A METHOD FOR EXTINGUISHING ENGINE NACELLE FIRES 

BY USE OF INTUMESCENT COATINGS 

Ginger Bennett 

Bow-Allen & Hamilton, Inc 

A USTRACI 

The objective ofthis program is to explore a novel approach to engine nacelleiAPU and other machinery space fire 

pnitection using strategic placement of intumescent inaterials within the ventilated aircraft engine nacelle. Intuniescent materials are typically coatings that respond to impingement 013 fire by swelling and possibly forming il 

protective char, to physically and thermally protect the coated structure. ’The approach includes a survey of intumescent coaling manufacturers for the viability (if the coatings, expected expansion rate. potential application in the 

nacelle. fraction of the nacelle flow reduced by the coating. durability of the coating during nornial flight operations. 

and adhesiveness ;md vibration~resist;ioce of the expanded char following activation of the paint by a fire. An 

estimate will be made ofthe reduction in suppressant needed as a result of using this technology. This technology 

provides a lightweight, 111w cost approach IO reducing airtlow in the engine nacelle/APU. 

BACKGROUND 

INTUMESCENT MATERIALS 

Intumescent materials are typically coatings that respond to impingement of a fire by swelling 

and possibly forming a protective char, to physically and thermally protect the coated structure. 

The intumescent coating can be applied as a very narrow and thin strip, in a form of one or more 

closed rings on the exterior of the machinery, which are located to swell against the enclosure at 

locations where clearance is minimal. Using intumescent materials in an engine nacelle, if a fire 

occurs (such as due to a leak of tlammable fluids onto hot exterior machinery components). the 

resulting flame would impinge onto a portion of such intumescent material, which would swell 

upon heating, normally several orders of magnitude beyond its original thickness. This swelling 

would block off the downstream airflow path in the vicinity of the fire, depriving it of a steady 

flow of oxygen and facilitating self-extinguishment. If the blockage is only partial. and the flame 

follows the re-directed airflow around the sealed-off area, the local intumescent-covered portion 

in that region would also swell, sealing off a perimeter of the machinery space and depriving 

oxygen flow until the fire self-extinguishes. In this manner, a series of “fire-walls” can bc 

formed using a minimal quantity of intumescent. If an extinguishing system is also used, it can 

improve its effectiveness or permit smaller systems hy weakening the fire and reducing the 

airflow dilution of the extinguishant. Previous analysis performed by the USAF suggested 

feasible application for machinery spaces (the concept having recently been submitted by the 

USAF for government patent protection, but not yet physically demonstrated). 

AIRCRAFT ENGINE NACELLES 

Aircraft engine nacelles, as with other machinery spaces, comprise an enclosure that houses a hot 

piece of operating machinery (an aircraft engine in this case). Such spaces also have fluid lines 

that are routed within the enclosure on the exterior of the machinery, to provide fuel, oil or 

hydrdulic/brake fluid for the machinery (all of which are flammable). These enclosures/nacelles 

are typically ventilated with forced airflow (by a fan or by the free stream outside the aircraft), to 

prevent the accumulation of any flammable vapors. and possibly also provide some machinery 

cooling. In a typical fire scenario. one of the fluid lines leaks and sprays or streams the 

flammable fluid onto the hot machinery, which results in a fire. The ventilation airflow 

Hidon Oplioiih ‘Technical Worhinf Conlcrence 2-4 May ?O(Xl 277 
continues to support the fire, and directs the orientation of the resultant flame torch downstream. 

An automatic extinguishing system may be discharged from upstream to apply extinguishant to 

the fire, but due to rapid dilution by the ventilation airflow and short residence time near the fire 

(and robustness of a bluff-body stabilized flame), many of these fires will not be extinguished 

with extinguishant quantities permissible for many of these applications (and weight-sensitive 

aircraft in particular). In addition, after initial extinguishment, the fire may re-ignite due to the 

fluid continuing to flow onto the hot surface with replenished airflow after the extinguishant has 

been drawn downstream. Due to this situation, current machinery applications have serious 

problems with fire events, and extinguishing techniques only have limited success, or require 

extinguishing quantities and hardware that are impractical. Other diverse techniques proposed to 

date to avoid the limitations of traditional extinguishing systems have not been adequate for 

many of these applications, or have additional unacceptable disadvantages. 

