Fire Detection and Suppression Simulation - FIREDASS

Fire Detection and Suppression Simulation - FIREDASS
For over 20 years halon 1301 has been the agent of choice for the protection of aircraft from the effects of fire in cargo holds. Unfortunately halon 1301 has a high ozone depletion potential and production has been banned since 1993 by the Montreal Protocol. No alternative system with similar fire fighting capability is available at time and it is necessary to conduct fire tests with new agents and systems in order to help define the minimum level of performance required in order to achieve equivalent safety.

The water mist technology is one of the alternatives that has shown promising results over the last years as a possible replacement for halon. Since 1992 the Norwegian Fire Research Laboratory has performed several test series investigating the effects of  water mist systems, mainly intended for use as replacement for halon in offshore installations, and for shipboard use (machinery spaces, accomodation and public spaces, IMO-tests).
  

In 1994 SINTEF was invited to attend a consortium with 8 European partners and apply for funding from the European Commission for a project programme covering the use of  water mist as a replacement for halon in aircraft cargo bays. In early 1996 the FIREDASS project programme was accepted by the European Commission.  

In addition to a general verification of the system, in short, the main objective of the programme is to develop modeling techniques for optimization of  water mist systems intended for use in aircraft cargo bays. Discussions between the industrial and academic members of the Consortium have concluded that this model should be based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which can then be used by the industry to optimize fire detection and suppression/extinguishing systems.

The project programme will last for 3 years and the different tasks are divided between the 8 Consortium partners as follows:

GEC-Marconi Avionics, (GB) Fire suppression developer-aircraft applications.
Cerberus Guinard, (FR) Developer of fire detection systems.
SINTEF-NBL, (NO) Fire test facility
DLR, (DE) Fire test facility
University of Greenwich, (GB) Fire Modeling, Software Developer
National Technical University of Athens, (GR) Fire Modeling, Software Developer
CAA, Safety Regulation Group,(GB) UK Aviation Safety Regulation
Ginge Kerr, (GB) Fire suppression developer - Subcontractor

SINTEF's main part was to perform fire trials for verification of the mathematical models in a extensive instrumented test compartment measuring temperatures, gas concentrations, radiation, burning rate etc. to characterize the conditions for extinguishment. Based on their long experience with water mist tests, SINTEF also have made a major contribution to the theoretical extinguishment model that will be used in the final CFD-package. SINTEF's fire trials were performed during autumn 1996.

Contact person:
Ragnar Wighus
Telephone: + 47 73 59 10 78
E-mail: