Canadian regulators utilize the ESAL concept for vehicle impact evaluations and(or) pavement design. Unfortunately, TAC’s ESAL equations do not account for tire size and, consequently, overestimate steering axle impacts when those axles are equipped with widebase steering tires. Many new vehicles proposed for use in Canada feature tridem-drive tractors and heavily loaded steering axles—these heavy loads necessitate the use of widebase steering tires. In order to optimize high efficiency truck configurations in Canada, therefore, accurate estimates of widebase steering tire ESALs are needed. This work describes a methodology to estimate ESALs for widebase steering tires. These ESAL equations were used to justify an increase in steering axle weights for B.C. 9-axle log B-trains.
Mulching is a common method of fuel treatment. However, it is not currently listed by the U.S. Forest Service as a fuel type in its recommendations for fire retardant coverage levels. FPInnovations researchers set up plots with different coverage levels of retardant on a mulch fuel bed and collected fire behaviour data when a fire interacted with these plots. The results are intended to help wildfire agencies understand the effectiveness of retardant on mulch fuels in developing better suppression plans.
L’industrie, le gouvernement et les Premières Nations elles-mêmes souhaitent vivement participer au développement économique associé aux activités forestières. Bien que souvent situés en régions éloignées, à proximité de telles activités, les acteurs forestiers des communautés autochtones n’ont pas toujours l’opportunité d’acquérir les compétences requises en matière de gestion d’entreprise. Les exigences de l’entrepreneuriat forestier limitent leurs capacités à participer avec succès à un niveau avancé de développement.
Hummingbird Network, a British Columbia company, presented its crowdsourcing wildfire detection concept (the Hummingbird Network Smoke Detection Service) during the 2016 Wildland Fire Canada conference. In January 2017, as a follow-up to the conference, Hummingbird Network provided a live demonstration to AAF, BC Wildfire Service, and FPInnovations in Edmonton, Alberta. After a successful demonstration, and at the request of the wildfire agencies, FPInnovations committed to working with Hummingbird Network to provide an evaluation of its wildfire detection system.
Given the benefits that resource roads provide to economic and social well-being, it is important to understand the impacts of a changing climate on resource roads and infrastructure. As the forest industry and governments move toward creating resource roads that are resilient to climate change, an early step in the adaptive management process is to assess the risks and vulnerabilities of infrastructure to climate change.
As part of FPInnovations’ and BC Forest Safety Council’s ongoing evaluation of fatigue management technology, Seeing Machines’ Guardian Gen 2, an eye-tracking–based driver assistance system that monitors driver fatigue and distraction, was evaluated in Interior B.C. log-hauling operations. In addition, driver fatigue scores based on a wristband technology, Readiband, were correlated with the drivers’ reported scores to verify the fatigue level in the participating fleets. The study findings, participants’ feedback, and onboard device performance are summarized in this report.
Évaluation du Guardian, le système embarqué de surveillance de La Fatigue de 2e génération de Seeing Machines, dans le cadre des activités de transport de billes dans l'intérieur de la Colombie-Britannique
Dans le cadre de l’évaluation en cours des technologies de gestion de la fatigue réalisée par FPInnovations et le Conseil de la sécurité forestière de la C.-B., le Guardian de deuxième génération de Seeing Machines, un système de suivi des mouvements des yeux qui surveille la fatigue et la distraction chez les conducteurs, a fait l’objet d’une évaluation lors des activités de transport de billes dans l’intérieur de la C.-B. De plus, les pointages de la fatigue des conducteurs, établis selon le bracelet Readiband, ont été corrélées avec les pointages déclarés par les conducteurs afin de vérifier le niveau de fatigue chez les conducteurs des flottes prenant part à l’évaluation. Les résultats de l’étude, la rétroaction des participants et le rendement du dispositif embarqué sont résumés dans le présent rapport.
The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD) has asked FPInnovations to investigate current information and knowledge for bridge fire impact mitigation opportunities and strategies.
The extent of the investigation includes reaching out to domestic and international contacts to find directly applicable information and literature on strategies to mitigate fire impacts to bridge structures. This will include review of academic journals and reports, products and methods, to find
The Labrador Forest Management District (FMD) 19A with an annual allowable cut (AAC) of spruce from commercial harvest blocks of 165 000 m3/year is enough to meet the demand of a 40 M fbm/year sawmill (assuming sawmill efficiency factor of 4 m3/MFBM). The estimated average wood supply costs to access all the AAC wood from district 19A for Goose Bay is $58/m3 and Sheshatshiu at $63/m3 (9% price premium paid for wood deliveries to Sheshatshiu caused by the added transport distance of about 40 km per trip to complete the cycle time on average for truck loads). The scenario of a 40 M fmb/year sawmill would require at least 20 full time employees to run the wood supply chain and another 14 part time employees to build and maintain the road network.
