Lauren Graham

NAFEC has several ongoing research programs in fire safety focusing on flammability, smoke and toxic gases in post-crash fires. Each program addresses one or more of these potentially lethal factors. It is important to both aircraft manufacturers and carriers that these three components of fire are dealt with together rather than separately. Studies of flammability, smoke and toxicity are each likely to result in new regulations and standards which could dramatically affect the industry. If these studies were done independently, it is conceivable manufacturers and carriers would be required to make expensive modifications three different times. FAA officials at NAFEC are well aware of this and coordinate their research so new FAA directives can be issued simultaneously.

Alfred Buchler

The generation of carbon monoxide from polymethyl methacrylate and polyethylene, and or hydrogen chloride from polyvinyl chloride, was calculated. Calculations were made for various amounts of polymer evolving gaseous products into 60 ft compartment.

Constantine P. Sarkos, Joe C. Spurgeon, Eldon B. Nicholas, Richard G. Hill

The purpose of this paper is to familiarize individuals with the kinds of materials currently used in the cabin interior of a commercial airliner, to describe some of the more important fire tests used to evaluate these materials, and to summarize the behavior of these cabin materials when subjected to each of the fire test methods. Specifically, a detailed description is presented of the following respective test methods for flammability, smoke and toxic gas emissions: vertical Bunsen burner test, National Bureau of Standard (NBS) Smoke Chamber, and a combustion tube furnace test. Fire test data on 75 cabin materials are summarized for burn length, flame-out- time, specific optical density (Ds) of smoke, and yield of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and carbon monoxide (CO). A description is given of an interim full-scale test facility that will be completed in the near future for studying the characteristics of a postcrash fire in a simulated wide-body cabin.

Department of Transportation

The purpose of this Advisory Circular is to describe the installation and use of a model GA-2A fire extinguisher agent concentration recorder in determining the distribution and concentration of fire-extinguishing agents when discharged in an aircraft powerplant compartment.

Thor I. Eklund

A small-scale test configuration was developed for modified fuel breakup and ignition testing. The configuration consisted of a ¼ fuel delivery tube within a 1-inch air atomization pipe followed by a deceleration cone. Photographic evaluation required design of a unique fuel spray photographic chamber, which has the capability of photomicrographic, schlieren, and stroboscopic photographic techniques. The chamber employs positive pressurization with diluent air spark photograph proved that the breakup pheromone can be scaled down without obliteration of the dominant rheological effects. Motion pictures of ignition show the same flammability behavior shown in larger scale tests. It is concluded that the concentric tube atomization technique provides a practical method for comparative evaluation of modified fuels on a small scale.