Computational fluid dynamics simulation of the air/suppressant flow in an uncluttered F18 engine nacelle

For the purposes of designing improved Halon-alternative fire suppression strategies for aircraft applications, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of the air flow, suppressant transport, and air-suppressant mixing within an uncluttered F18 engine nacelle were performed. The release of inert gases from a Solid Propellant Gas Generator (SPGG) was analyzed at two different injection locations in order to understand the effect of injection position on the flow patterns and the mixing of air and suppression agent. An uncluttered engine nacelle was simulated to provide insight into the global flow features as well as to promote comparisons with previous nacelle fire tests and recent water tunnel tests which included little or no clutter. Oxygen concentration levels, fuel/air residence times that would exist if a small fuel leak were present, velocity contours, and streamline patterns are presented inside the engine nacelle. The numerical results show the influence of the gent release location on regions of potential flame extinction due to oxygen inerting and high flame strain. The occurrence of inflow through the exhaust ducts on the aft end of the nacelle is also predicted. As expected, the predicted oxygen concentration levels were consistently higher than the measured levels since a fire was notmore » modeled in this analysis. Despite differences in the conditions of these simulations and the experiments, good agreement was obtained between the CFD predictions and the experimental measurements.« less