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Dr Duncan Sutherland
Senior Lecturer

Dr Duncan Sutherland

UNSW Canberra
School of Science

Duncan joined UNSW Canberra in 2018 as a lecturer in applied mathematics. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Victoria University, Melbourne, following his PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Sydney under the supervision of A/Prof. C. Macaskill. 

For more information, please visit the UNSW Canberra Bushfire Research Group Website.
Phone
+61 2 5114 5030
E-mail
duncan.sutherland@adfa.edu.au
Location
Building 22, Room 215.
  • Book Chapters | 2022
    2022, 'Physics-based modelling of junction fires: Sensitivity and Validation studies', in Advances in Forest Fire Research 2022, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, pp. 315 - 322, http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-2298-9_50
    Book Chapters | 2022
    2022, 'Simulated flame shape and heat transfer of quasi-equilibrium grass fires at transitional Byram numbers', in Advances in Forest Fire Research 2022, Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, pp. 767 - 774, http://dx.doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-2298-9_117
  • Journal articles | 2023
    2023, 'Implementation of spatially-varying wind adjustment factor for wildfire simulations', Environmental Modelling and Software, 163, pp. 105660 - 105660, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105660
    Journal articles | 2023
    2023, 'Physics-based modelling of junction fires: parametric study', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 32, pp. 336 - 350, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf22121
    Journal articles | 2023
    2023, 'Physics-based simulations of grassfire propagation on sloped terrain at field scale: flame dynamics, mode of fire propagation and heat fluxes†', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 32, pp. 513 - 530, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf21125
    Journal articles | 2023
    2023, 'Physics-based simulations of grassfire propagation on sloped terrain at field scale: motivations, model reliability, rate of spread and fire intensity†', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 32, pp. 496 - 512, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf21124
    Journal articles | 2023
    2023, 'Simulated behaviour of wildland fire spreading through idealised heterogeneous fuels', International Journal of Wildland Fire, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf22009
    Journal articles | 2022
    2022, 'Corrigendum to: Firebrand transport from a novel firebrand generator: numerical simulation of laboratory experiments', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 31, pp. 649 - 649, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf21088_co
    Journal articles | 2022
    2022, 'Firebrand transport from a novel firebrand generator: Numerical simulation of laboratory experiments', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 31, pp. 634 - 648, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF21088
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'A response to comments of Cruz et al. on: 'Simulation study of grass fire using a physics-based model: Striving towards numerical rigour and the effect of grass height on the rate of spread'', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 30, pp. 221 - 223, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF20091
    Journal articles | 2021
    2021, 'Numerical study on effect of relative humidity (and fuel moisture) on modes of grassfire propagation', Fire Safety Journal, 125, pp. 103422 - 103422, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2021.103422
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'A response to comments of Cruz et al. on: 'The effect of ignition protocol on the spread rate of grass fires'', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 29, pp. 1139 - 1141, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF20046
    Journal articles | 2020
    2020, 'Physics-based simulations of flow and fire development downstream of a canopy', Atmosphere, 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos11070683
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Modelling of tree fires and fires transitioning from the forest floor to the canopy with a physics-based model', Mathematics and Computers in Simulation
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Physics-based simulation of heat load on structures for improving construction standards for bushfire prone areas', Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering - Thermal and Mass Transport, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmech.2019.00035
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'Simulations of radiation heat flux on a structure from a fire in an idealised shrubland.', The Australian Journal of Emergency Management
    Journal articles | 2019
    2019, 'The effect of ignition protocol on grassfire development', International Journal of Wildland Fire, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF19046
    Journal articles | 2018
    2018, 'Simulation study of grass fire using a physics-based model: striving towards numerical rigour and the effect of grass height on the rate of spread', International Journal of Wildland Fire, 27, pp. 800 - 814, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF17126
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Kinetics of pyrolysis of litter materials from pine and eucalyptus forests', JOURNAL OF THERMAL ANALYSIS AND CALORIMETRY, 130, pp. 2035 - 2046, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10973-017-6512-0
    Journal articles | 2017
    2017, 'Verification of a Lagrangian particle model for short-range firebrand transport', FIRE SAFETY JOURNAL, 91, pp. 776 - 783, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2017.03.019
    Journal articles | 2013
    2013, 'The effect of slip length on vortex rebound from a rigid boundary', PHYSICS OF FLUIDS, 25, http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4821774
  • Conference Papers | 2022
    2022, 'Numerical Study of Junction Fires on Sloped Terrain for Grassland Vegetation', in The Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk, MDPI, presented at The Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017112
    Conference Papers | 2019
    2019, 'Simulated transport of short-range embers in an idealised bushfire', in 6th International Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, Sydney, presented at 6th International Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference, Sydney, 29 April 2019
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'A comparative study of wind fields generated by different inlet parameters and their effects on fire spread using Fire Dynamics Simulator', in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, presented at 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, 10 December 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'A comparative study of wind fields generated by different inlet parameters and their effects on fire spread using Fire Dynamics Simulator', in Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'Large Eddy Simulation of Flow Over Streamwise Heterogeneous Canopies: Quadrant Analysis', in 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, presented at 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, Adelaide, 10 December 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'Large eddy simulation of flow over streamwise heterogeneous canopies: Quadrant analysis', in Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'Large eddy simulation of flow over streamwise heterogeneous canopies: Quadrant analysis', in Proceedings of the 21st Australasian Fluid Mechanics Conference, AFMC 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'Numerical assessment of composite bridges subjected to Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires', in Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges: Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2018), Melbourne, presented at Maintenance, Safety, Risk, Management and Life-Cycle Performance of Bridges, Melbourne, 09 July 2018
    Conference Papers | 2018
    2018, 'SIMULATIONS OF THE EFFECT OF CANOPY DENSITY PROFILE ON SUB-CANOPY WIND SPEED PROFILES', in AFAC 2018, Perth, presented at AFAC 2018, Perth, 05 September 2018
    Conference Abstracts | 2018
    2018, 'Simulations of surface fire propagating under a canopy: flame angle and intermittency', in Advances in forest fire reseach, presented at VIII International Conference on Forest Fire Research
    Conference Papers | 2017
    2017, 'Large-eddy simulation of neutral atmospheric surface layer flow over heterogeneous tree canopies', in AFAC 2017, Sydney, presented at AFAC 2017, Sydney, 04 September 2017
    Conference Papers | 2017
    2017, 'Suitable pyrolysis model for physics-based bushfire simulation', in 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, Sydney, presented at 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, Sydney, 10 December 2017

