Harry Webster

A British Air tours Boeing 737 experienced an engine failure during takeoff at the Manchester International Airport, in Manchester, England, in 1985 which resulted in 55 fire fatalities. The aircraft's reported initial fuselage bum through time of 15 to 20 seconds was inconsistent with previous accidents and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) large-scale burn through tests. The FAA conducted a fire test using a Convair 880 test aircraft designed for investigating fuselage resistance to burn through when subjected to a wind driven, offset, large fuel fire which incorporated certain elements of the Manchester fire. The test showed that this condition resulted in an initial burn through time of 1 minute 10 seconds and ignition of the, cabin furnishings about 1 minute later. This test also investigated the locations of the initial burn through and the paths in which the interior fire spread to get to the cabin. It was determined that fire penetration was due to melting fuselage skin and not by access through open doors or outflow valves.

Nick J. Povey

Papers presented at the Propulsion and Energetic (PEP) 88th Symposium, held in Dresdon, Germany

E.R. Galea

Computer base mathematical models describing the aircraft evacuation process have a vital role to play in the design and development of safer aircraft, in the implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria and in post mortem accident investigation.

David W. Heoppner, Charles B. Elliot, Mark W. Moesser

This is the final report on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Grant No. 93-G-068 Program conducted by the Quality and Integrity Design Engineering Center (QIDEC), Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah. The program is entitled "The Roe of Fretting Corrosion and Fretting Fatigue on Aircraft Rivet Hole Cracking." A lap joint panel removed from an aircraft used in service was investigated for evidence of fretting induced cracking in and adjacent to the rivet holes. Cracks were found in all of the rivet holes that were inspected. A sensitivity study was conducted to determine the effects of fretting on the fatigue lives of 2024- T3 clad sheet aluminum alloy riveted joint specimerts prepared with either FV or CE rivets using either C-squeeze riveting or a rivet gun with bucking bar riveting procedures. A method was developed to predict coefficient of friction characteristics within a fretted contact during the nucleation of a crack. A finite element method was used to calculate the state of stress at CE rivet locations where fretting-nucleated cracks were observed. The primary conclusion of this grant program is that fretting in riveted joints is a potentially major cause of crack nucleation in aircraft skin structure.

N.L. Messersmith

A combustor burn-through can give rise to a under expanded, sonic or supersonic jet of gases and flames out of the combustor.