Numerical simulation of the ventilation effect on fire characteristics and detections in an aircraft cargo compartment

Author:  Lu, K. H., Mao, S. H., Wang, J., Lu, S.

Journal: Applied Thermal Engineering

DOI:  10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.06.128

Keywords: Fire characteristics, Fire detection, Aircraft cargo compartment, Ventilation, Numerical simulation, profile, design, Thermodynamics, Energy & Fuels, Engineering, Mechanics

Abstract: 

Previous works neglected the aircraft cargo compartment ventilation, however, in many real cases, the ventilation condition is expected to alter the fire characteristics which can affect the activation of fire detector. Numerical modeling of a DC-10 cargo compartment fire with different ventilation rates is conducted using Fire Dynamics Simulator. The simulation results of ventilation rate 11.33 m(3)/min are compared with Federal Aviation Administration test data, revealing that the numerical model can do well in predicting the fire characteristics under various ventilation conditions. Five scenarios with the ventilation rates at 0,5.66, 11.33, 16.99, 22.65 m(3)/min are simulated to explore the ventilation effect on the fire characteristics (including the ceiling temperature, the light transmission and the CO/CO2 concentrations). The variation of fire characteristics under various ventilation rate conditions is presented and discussed in both the stable period after 180 s as well as the initial stage within 60 s of the fire occurrence. These results are helpful to the multi-senor design to meet the one-minute-rule requirements of fire detections in aircraft cargo compartment. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.