# Presentation: 189607

## Modeling Smoke Transport in Aircraft Cargo Compartments

**Modeling Smoke Transport in Aircraft Cargo Compartments**
**Jill Suo-Anttila****‡****, Stefan Domino****†****, Walt Gill****‡****, Paul DesJardin****‡****, and Lou Gritzo****‡**
**‡**Fire Science and Technology Department
**†**Thermal/Fluids Computational Engineering Sciences Group
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Albuquerque, NM
**David Blake**
- Fire Safety Section
- FAA Technical Center
**International Aircraft Systems Fire Protection Working Group Meeting**
- March 13, 2002

## Modeling Smoke Transport in Aircraft Cargo Compartments

**Modeling Smoke Transport in Aircraft Cargo Compartments**

- _Goal:_ Develop a CFD-based simulation tool to predict smoke transport in cargo compartments
- Improve the certification process
-  Identify optimum smoke detector locations
-  Specify sensor alarm levels
-  Identify worst case fire locations
-  Reduce the number of flight tests
- Fast running
- Suitable for non-expert users
- Experimental data for source term characterization from FAA experiments
- Validated using FAA full-scale experiments

## Insight into Physical Processes

**Insight into Physical Processes**

- FAA experiments helped identify four classes of cargo compartment fire scenarios
- Model capable of assessing these scenarios (curvature and packing issues addressed)

**Buoyant Plume**

**Attached Flow**

**Diffuse Source**

## Smoke Transport Code Features

**Smoke Transport Code Features**

- Curvature of compartment is resolved on grid
- Arbitrary ventilation inlets and outlets can be specified
- Location and type of fire can be selected
- HRR, MLR are time varying inputs (as measured in FAA experiments)
- Species tracking: presently soot, CO, and CO2 but addition of more or different species possible
- Simulation time on the order of hours
- Validated using FAA full-scale experiments

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculations

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculations**

- Insert most recent movie of temperature distribution

- Buoyant Plume
- 300 sec flaming fire in the center of sealed compartment
- 300 sec flaming fire in sealed compartment with 45o offset gravity
- 300 sec flaming fire with ventilation
- Attached Flow
- 120 sec flaming fire near wall of sealed compartment

## Flaming Source Characterization

**Flaming Source Characterization**

- Insert most recent movie of temperature distribution

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration CalculationBuoyant Plume

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculation****Buoyant Plume**

- Flaming fire in the center
- 300 second simulation
- No specified ventilation
- Species concentrations (CO, CO2, soot) - aids in sensor selection and placement

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration CalculationBuoyant Plume with Varied Orientation

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculation****Buoyant Plume with Varied Orientation**

- Flaming fire in center
- Orientation of cargo bay 45o (y, +x gravity)
- 300 second simulation
- No specified ventilation

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration CalculationBuoyant Plume with Ventilation

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculation****Buoyant Plume with Ventilation**

- Flaming fire in center
- 0.5 m/s inlet in lower forward corner, outlet in upper aft
- 300 second simulation

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration CalculationsBuoyant Plume Comparisons

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculations****Buoyant Plume Comparisons**

- Buoyant Plume

- Ventilation

- Gravity

## Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculation

**Smoke Transport Code Demonstration Calculation**

- 120 second simulation (~9 hours of compute time for 10K grid points; Sun Ultra2).
- No specified ventilation
- HRR, MLR are time varying as measured in FAA experiments
- Species concentrations (CO, CO2, soot) - aids in sensor selection and placement

**Soot Concentration **

**Temperature**

**CO/CO2**

## Plan developed by the FAA and SNL to verify and validate the smoke transport code

- Verification and validation of the code using:
- Method of manufactured solutions
- FAA full-scale experiments
- Verification using method of manufactured solutions complete
- Baseline validation experiments to begin shortly

**Model Verification and Validation**

## Following validation of the smoke transport code:

- Release of alpha version
- Selection of approach for user interface
- Develop and implement user interface
- Documentation and release of code to small user community
- Revisions and final release of code

** ****Potential Future Activities**