- Author
-
Eklund, T. H.
- Title
- Quasi-Steady Analysis of Aircraft Panel Flammability. Final Report. April 1983-April 1984.
- Coporate
- Federal Aviation Admin., Atlantic City Airport, NJ
- Report
-
DOT/FAA/CT-84/14,
June 1984,
21 p.
- Keywords
-
aircraft panels
|
flammability
|
heat transfer
|
ignition
|
thermal decomposition
- Abstract
- The purpose of this analysis is the development of a model that relates polymeric material properties to ignitability. The model is developed for an idealized fire test for ignitability of large-scale aircraft honeycomb panels in a vertical orientation. Transport relations for radiative heat transmission and turbulent mass and energy transfer are applied to an idealized piloted ignition of a vertical aircraft panel. The incident radiative energy required for panel ignition is related to thermal decomposition temperatures from thermogravimetric analysis. Effects of pyrolysis energy requirements and temperature dependence of flammability lean limits are incorporated in the analysis. The analysis is quasi-steady, in that transient effects are ignored and a slow ramp heating of the panel is assumed. State-of-the-art panel materials are dominated by radiative effects at the point of ignition. The analysis demonstrates that higher polymer degradation temperatures result in improved fire-worthiness, that surface emissivities and reflectivities are the dominant factors controlling the incident radiation needed for ignition, and that the heat of pyrolysis becomes less significant in the energy balance as the polymer degradation temperature is raised.