Data was collected within a burned out area on a steep mountain slope as part of FPInnovations’s Survival Zone project. The fire was a prescribed burn carried out by Parks Canada in Jasper National Park. The data collected shows that in this one instance, that temperatures and heat flux values fell within survivable range for firefighters wearing PPE. This report does not condone firefighters above a fire on a steep slope, but rather this PB was used as a data collecting opportunity.
A methodology was developed to evaluate the performance of different commercially available siding materials when exposed to high and low radiant heat loads. The materials evaluated in this study were engineered wood, fibre cement board, cedar siding, and vinyl siding. The time to ignition of the wall prototypes was used to evaluate the performance of these materials.
The National Fuels Management Reference Database was designed to collect data on wildland fuel treatment implementation and maintenance. This information is relevant to the Emergency Management Strategy in understanding where fuel treatments are located and how they were applied. FPInnovations reviewed the current status and use of the database and data depositories within wildfire management agencies. Combined with the findings of wildfire risk assessment experts’ data requirements, recommendations were provided for the integration of fuel treatment data into the Canadian Wildland Fire Information Framework.
This study investigated the effects of applying three mulch treatment intensities on fuel bed characteristics and the resultant fire behaviour. This is a companion report to a previously published report titled Mulching productivity in black spruce fuels: Productivity as a function of treatment intensity. The findings of these fire behaviour trials, in conjunction with productivity results, can assist fuel management practitioners in developing appropriate cost-effective mulching prescriptions.
FPInnovations collaborated with BC Timber Sales and Hummingbird Drones, a company with expertise in wildfire hotspot detection, to explore the use of a DJI Inspire 1 Pro remotely piloted aircraft system equipped with a thermal sensor as a hotspot detection tool.
This study focuses on evaluating the relative performance of different commercially available wildland fire chemicals using a custom-built sensible enthalpy rise calorimeter, known as the ‘Thermal Canister.’ Six different fire chemicals were evaluated in this study: Blazetamer 380, AquaGel-K, Firewall II, WD 881C, Thermo-Gel 200 L, and FireIce 561. The evaluation of the relative performance of the fire chemicals was conducted by using the average heat release rate as the primary metric.
It was found that under the test conditions, Thermo-Gel 200L at 3% concentration and FireIce 561 at 1.4% concentration were the most effective at suppressing combustion. The fire chemicals that were least effective at suppressing combustion were Firewall II at 0.25% and 2% concentration and WD 881C at 0.1%, 0.3%, and 1% concentrations. The study also found that certain fire chemicals such as AquaGel-K and FireIce 561 at their highest approved mix ratios were too viscous to be applied and may prove to be challenging to use for firefighting operations.
Data from this study will be used in the Wildfire Chemical Roadmap, where results from multiple tests will help assess the effectiveness and cost of using gels.
The biggest challenges facing the forest sector currently are dealing with labour availability, maintaining a competitive fibre supply, and having flexibility in the supply chain to react quickly to market demands. Driven by the need to respond to these challenges, FPInnovations launched the Forestry 4.0 program.
Les plus grands défis actuels du secteur forestier concernent la disponibilité de la main-d’oeuvre, le maintien d’un approvisionnement en fibre concurrentiel et une flexibilité de la chaîne d’approvisionnement lui permettant de répondre rapidement aux demandes du marché. Pour relever ces défis, FPInnovations a lancé le programme Foresterie 4.0.
A fuel amendment treatment is proposed as a technique that can allow prescribed burning in hazardous fuels during low to moderate fire hazard conditions to minimize the risk of fire escape. In August 2017, a fuel amendment technique was applied at the Fort Providence Wildfire Experimental Site. In October 2019, a burn trial was conducted in a plot treated with the fuel amendment technique and fire spread to adjacent fuels was documented. Future documentation at this site will include assessing crown mortality to determine the effectiveness of the treatment.
Through the Forestry 4.0 program, FPInnovations seeks to bring Internet access to harvest teams to improve the connectivity of forestry operations. To this end, a local cellular network was set up in forestry operations over a three-week period in order to contextualize the benefits, the constraints to deployment and the costs. FPInnovations and Resolute Forest Products commissioned Ambra Solutions to design a cellular network and the leasing of the equipment.
By using a 30 m. high self-deploying tower in the centre of the cutting area, 53% of the cut blocks were initially connected to the Internet. Combined with a 9 m. mobile tower whose function is to spread the signal around a service truck, the actual coverage is slightly flexible. Moreover, comparative tests show that a commercial amplifier significantly improves signal reception. By optimizing the bandwidth and the signal propagation mode as required, a download speed of 2 Mb/s was recorded at 9 km. from the source. This temporary deployment made it possible to record capital costs and operating expenses such as energy consumption, labour, etc. In an annual supply scenario for a typical sawmill, the cost of connectivity to harvesting teams is estimated between $0.29 and $1.01 per m3 harvested.
Although this technology offers advantages in terms of worker safety and optimizes the harvest, the limitations involved show that this technology is not suitable for all forestry operations in the country. Very isolated or dispersed operations will have to wait for the commercialization of other technologies such as low-orbit satellite constellations in low orbit before implementing a reasonably priced solution
