Analysis of Suppression Effects on Aviation Fuel Fires Around an Aircraft

This report describes the details of a theoretical analysis of the firefighting agent amounts carried by aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) equipment. The report is a detailed heat transfer and suppression analysis of fuel spill fires on exposed aircraft. This analysis addressed various factors in assessing current ARFF agent requirements. The amount of firefighting agent necessary to prevent interior aircraft ignition and allow for safe egress is presented for representative fuel spill fire scenarios and ARFF arrival times. The scenarios consider wind conditions, aircraft and fuel spill sizes, aircraft skin thickness, and aircraft insulation/construction. For example, fires burning in wind conditions will have a different flame shape and flame length than a fire burning under calm conditions with all other parameters held constant. The analysis also found that the time required to melt the aluminum skin is strongly dependent on the exposure heat flux and on the skin thickness but not on the insulation thickness.

DOT/FAA/AR-11/27
Author: Joseph L. Scheffey, Robert L. Darwin, and Sean Hunt