NexGen Burner for Seat Cushion Fire Testing

Federal AviationAdministrationNexGen Burner for

Seat Cushion Fire Testing

International Aircraft Materials Fire Test Working GroupJune 18, 2009Köln, Germany

NexGen Burner for Seat Cushion Fire Testing

IAMFTWG, Köln, Germany2Federal Aviation

Administration

Outline

• Background• Objective• NexGen Burner Configuration• Results• Future Work



Administration

Background

• Lack of availability of burners for seat cushion fire testing has resulted in the need for a readily available, equivalent burner

• The NexGen burner has already been found to provide equivalent results to the Park burner for thermal acoustic insulation burnthrough testing



Administration

Objective

• Configure a NexGen burner to achieve the calibration standards set in chapter 7 of the Aircraft Materials Fire Test Handbook– Fuel flow rate of 2.0 gph ± 0.1 gph– Equivalent to an inlet air flow of 67 ± 4 cfm– 30-second average heat flux of at least 10 BTU/ft2s– Flame temperatures of at least 1800°F on 5 of 7

thermocouples and at least 1750°F on at most 2 thermocouples

– 30-second average of 7 thermocouples at least 1800°F



Administration

Equivalent Air Flow RateInlet Air Flow:

67 cfm ≈ 1800 fpm in 2.625 in2 air flow meter (HH30)

Exit Air Flow ~ 1600 fpmResulting Sonic Choke Inlet Pressure:47 psig

Note: Exit flow measurements taken with turbulator on



Administration

Fuel Flow Rate

• Fuel flow rate is dictated by – Specific nozzle used– Inlet fuel pressure– Fuel viscosity

• Several nozzle types were attempted– R: Solid– NS: Hollow– AR: Special Solid– PLP: Semi Solid

www.monarchnozzles.com



Administration

Average Flame Temperature – 2.25 80° PLP

1400

1500

1600

1700

1800

1900

2000

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360Stator Clocking, Degrees

Ave

rage

Fla

me

Tem

pera

ture

, F

4 1/8" 3 9/16"

4 9/16" 3 1/16"

Nozzle Tip to Stator Face



Administration

Final NexGen Burner Settings• Fuel Nozzle

– 2.25 gph-rated 80° AR @ 114 psig → 2.04 gph

• Stator Distance– 3 1/16” back from nozzle tip

• Stator Clocking– Approximately 262° from

vertical• Air Flow

– Sonic choke inlet pressure = 47 psig → 1600 fpm exit velocity

Stator Clocking Measurement Example



Administration

18841874

1900

18711863

1855

1792

1874

1844

1830

1767

1854

1839

1868

1848

1780

1700

1750

1800

1850

1900

1950

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVGThermocouple

Tem

pera

ture

, F

PARKNEXGEN

Measured Flame Temperatures



Administration

Measured Heat Flux

11.26 11.28

0

5

10

15

NEXGEN BURNER PARK BURNER

Hea

t Flu

x, B

TU/ft

2 s



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Seat Testing

• Sample sets were obtained from the conditioning chamber– 3 sets of bottoms and backs for each burner– Cushions had fire blocking layers



Administration

Seat Cushion Testing – NexGen

14.14

11.11

10

11.75

18.24

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Seat 1 Seat 2 Seat 3 Avg %SD

Perc

ent W

eigh

t Los

s



Administration

Seat Cushion Testing – Park

8.91 9 8.96

0.71

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Seat 1 Seat 2 Seat 3 Avg %SD

Perc

ent W

eigh

t Los

s



Administration

Comparison

11.75

18.24

8.96

0.71

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Avg %SD

Perc

ent W

eigh

t Los

s

NexGenPark



Administration

Summary

• After much trial and error testing, the NexGen burner was able to achieve burner calibration according to the specifications in chapter 7 of the Aircraft Materials Fire Test Handbook

• The NexGen burner results showed inconsistency when compared to the Park

• Despite having a slightly lower flame temperature, the NexGen burner consistenly produced higher % mass loss than the Park



Administration

Future Work

• Laboratory needs some work– Fume hood velocity needs to be adjusted– Scale needs to be properly configured and more

rigidly mounted• More comparative testing

– More testing needs to be done in order to determine burner performance

NexGen Burner for Seat Cushion Fire Testing

Documents

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