Figure I is a cross-sectional view of the region between the exterior of a piece of hot machinery 

and the enclosure (or nacelle) that surrounds the machinery. The machinery exterior (1) is hot 

enough to ignite fluids in this region, or near a source of electrical energy such as a wire bundle 

or connection. The outer enclosure or nacelle (2) is some distance from the heated machinery. In 

this example, a region chosen in proximity to a structural rib (3) is illustrated. The clearance 

between the rib and machinery is commonly no more than 1-3 inches. Other components may 

also be present or used as substitutes to the ribs that also result in local small clearances. They 

may be general enclosure contours, conduits, or other components. In addition, some such 

components may be present on the machinery surface itself, which may reduce the clearance with 

the enclosure. An intumescent coating (4) will be applied in the form of a narrow strip onto the 

machinery surface, or the components attached on it, in the region of reduced clearance. This 

region is just downstream of a location where a fluid line (5) is mounted. Intumescent materials 

expand greatly in size when impacted by a flame or extreme heat, forming a carbonaceous 

4 

Figure 1. Cross section view of region between nacelle and hot machinery. 

structure, possibly with an outer char layer, to form an effective thermal barrier against extreme 

fire conditions, and are widely used in many applications. Intumescent materials can expand 

twelve times or more beyond their initial size when impacted by a flame, and are typically 

applied as a viscous liquid, which hardens. 

The fluid line may have a leak, which would result in sprayed or leaking fluid that can ignite on 

or near the hot surface (Figure 2). The flame (6) would thus orient itself downstream in the 

direction of ventilation airflow (7). Such a flame would impinge upon the strip of intumescent 

material placed downstream. Upon impingement, the intumescent material (8) would expand, on 

278 Halon Options Technical Working Conference 2-4 May Zoo0 
Figure 2. Fluid leak and subsequent fire. 

the order of IO or more times its original thickness, thereby forming around the rib or component 

above it and blocking off the flow of air locally. Such a local fire block would weaken the fire 

due to oxygen starvation (by preventing airflow in that direction) and possibly extinguish it. 

An overall layout of the intumescent material is illustrated for an entire engine nacelle (or associated machinery space) (Figure 3). The narrow strips of intumescent material (4) are placed on 

the outer engine surface ( 1) across from several of the annular ribs that encircle the interior side 

of the nacelle (2). An individual strip ring would expand at the location .just downstream of the 

location of the fire origin. It is important that each of these independent “rings” of intumescent 

material be actual enclosed curves, whose ends meet at some point on the engine surface. Therefore, if the air flows around a local region that has expanded (and redirecting the flame orientation as well), then the adjacent portions would also swell accordingly until the entire circle of 

intumescent swells. effectively closing off downstream airflow, stopping the flow of air and 

starving the fire in that region of the nacelle. Although each of these rings must be closed. it is 

not necessary that they form a two-dimensional plane, and can meander along the engine surface 

as long as they are in close enough proximity to the nacelle to effectively seal it. As stated, the 

intumescent material can be placed on components attached to the engine surface, rather than 

direcdy to the engine surface itself, if it proves advantageous from a sealing standpoint. The 

rings only need to be placed downstream of fluid line locations where fires may originate. 

2 

Figure 3. Overall layout of intumescent material 

Many aircraft currently use firewalls at some location adjacent to engine nacelles to prevent fire 

propagation away from the engine. Unfortunately, these locations are usually limited to areas 

like the engine pylon (if the engine is mounted away from the aircraft body or wing), because it is 

desired to avoid constriction of the ventilation airflow directly around the engine under normal 

operating conditions. Such firewalls can also be heavy, are only necessary when an actual fire 

occurs, and are needed near the site of the fire. The intumescent material design described here 

H:ilan Oplirmc Techniul Working Conlcrencc 2-4 May X(Xl 279 
could provide such protection in a lightweight form at the location of the fire, without normally 

impeding the flow of air. 

Many types of intumescent materials are currently in use, including those already MIL-qualified 

and in use on aircraft such as cargo bay liners. A few examples are PittChar XP by PPG, No-Fire 

A-1 8 by No-Fire Technologies, Inc., and 3-6077 silicone ablative by Dow Corning. If one 

considers a strip 0.5 inches in width, 0.2 inches thick (to seal up a clearance gap of 2 inches or 

more) spread over an engine core of 30 inches diameter (which would represent an F-22 type 

engine), then a total volume of 0.005447 ft3/ring would result. Accounting for the densities of 

the products just mentioned, a weight range of 0.393-0.460 Ibs/ring would exist. Even if four 

rings were used at various regions of the nacelle, then a total weight of only 1 S72-1.84 Ibs. 

would be added. This weight is minimal in comparison to the size of extinguisher systems that 

are currently used, which can range from 10-20 Ibs. total weight/engine. 

