SEDL / STP / STP986-EB / STP26762S

Fire Extinguishing Agents for Oxygen-Enriched Atmospheres

Zallen, DM
Researcher and project manager, Air Force Engineering and Services Center, Tyndall AFB, FL

Morehouse, ET
Researcher and project manager, Air Force Engineering and Services Center, Tyndall AFB, FL

Pages: 22    Published: Jan 1988

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Abstract

Fire suppression agent requirements for extinguishing fires in oxygen-enriched atmospheres were determined by employing small-, medium-, large-, and full-scale test apparatuses. The small- and medium-scale tests showed that a doubling of the oxygen concentration required five times more Halon to be extinguished. This trend agrees with Halon's chemical interference in the chain reaction of the combustion process and the increase in the flame radical pool caused by increased oxygen. For fires of similar size and intensity, the effect of oxygen enrichment of the cabin volume in the HC-131A was not as great as in the smaller compartments of the B-52, which presented a higher damage scenario. The full-scale tests showed that damage to the airframe was as important a factor in extinguishment as oxygen enrichment was.