FAA Compliant Cargo Bay Fire -Test Facility at BF Goodrich by Dr. Donald E. Olander

1. FAA Compliant Cargo Bay Fire -Test Facility atBFGoodrichby Dr. Donald E. Olander

2. BFGoodrich is indebted to David R. Blake and John W. Reinhardt of the FAA Fire Technical Center at Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA for their assistance during the design of this facility. It could not have been accomplished without their help. The International Halon Replacement Working Group disseminated the data necessary for the formulation of the development program. The author is indebted to John Eldo Brown AIA, Architects/Planners, Inc. for the detailed design of the facility, to J. O’Brien, Facilities Manager; to T. Hosier, Manager of Test Operations; to B. Hawk, Calibration Specialist; and J. Levantino, Manager Material Quality, and to the guidance of Klaus Schmötzer of Airbus, resulting from lively discussions. Acknowledgements

3. BFG has manufactured components for enhanced aircraft safety for many years. These include escape slide and rafts, wheels, brakes, deicing systems nacelles and other engine components, numerous sensing systems, ejection seats, rocket catapults, passenger restraint systems, struts, landing gears and crew seating. We have worldwide servicing and support facilities for our products. BFG Aerospace Background

4. BFG has a policy of enacting environmental controls prior to regulatory requirement. We decided that the use of Halon replacements that either produce toxic gases during exposure to flames or would produce excessive global warming gasses would not be used. Universal Propulsion Co (UPCO), a totally owned subsidiary, decided that we would use materials that are solid after their suppression activity was completed. BFG Environmental Policy

5. US Patents Numbers 5,861,106 and 6,019,177 and international applications covering fire suppressing propellants and their use. US Patent 5,419,118 on Multi-pulse units plus additional applications US Patent 5,988,438 on controlled temperature gas generators plus additional U.S. and international applications. UPCO Proprietary Interest

6. BFG has built a facility that is surrogate of the test cell at Atlantic City. It meets the following additional requirements. It must withstand an unsuppressed aerosol can test. It must meet the OSHA requirement of two exits. The environment must be protected from residual test material. The dry desert plants must be protected from wildfires. A sunshade is needed to protect workers from the extreme desert sun. Instrumentation to determine the quantity of active fire suppressant aerosols must be added. Because it seldom freezes and rains infrequently a building is not required. Test Cell-Requirements

7. There are four types of tests that must be passed. A surface Burning Fuel-Fire test A Bulk Load test Containerized Fire test Simulated Aerosol Can test Qualification requires successful testing Five times for each. Details of the tests are located in “Minimum Performance Standards for Aircraft Cargo Compartment’s Built-in Fire Suppression Systems” Test Requirement Summary

8. Test Cell Requirement Sketch

9. Surface Burning Fuel-Fire Must suppress fire sufficiently to achieve reduced maximum temperature and temperature-time integral. (See Figure 2) Bulk Load test 178 18 inch-cube cardboard boxes loaded with 2-1/2 pounds each of shredded paper Loaded uniformly amounting to a 30% volumetric load. Ignited in side-bottom boxe #4 from front. Must suppress fire sufficiently to achieve reduced maximum temperature and 30 minute temperature-time integral. Summary of Individual Tests

10. Surface Burning Test(Figure 2)

11. Containerized Load test Similar to Bulk Load test except that the fire is in a LD3 container. There are 33 boxes in one container. There is an empty container on each side of the test container. Aerosol Can test A fixture that simulates a 16 ounce can is initiated after the design level of suppressant is achieved There can be no pressure rise or explosion. Summary of Individual tests (Cont.)

12. Blow-out Panels that release at 3/4 psig are built into ends. US Army Corps of Engineers hydrocode, “Blastex” predicts a pressure of 1.76 psig for an unsuppressed aerosol can test. The cell is built to withstand 8 psig. Skin is 18 gauge steel sheets as in the FAA facility. Girth supports support the thin sheets. Water and carbon dioxide flame suppression 2500 gallon water tank can also be used to fight wildfires. The Test Cell

13. Test Cell (During Construction)

14. The cell is mounted on a 75x20 foot concrete pad. A dike surrounds the pad to prevent environmental damage. The pad is large enough to allow mechanized collection and removal of post-fire waste. Four footings were cast into the pad for mounting of gas generators during the early development phase. The structure of the sunshade is designed to withstand repetitive 120 mph wind gusts. The footings and pad consumed 84 cubic yards of concrete. Mounting Pad and Sunshade

15. The control room is built of reinforced concrete filled concrete blocks. Its primary function is to house the FTIR, but it will be used as the control room for most tests. It will not be the control room for the aerosol can tests. It is separated from the pad by a 16 foot high by 10 thick earthen berm that runs the length of the pad. Control Room

16. Each instrumentation channel is digitized and recorded at least once a second with a memory capacity of not less that four hours. The instrumentation consists of the following: Forty thermocouple channels, FTIR at four locations Two pressure transducers Eight specific ion channels Visible and Infrared video Other instrumentation on an as needed basis. Instrumentation

17. The recording system and type K thermocouples have an overall accuracy of ± 2.8°C, as delivered. Corrosion or damage could create gross errors. UPCO uses its normal 5-point calibration system prior to each test. Using calibration corrections the expected error is ± 0.05°C. Thermocouples

18. FTIR manufactured by Nicolet using a cooled IR detector made by Barnes Engineering (a BFG company) FTIR is short coupled to the test cell using heated and filtered tubing. A rotary valve switches between the four positions. All non-symmetric gasses can be analyzed, without pre-selection. Gasses like hydrogen, bromine are symmetric. Gas Analysis

19. The active aerosol ions are bromide and potassium. The aerosol is drawn into water by calibrated pumps. Specific ion electrodes measure the concentration of ions. Rate of change of concentrations allow calculation of ion concentration in the aerosol for all four locations. Aerosol Analysis

20. Two full bridge pressure transducers Visible and IR video Experimental detectors Other Data

21. BFGoodrich has designed and built a test cell compliant with the testing requirements specified. It is equipped with aerosol measurement apparatus. It will be used during the development of BFG’s fire suppression equipment and detectors. BFGoodrich has found that developing new technologies for aircraft safety systems that are benign to the environment during use and manufacture is good business. Such developments agree with our motto People Protecting People Summary