Enhancing resilience to ember attack on the urban fringe D. Sutherland, J Sharples.D. Sanderson, P. Barnes, Black Summer Recovery Grant $804000, 2022-2024. 

Ember storms on the urban fringe D. Sutherland, J Sharples. Suburban Land Agency contract $70,000, 2022-2023

Gravity Current Driven Smoke Dispersion In a Stratified Ambient, A. Ooi, K. Moinuddin, D. Sutherland, R. Manasseh, ARC Discovery Project, $250,000 2021-2024 

Understanding the Origin and Development of Extreme and Mega Bushfires T. Penman, J. Sharples, K. Moinuddin, J. Hilton, D. Sutherland, C. Clements, ARC Discovery Project, $590,000 2021-2024 

Fire spread across fuel types K. A. M. Moinuddin, G. R. Thorpe, A. Ooi, V. Novozhilov, J. Philip, D. Sutherland, Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, $523,000, 2017-2020

Predicting merging fire behaviour in Planned Burning T. Penman, A. Filkov, B. Cirulis. J. Sharples, D. Sutherland, Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, $100,000, 2020-2021

My research is the application of computational fluid dynamics simulation to problems motivated by bushfires. This is a broad and rich area encompassing, buoyancy driven flows, entrainment and mixing, particle transport, contaminant modelling, and combustion modelling. 

Currently, my research is focussed on the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES), including combustion, of laboratory-scale extreme fire behaviour, and field-scale grassfires. I also conduct Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of buoyancy driven flow to understand the dynamics and mixing processes of gravity currents. 

My Teaching

Currently I teach two mathematics subjects: ZPEM1304 Engineering Mathematics 1B, and ZPEM3306 Waves and Fluids. If you are enrolled in one of those courses, please see the Moodle pages for more information.