Thermo-System Inc.

The Heat Flux System measures nearly instantaneous heat transfer rates between an internally cooled senor and its external environment.

Richard Hill

This paper will summarize a number of fire-related accidents and incidents that have occurred during the present decade. The selection of accidents/incidents was based on information availability and perceived importance of those chosen. A brief summary of accident data for the past ten years is presented. A methodology is shown for logically calculating the effects of cabin fire safety improvements on survivability utilizing past accidents. Eight accidents and four incidents for are discussed and their link to safety improvements is described. The paper concludes with a call for better information from accident investigations.

Richard W. Bricker

The thermo chemical and flammability characteristics of to polymeric composites currently in use and seven others being considered for use as aircraft interior panels are described. The properties studied included: (1) limiting oxygen index of the composite constituents; (2) fire containment capability of the composite; (3) smoke evolution from the composite; (4) thermo gravimetric analysis; (5) composition of the volatile products of thermal degradation; and (6) relative toxicity of the volatile products of paralysis. The performance of high-temperature laminating resins such s bismaleimides is compared with the performance of phenolics and epoxies. The relationship of increased fire safety with the use of polymers with high anaerobic char yield is shown. Processing parameters of the state-f-the-art and the advanced composites are detailed

M.E. Schneider, L.A> Kent

There is an interest in determining the response and survivability of a variety of items subject to engulfment in a large fire which may occur in a transportation accident. In order to estimate this response, knowledge of the thermal and flow conditions prevailing in these pool fires is required. Few experiments have been performed with large (>3 meter diameter) fires. In particular, velocity measurements in the continuous flame region of low Froude number fires are very scarce. Scaling up the results of small pool fires is problematic due to the large number of relevant dimensionless variable to be matched.

A total of 48,500 liters of JP-4 fuel was burned in a 9x18 meter pool, producing peak temperatures in excess of 1230 C (2250 F), over much of the instrumented region of the flame. Temperatures were measured at 28 locations throughout the continuous flame region with 1,587 mm OD Inconel sheathed ungrounded, type K thermocouples. Four 0.127 mm diameter bare wire thermocouples were used to make high frequency response temperature measurements. Velocities were measured at four vertical stations near the centerline of the pool, with glass coated, velocity probes. Heat fluxes were estimated from measurements on and near vertically suspended mild steel plates.

As I often the case in fires of this size, the effects of mild ambient winds on the measurements were pronounced. Attempts have been made to mitigate these effects by the application of conditional sampling. Temperatures are compared with measurements made in other large aviation fuel fires. The measured velocities are slightly less than would be predicted from an empirical model that was developed from experimental results for methane diffusion flames that are orders of magnitude smaller

A.M. Birk

A model has been developed which estimates the radiant heat transfer to a long horizontal cylinder engulfed in flames, The model estimates the various surface-to-surface and surface-to-volume exchange factors as a function of position around the circumference of the cylinder. The present model considers the two-dimensional case of an infinitely long cylinder, however, only slight modifications are unnecessary to model the full three-dimensional case. The numerical procedures used to carry out the integrations necessary in determining the exchange factors are presented.

This model was developed as part of a study concerned with thermal protection systems for railway tank cars carrying hazardous materials. In some accident situations, a tank car may be engulfed in flames, and it can be shown that the total heat flux to the tank is primarily due to thermal radiation. Radiant heat transfer calculations using this model were performed for two flame sizes with dimensions approximately those of full and fifth scale fire tests conducted on real tanks. The results of these calculations re presented with the flame temperature and absorptive as parameters.