AIRCRAFT FIRE SUPPRESSION REQUIREMENTS MODELING

THIS PROPOSED STUDY IS TO EXPLORE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEVELOPING GENERALIZED MODELS THAT CAN BE USED TO EXTRAPOLATE THE RESULTS OF SMALL-SCALE AIRCRAFT FIRE SUPPRESSION TESTS TO LARGER FIRES. BECAUSE FIRE SUPPRESSION IS A COMPLEX PHENOMENON THAT IS HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE TYPE OF SUPPRESION AGENT, FIRE CONFIGURATION, FUEL TYPE, RATE AND METHOD OF APPLICATION AND OTHER FACTORS, IT IS DOUBTFUL THAT A SINGLE MODEL WILL APPLY TO ALL SITUATIONS. IN PHASE I, DATA FROM PREVIOUS TESTS WILL BE COLLECTED AND USED TO DEVELOP MODELS FOR HALON/UNOCCUPIED COMPARTMENT FIRES, DRY CHEMICAL/AIRCRAFT WING FIRES AND FOAM/ FUEL SPILL FIRES. IF SUCCESSFUL, ADDITIONAL MODELS WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR OTHER AGENT/FIRE CONFIGURATIONS IN PHASE II. THESE MODELS WILL BE VERIFIED USING SMALL AND LARGE SCALE FIRE TESTS TO BE DESIGNED AND CARRIED OUT IN PHASE II.