Testing and InField Experience for the FIRE Panel Fuel Tank Protection Device
A technology has been devised and recently deployed in highway vehicle transportation to protect vehicle fuel tanks from impact-induced fires. The technology is currently employed in the FIRE Panel product, which exhibits an improved design based upon powder panel technology used for decades to protect military aircraft from ballisticinduced fuel tank-fed fires. The device comprises a shallow shell, filled with a powder fire extinguishing agent, which is mounted on or near a fuel tank or other flammable fluid reservoir. In the event of an impact to the fuel tank or reservoir, such as due to a collision, which might rupture the tank and spill fuel to be ignited, the adjacent FIRE Panel also impacted shatters as designed, discharging a plume of extinguishing powder to inert the space around the leaking fuel tank or other reservoir, even if the vehicle travels some distance after impact. The simplicity and low cost of the device make it practical for most transportation applications. The science of inerting fuel vapor/air spaces with previously released dry chemical, and the notably low concentrations required for the application, as demonstrated by the Bureau of Mines in addition to military evaluations, will also be discussed. The pedigree of full-scale crash tests, using rocket sled facilities and actual gasoline and live ignition sources to provide a significant threat of fire, will be addressed. The various in-field applications of the device will also be discussed, including motorsports use in the Trans Am racing series, and most recently NASCAR, as used in actual competition. Military transportation applications now being evaluated for the product, including Tactical Wheeled Vehicle fuel tank protection, and their resultant test data will also be discussed. Highway vehicle applications, including its deployment by the thousands on Crown Victoria police cars, and real-world activations while in service will be reviewed.
The Motor Vehicle in the Post-Crash Environment, An Understanding of Ignition Properties of Spilled Fuels
The flammability of common automotive fluids under real-world conditions has not been well-characterized for general use in the automotive community. This paper presents the results of a research program aimed at providing a greater understanding of the potential fire hazards of common fluids carried on board today's vehicles. A literature review was conducted to define the ignition properties of common automotive fluids as determined very precisely in the laboratory environment. A test program was then established to gain insight into the ignition properties of common automotive fluids under different conditions. Automotive engine and exhaust components were used to create a test mechanism that realistically represented the environment, temperatures, and surfaces to which vehicle fluids may be subjected. The reported laboratory results were compared with the test data. Tests were conducted on 12 fluids with and without ignition sources present. The results stated whether each of these fluids was found to ignite under test conditions. For each of the fluids that did ignite, the lowest temperature at which ignition occurred was recorded. Results show that for a variety of potentially spilled automotive fluids, a wide range of ignition properties exists.
Impacts of climate and land use changes on flood risk management for the Schijn River, Belgium
Abstract Flooding is the most common natural disaster in Europe. Modern flood risk management relies not only infrastructure development but also on governmental and non-governmental actors applying legal, economic and communicative water management instruments. Within the European Union (EU), flood management closely relies on policy set at the EU and national levels. It is now recognized that a sound understanding of climate change is required in addition to current management by taking into account land use change and socio-political context, as climate and land use changes have major impacts on hydrological responses. This paper investigates the hydrological behavior due to urbanization under current and future climate scenarios of high summer and high winter rainfall for 20 sub-catchments of the Schijn River, located in the Flanders region near Antwerp, Belgium. As urbanization increases and existing rainfall-runoff models neglecting the specific behavior of urban runoff, a hydrological model was developed based on a basic reservoir concept and applied to the existing rainfall-runoff model (PDM) flow to examine the specific urban contribution. Results revealed that peak flow for urban runoff and the total peak flow (i.e. rural and urban runoff) were significantly higher (i.e. ranges from 200% to 500%) than the existing rainfall-runoff model (PDM) flows, because of faster and more peaked urban runoff response. The impact of climate change on current and future conditions was also assessed by estimating peak flows with respect to return periods from the flood frequency curve. The predicted peak flow of high summer future climate scenario was significantly higher (i.e. ranges from 200% to 250%) than that of the current climatic condition for this region. Furthermore, hourly peak flow and daily volume ratios of 100-year return period for the highest, lowest and average impervious area were projected for the time horizon of the year 2100. It is concluded that climate change impacts contribute the most in producing peak flow in coming years, while increased urbanization takes the second place for both hourly and daily values. Results on urbanization effect and climate change impact assessment are useful to the water managers for spatial planning, emergency planning and insurance industry.