Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper presents a three-dimensional mathematical field model describing aircraft cabin fires. The computer code uses the body-fitted coordinate formulation which is used to model accurately the interior of the aircraft. The model is validated against experimental results obtained from u series of fire tests performed in a BOEING-737 fuselage (without fittings). Both steady-state and time-dependent results are presented. The effects of the aircraft's ventilation system on the temperature distribution within the fuselage is examined. Early results suggest that. a reverse flow situation (i.e. cold air injected through floor vents and hot air sucked out at ceiling vents) greatly reduces the temperatures throughout the fuselage. Finally, there is an examination of the effectiveness of air curtains as a means of fire containment.