D.S. Cortizo

Comments and views expressed on technical and regulatory issues at the Industry Consulative Conference

Arthur Reed

Signs are that the cabin water sprays for civilian transport will become mandatory, not just in Britain but throughout civil aviation.

Timothy Marker

Six full-scale fire tests were conducted in a modified DC-10 fuselage to investigate the effects of spraying water at different cabin locations or “pre-wetting” the cabin, while keeping the fire conditions constant. The tests were part of a 28 test series using a wide body fuselage to study the performance of an onboard cabin water spray system. The spray system utilizes low flow rate nozzles, which produce a fine mist consisting of a range of water droplet diameters. The system being tested was a “breadboard” design for the purpose of demonstrating concept feasibility only. Two tests involved spraying water in different sections of the cabin and overhead. Two other tests investigated the effects of spraying varying quantities of water before the fire was ignited to pre-wet the interior. For comparison, one test used spray throughout the cabin, while the last test performed was without water in order to establish a “baseline”. Temperature, smoke, heat flux and gas concentrations were monitored at various locations throughout the fuselage.

C.J. Fry

Two simple models for assessing the heat flux into objects engulfed in pool fires are considered. The two models differ in that the first models radiation from the fire as coming from a solid black surface surrounding the object while the second represents the flames as a uniform medium of finite thickness. The readings from thermocouples measuring flame temperature is considered using the two models and it is shown that the measured temperature may differ significantly from the true flame temperature. A simple design of instrument for measuring the effective black body radiation temperature is discusses.