletz","year":"2006","journal-title":"Can. J. For. 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Wildland Fire"}],"container-title":["Fire"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2571-6255\/9\/3\/94\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T11:09:51Z","timestamp":1771931391000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2571-6255\/9\/3\/94"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]},"references-count":30,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["fire9030094"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/fire9030094","relation":{},"ISSN":["2571-6255"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2571-6255","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]}}}