- Author
-
Bennett, J. M.
- Title
- Ignition of Combustible Fluids by Heated Surfaces.
- Coporate
- Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
- Journal
-
Process Safety Progress,
Vol. 20,
No. 1,
29-36,
March 2001
- Report
-
<b>THESIS</b>,
2003,
145 p.
- Keywords
-
fluids
|
ignition
|
fuels
|
machinery
|
droplets
|
evaporation
|
air temperature
- Identifiers
- general droplet evaporation and ignition behavior; surface roughness, finish effects; fluid profiles upon contact with surface
- Abstract
- The ignition of flammable fluids leaking onto hot machinery components is a common cause of fires and property loss to society. For example, the U.S. Air Force has over 100 engine fires per year. There is a comparable number in the civilian air fleet Many of these tires are due to ruptured fuel, oil or hydraulic lines impinging on hot engine components. Also, over 500,000 vehicle fires occur each year on U.S. roads. Many of these are due to leaking fluids onto hot exhaust manifolds or other exhaust components. The design of fire protection systems for aircraft and road vehicles must take into account the problems of hot surface ignition as well as re-ignition that can occur once the fire is initially extinguished. The lack of understanding of ignition and re-ignition results in heavy, high-capacity fire extinguishers to address the fire threat. It is desired to better understand the mechanisms that control this phenomenon, and exploit this understanding in producing machinery designs that can mitigate this threat The purpose of this effort is to gain a fundamental understanding of ignition by heated surfaces. This is done by performing experimental measurements on the impingement of vertical streams of combustible fluids onto horizontal heated surfaces, and then determine the mechanisms that control the process, in terms of physical, controllable parameters (such as fuel type, flow rate and surface temperature).