This paper presents a numerical study of postcrash fires in aircraft to identify flashover scenarios under various conditions. The Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) computational model is used to replicate the experiment of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at their C-133 test facility. Then the validated model with kerosene pool fire and the validated model with epoxy from the earlier study are employed to examine the effects of two main boundary conditions, wind conditions and cabin geometry, on flashover occurrence. The numerical approach integrates the eddy dissipation concept and large eddy simulation (LES) for modeling combustion and turbulence, along with submodels for pyrolysis and thermal radiation. The interior materials and epoxy properties used in the simulation are based on FAA experiments and supplementary data from prior studies. The choice of epoxy over kerosene was addressed. Results indicate that wind speed and direction significantly influence the acceleration of flashover for both fuels, with a noticeable difference, while greater cabin ceiling heights are associated with delayed flashover. This study adds vital data to the field of aviation fire safety and serves as a foundation for future studies on fire prevention in airplanes.
Hiber et al. (Sun,) studied this question.