Numerical Study of the Thermal Behaviour of a Thermo-Structural Aeronautical Composite under Fire Stress

International audienceThe use of composite materials for aeronautical applications has been growing since several years because of the opportunity to produce lightweight structures reducing the fuel bills and emissions. The need for fireproof certification imposes costly and time consuming experiments that might be replaced or complemented in the years to come by numerical calculations. The present work creates a CFD numerical model of a fireproof test. As an example, a composite part (plenum) located in an aircraft APU (auxiliary power unit) which provides power to the aircraft is investigated. A numerical calibration of the flame is conducted according to the fireproof standards. The results of fireproof tests demonstrate a good evaluation of the plenum temperature (discrepancies lower than 19%). The influence of an internal air jet within the studied part is also evaluated observed to evaluate how this could lower the requirements of certification rules. A thermal decrease as high as 38 % is found for a velocity of 10 m/s. Proceedings of the 2 nd IAFSS European Symposium of Fire Safety Science 1. Introduction The use of composite materials for aeronautical applications has been growing since several years because of the opportunity to produce lightweight structures reducing the fuel bills and emissions. The growing use of these materials leads to technical and design challenges to comply with safety standards and certifications, especially when fire safety requirements are concerned. Aircraft parts dedicated to firewall applications or located in a designated fire zone, should meet a fireproof requirement. Therefore the composite parts have to pass fire tests according to ISO 2685 [1] or FAA-AC20-135 (FAR-25) [2] standards. Both standards use an oil burner to heat the part with a minimum temperature of 1100°C for 15 minutes. In this work, a 3D numerical model of a fireproof test using a CFD code is created to investigate the predictivity of a numerical fireproof test. This numerical step is expected to replace experimentation during the development phases of the composite part before the certification test to reduce development cost. This numerical tool would help designers to choose between different composite materials and designs options to avoid critical temperature increases at certain areas and perforation in this composite part during fireproof tests. The second section is dedicated to the presentation of the experimental setup and the third one will present the physical and numerical modelling approaches. In the fourth section the computed temperatures are compared to the experimental ones to validate the presented numerical approach and the results are discussed. The influence of an internal air jet within the studied part is also evaluated The feasibility of replacing a thermal protection by an internal air jet is also presented in this paper as a first design variable case. 2. Experimental setup To be labelled " fireproof " as it is requested in most of the APU (Auxiliary power unit) part specifications and according to the related standards, the concerned part (here a composite plenum) has to resist 15 minutes to a calibrated flame. Criteria to establish the test is passed include no burn through of the part structure, as well as no ignition of the emitted smokes (backside part inner surface self-ignition). This second criteria is here investigated by measuring the part material temperature increase. The Figures 1 and 2 present respectively a picture and an overview of the experimental setup. The composite part is located at 100 mm from the outlet of the cone burner above a vibrating table (sinusoidal vibration of 0.4 mm amplitude and 50 Hz frequency). The oil burner (kerosene-air) operates with a kerosene flow rate o

Experimental investigation on the concentration and voltage effects on the characteristics of deposited magnesium–lanthanum powder

International audiencePhone: +33 248 484 065 Highlights x We synthetize Mg-La powders by means of an electrodeposition process. x We characterize Mg-La powders using EDS, SEM, XRD and FTIR techniques

Investigation on the Emission of Volatile Organic Compounds from Heated Vegetation and Their Potential to Cause an Accelerating Forest Fire

International audienceAn experimental study is conducted on the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by Rosmarinus officinalis plants when exposed to an external radiant flux. The thermal radiation heats the plant and causes the emission of VOCs. The thermal radiation simulates the radiant flux received by vegetation in a forest fire. The results of the experiments are used in a simplified analysis to determine if the emissions of VOCs in an actual forest fire situation could produce a flammable gas mixture and potentially lead to the onset of an accelerating forest fire. The experiments consist of placing a plant in a hermetic enclosure and heating it with a radiant panel. The VOCs produced are collected and analyzed with an automatic thermal desorber coupled with a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (ATD-GC/MS). The effects of the fire intensity (radiant panel heat flux) and the fire retardant on the VOCs emission are then investigated. Two thresholds of the VOCs emission are observed. The first is for plant temperatures of around 120C and appears to be caused by the evaporation of the water in the plant, which carries with it a certain amount of VOCs. The second one is around 175C, which is due to the vaporization of the major parts of VOCs. The application of a fire retardant increases the emission of VOCs due to the presence of the water (80%) in the fire retardant. However, the use of the retardant results in a lower production of VOCs than using water alone. The measurements are used to estimate the concentration of VOCs potentially produced during the propagation of a specific fire and compared to the flammability limits of a-pinene. It is concluded that the quantities of VOCs emitted by Rosmarinus officinalis shrubs under certain fire conditions are capable of creating an accelerating forest fir

Ceramic panel heating under impinging methane-air premixed flame jets

International audienceDue to the ever wider use of composite materials within aerospace applications, fireproof tests get recently an increased attention. Numerical simulation is expected in the coming years to accompany engineers in their design work to increase the chance of success in the fireproof certification tests. The current research focuses on the numerical investigation of a premixed methane-air flame impinging normal to a flat composite panel. The effects of the exit burner geometry, of the Reynolds number (jet speed) and of the distance between the nozzle and the plate have been investigated. The accuracy and suitability of different turbulence models are discussed. The numerical results are validated with available experimental data. CFD calculations reproduce within 5 % the so-called heat transfer efficiency where the realizable k-ε turbulence model demonstrates to be the best. The agreement to the experimental data is maximum (in the following order of importance): i) near the centre of the jet impingement, ii) for higher Reynolds number, iii) for higher distance between the panel and the flame. The Reynolds number increase conducts to an increase of the total heat transfer between the flame and the panel. This is related to the Nusselt number which presents higher value (over 20) in the regions for which the predictiveness of the calculation is found to be better. Efficient modelling parameters are found to reproduce an experimental flame that will serve later in fireproof test simulations

Experimental study on Combustion modes and thrust performance of a staged-combustor of the scramjet with dual-strut

International audienceTo enable the scramjet operate in a wider flight Mach number, a staged-combustor with dual-strut is introduced to holdmoreheat release at low flight Mach conditions. The behavior of mode transition was examined using a direct-connect model scramjet experiment along with pressure measurements. The typical operating modes of the staged-combustor are analyzed. Fuel injection scheme has a significant effect on the combustor operating modes, particularly for the supersonic combustion mode. Thrust performances of the combustor with different combustion modes and fuel distributions are reported in this paper. The first-staged strut injection has a better engine performance in the operation of subsonic combustion mode. On the contrast, the second-staged strut injection has a better engine performance in the operation of supersonic combustion mode