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Numerical analysis of flow characteristics of fire extinguishing agents in aircraft fire extinguishing systems

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Abstract

If fire breaks out on an airplane, a large amount of fire extinguishing agents should be discharged within a very short time. For effective fire extinguishing, increased discharge velocity of the fire extinguishing agents is required. This can be achieved by using a large-sized vessel in which the fire extinguishing agents are highly pressurized by noncombustible gases. It is important to understand the flow characteristics of a fire extinguishing system for optimal system design. This study reports a numerical analysis of the flow characteristics of an airplane fire extinguishing system using halon-1301 as a fire extinguishing agent. The unsteady flow model was simulated with the general-purpose software package “FLUENT”, to study the flow characteristics of the fire extinguishing agents in the system. The effects of the rupture surface area and tube diameter on the flow characteristics were investigated for optimal system design. From the analysis results, it was clarified that the characteristics of the halon discharge from the end of tube are very sensitive to the rupture surface area and significantly affected by the tube diameter.

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Authors and Affiliations

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Correspondence to Jeekeun Lee.

Additional information

Byung-Joon Baek received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University, KOREA, in 1979. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Seoul National University, KOREA, in 1981 and University of Missouri-Rolla USA, in 1989, respectively. Dr. Baek is currently a Professor at Division of Mechanical System Engineering at Chonbuk National University in Jeonju, Korea. Dr. Baek’s research interests include the thermal control of micro-fluidics.

Jee-Keun Lee received his B.S. degree in Precision Mechanical Engineering from Chonbuk National University, KOREA, in 1986. He then received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Chonbuk National University, KOREA, in 1992 and in 1998, respectively. Dr. Lee is currently an associate Professor at Division of Mechanical System Engineering at Chonbuk National University in Jeonju, Korea. Dr. Lee’s research interests include the measurement of a turbulent flow and sprays using the laser diagnostics.

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Kim, J., Baek, B. & Lee, J. Numerical analysis of flow characteristics of fire extinguishing agents in aircraft fire extinguishing systems. J Mech Sci Technol 23, 1877–1884 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-009-0618-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-009-0618-7

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