The intumescent coating may only be needed in a limited region of the compartment, where the 

origin of fires is most likely. The intumescent material could also be mounted on the enclosure’s 

interior side if it is deemed beneficial. If the gap is relatively large between the machinery and 

the enclosure, then a strip of coating may be placed on both the enclosure and machinery surfaces, which upon expansion could meet in the middle. 

It is currently desired to find replacement extinguishing chemicals to the halons currently in use 

(which have stopped production due to ozone depletion), and such replacement chemicals have 

shown reduced performance relative to halons. As a result, the Department of Defense is seeking 

additional design techniques that can assist in the performance of these replacement chemicals, 

so they can be acceptably used in existing halon bottles, and by means of methods that restrict the 

flow of air in particular. This concept is ideal for this purpose, Le., by weakening the flame due 

to oxygen starvation and inhibiting extinguishing chemical dilution by restricting airflow, thereby 

increasing its local concentration and residence time near the fire. This technique may be 

sufficient in many cases to permit the omission of an extinguishing system altogether. 

OBJECTIVE 

The objective of this program is to explore a novel approach to engine nacelle/APU and other 

machinery space fire protection using strategic placement of intumescent materials within the 

ventilated aircraft engine nacelle [I]. 

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS 

This technique may also be suitable for those applications where an extinguishing system may 

not be justified, e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles. It also has many potential commercial applications, including stationary turbines, marine engines and machinery spaces, buses and transportation equipment, fixed generator and compressor units and power equipment trailers, petrochemical facilities, and any other applications where liquid fueled, oiled, or hydraulically controlled 

equipment is operated and possibly stored within an enclosure. Other military applications 

include other aircraft dry bays (wing leadinghailing edge, equipment bays, landing gear bays, 

and auxiliary power unit compartments), armored vehicle engine compartments, and battlefield 

equipment/electronics trailers. 

280 Halon Options Technical Working Conference 2-4 May 2ooO 
APPROACH 

The following resources will be investigated for their discussions of optimization of fire suppressant delivery systems: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Federal Aviation Administration, Civil Aviation Administration, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Japanese 

Society of Mechanical Engineers, Journal of the Combustion Instituie (Combustion and Flame), 

Journal of Fire and Flammability, Society of Automotive Engineers, US Patent and Trade Office, 

Air Force Research Laboratory Technical Library, Air Force Institute of Technology, Advisory 

Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD), and existing Next-Generation Fire 

Suppression Technology Programs (NGP) programs. 

Manufacturers of intumescent coatings will be surveyed for the following information: 

Viability of the coatings, including the durability of the coating during normal flight 

operations and adhesiveness and vihration-i.esistance of the expanded char following 

activation of the paint by a fire. 

Effectiveness of the coatings, including the expected expansion rate and the fraction of 

the nacelle flow reduced by the coating. 

Application of the coatings in the nacelle. 

Data from NGP Element I .A. (Development Of Model Fires For Fire Suppression Research) 

will be utilized for the physical and function limitations of these systems. This information will 

include system configuration and fire models for aircraft engine nacelles/APU and other machinery spaces. An estimate will be made of the reduction in suppressant needed as a result of 

using this technology. Recommendations for a potential test program (proof-of-concept) will be 

developed as a result of this effort. 

SUMMARY 

Technology pursued by this effort will significantly advance the capabilities to suppress fires 

rapidly and effectively in manned (land combat vehicles) and unmanned (aircraft engine 

nacelles/APU) spaces. The utilization of intumescent coatings on engine nacelle/APU and other 

machinery spaces will allow utilization of current alternatives (although less efficient than halon) 

and not impact mission readiness because of the reduction in airflow. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

This research is part of the Department of Defense Next-Generation Fire Suppression Technology Program, funded by the DoD Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program 

under DSS-W contract number SP0700-96-D-4000. The COTR for this effort is Mr. Martin L. 

Lent;. (46’” TW/OGM/OL-AC). The author would like to acknowledge the US Air Force 46’” 

Safety and Survivability Branch for their assistance with this project. 

REFERENCE 

1. Bennett. M.V.. “A Method For Extinguishing Engine Nacelle Fires by Use of Intumescent 

Coaiings,” proposal submission in response to fiscal year 2000 Next-Generation Fire 

Suppression Technology Program (NGP) Proposal Solicitation, March 1999. Copy on file 

with the author. 

Halon Opliaih Technical Workins Conlercncc 2-4 May 2000 28 1