Modeling Wing Tank Flammability

Details

• Creators:
  Dadia, Dhaval
• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Aircraft
  • Aircraft operations
  • Aircraft wings
  • Aviation safety
  • Civil aviation
  • Explosions
  • Flammability
  • Fuel tanks
• Publication/ Report Number:
  DOT/FAA/AR-TT09/48
• Resource Type:
  Thesis
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Technical Thesis
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. William J. Hughes Technical Center
• Abstract:
  An investigation into the fire safety of a wing fuel tank has been performed to aid in the effort to eliminate or reduce the possibility of a wing fuel tank explosion in a commercial aircraft. A computational model is built to predict the generation of flammable mixtures in the ullage of wing fuel tanks. The model predicts the flammability evolution within the tank based on in-flight conditions of a wing fuel tank. The model is validated through supporting experiments performed in an altitude chamber, the wind tunnel facility as well as data obtained from flight tests. The results from the experiments are compared to the computational results. Computational results from the altitude chamber follow the general trend of the experimental results but produce them at a different flash point. This is due to the replenishment of species with lower flash point at the surface of the fuel which emulates the flash point of the entire fuel to be lower. Experimental results for the aluminum wing tests from the wind tunnel experiments are in good agreement with the computational results as well.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/90292/dot_90292_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.22 MB]
• Collection(s):
  FAA Fire Safety ; FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center for Advanced Aerospace
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8f48af6a41a4556d59cdc7b5a1236465da1086a499a04bc899ea5b3480020c235558c32f63685007c95a6b439e30a06128cb1498e653e18a7d3ec2c4b46d2252