Robert F. Salmon

The purpose of this report is to describe a new concept in aircraft fuel tank design to reduce the spillage from an aircraft fuel tank which has been ruptured during what could be considered a survuvable crash. The time element is very critical for survival after a crash. By reducing the amount of fuel spilled during the first minute after the aircraft comes to rest, the probability passenger survival can be greatly enhanced.

This paper will summarize a number of fire-related accidents and incidents that have occurred during the present decade.

J.J. Gregory, N.R. Keltner, R. Mata., Jr.

There is an interest in determine the response and survivability of a variety of items when subjected to large fires, which might occur in a transportation accident or petrochemical industry accident. Specifications for conducting simulated transportation accident tests are given by International Atomic Energy (IAEA, 1985) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, 1983).

The thermal environment in large open pool fire is not well defined. The highly turbulent nature of a large open pool fire and its susceptibility to winds produces temperature and flow fields that are very nonuniform in both space and time. Complete and representative theoretical models that describe the environment are not available.

The tests described in this paper involved a large cylindrical test item in a hydrocarbon pool fire configured along the guidelines of the IAEA and NRC specifications. To address the question of the repeatability of the pool fire environment and provide empirical information that could aid in modeling it, three tests were performed using identical instrumentation. A large calorimeter was used to represent a physically large, thermally massive shipping cask. Complete details of this test program are given by Gregory et al. (1987).

David Blake

This study was undertaken following an incident in which several individuals were arrested and convicted of carrying hazardous materials on board a commercial aircraft. The materials involved were butane torches, butane rei ill canisters, and canisters of compressed nitrous oxide. The purpose of the study was to determine the ignition potential and subsequent damage from these materials. Tests were conducted with butane leaking in lavatories and stow bins, the torch flame impinging on a refill canister and on a lavatory trash chute, butane spraying across an ignition source, ether spilled and ignited in a lavatory, and the nitrous oxide canisters exposed to heat.

The study concluded that these materials have the potential to produce extremely dangerous fire situations.

Elliott L. Maylor

This airplane test program evaluated the capability of certain air conditioning (environmental control) system modifications to enhance the venting of neutral or buoyant smoke that may be continuously injected into the passenger cabin during an inflight fire emergency. The program used a Boeing 757 airplane modified by adding an outflow valve in the forward upper lobe fuselage and changing to high-flow control valves in both air conditioning packs. Artificially generated smoke, neutral and with helium added to simulate buoyancy, was released at various passenger cabin locations. Data from the ground tests showed that an upper lobe overflow valve control either neutral or buoyant smokes. Cruise/descend/land test results showed that neutral smoke can be controlled with either an upper or lower lobe outflow valve if the outflow valve and the smoke source are at the same end of the passenger cabin; this capability is not changed significantly by a 30% increase to the current pack flow rate. The results also showed that maintaining pack flow while doors are open for passenger evacuation causes an undesirable increase in the rate of smoke spreading into the smoke free portions of the cabin.