<p>A hot surface is one of the ignition sources which may lead to fires in the presence of aviation fluid leakage. Bleeding ducts and exhaust pipes that are at elevated temperatures are potential sources of ignition. A database of Minimum Hot Surface Ignition Temperatures (MHSIT) resulting from experiments conducted three decades ago at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Dayton, OH has served as a valuable source of estimating safe operating temperatures. However, MHSIT for some of the aviation fluids such as Jet-A and MIL-PRF-23699 (lubrication oil) are not readily available. Further, the ranges of the hot surface and flammable liquids’ temperatures and the range of the air stream velocities need to be extended for use in higher pressure ratio and higher performance aircraft engines developed since the generation and interpretation of the original data. The air velocities (V_A) in the modern engines have increased by a factor of two and documenting their effects on the MHSIT for a range of test fluid temperatures and air temperatures (T_F, T_A) is important.</p> <p>The objectives of this study are to develop a generic test apparatus to study MHSIT and to model an air-fuel mixture space to find the range of temperatures and velocities that lead to ignition. Among various leakage scenarios, the test apparatus simulates spray (atomized particles injected through a nozzle) and stream (dripping from a 3 mm tube) injection. A semiempirical ignition model was developed using an ignition temperature and delay time expression based on an energy balance between the heat lost to the cross-stream flow, the heat added from the hot surface and the heat released by the nascent chemical reactions to estimate the MHSIT.</p> <p> </p> <p>MHSIT is measured including the effects of V_A, T_F, T_Aand the effects of obstacles. Ignition probability is evaluated as a function of the hot surface temperature. The probabilistic nature of the hot surface ignition process was established. New flammable fluids (Jet-A & MIL-PRF-23699) have been tested and MHSIT database was expanded. A large number of ignition experiments were completed to evaluate ignition probability at various flow conditions of aviation fluids: (1) Jet-A, (2) Hydraulic oil (MIL-PRF-5606) and (3) Lubrication oil (MIL-PRF-23699). Uncertainty of the experimental measurements for these tests have been documented. Air velocities were extended up to 7 m/s. Effects of flammable liquid and air temperature on MHSIT were studied. The empirical constants for the semi-empirical model were determined using these experimental data.</p><p>The ignition probability is strongly correlated with hot surface temperature and progressively weakly correlated with air velocity, fluid parcel size, air temperature, and test fluid temperature. Parameters investigated in this study are useful design choices considering MHSIT for a given flow condition.</p><p></p>

<div>Hot surface ignition is a safety design concern for serval industries including mining, aviation, automotive, boilers, and maritime applications. Bleed air ducts, exhaust pipes, combustion liners, and machine tools that are operated at elevated temperatures may be a source of ignition that needs to be accounted for during design. An apparatus for the measurements of minimum hot surface ignition temperature (MHSIT) of 3 aviation fluids (Jet-A, Hydraulic Oil (MIL-PRF-5606) and Lubrication Oil (MIL-PRF-23699)) has been developed. This study expands a widely utilized database of values of MHSIT. The study will expand the current range of design parameters including air temperature, crossflow velocity, fluid temperature, global equivalence ratio, injection method, and the effects of pressure. The expanded data are utilized to continue the development of a physics-anchored data dependent system and machine learning model for the estimation of MHSIT.</div><div><br></div><div>The aviation industry, including Rolls Royce, currently use a database of MHSIT values resulting from experiments conducted in 1988 at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) within the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. Over the three decades since these experiments, the range of operating conditions have significantly broadened in most applications including high performance aircraft engines. For example, the cross-stream air velocities (V) have increased by a factor of two (from ~3.4 m/s to ~6.7 m/s). Expanding the known database to document MHSIT for a range of fuel temperatures (TF), air temperatures (TA), pressure (P) and air velocities (V) is of great interest to the aviation industry. MHSIT data for current aviation fluids such as Jet-A and MIL-PRF-23699 (lubrication oil) and their relation to the design parameters have recently been under investigation in a generic experimental apparatus. </div><div><br></div><div>The current work involves utilization of this generic experimental apparatus to further the understanding of MHSIT through the investigation of intermediate air velocities, global equivalence ratios, injection method, and the effects of pressure. This study investigates the effects of air velocity in a greater degree of granularity by utilizing 0.6 m/s increments. This is done to capture the uncertainty seen in MHSIT values above 3.0 m/s. Furthermore, this study also expands the understanding of the effects of injection method on the MHSIT value with the inclusion of spray injected lubrication oil (MIL-PRF-23699) and stream injected Jet-A. The effects of global equivalence ratio are examined for spray injected Jet-A by modulating the aviation fluid injection rate and the crossflow air velocity in tandem. </div><div><br></div><div>During previous experimental campaigns, it was found that MHSIT did not monotonically increase with crossflow air velocity as previously believed. This new finding inspired a set of experiments that found MHSIT in crossflow to have four proposed ignition regimes: conduction, convective cooling, turbulent mixing, and advection. The current study replicates the results from the initial set of experiments at new conditions and to determine the effects of surface temperature on the regimes. </div><div><br></div><div>The MHSIT of flammable liquids depends on several factors including leak type (spray or stream), liquid temperature, air temperature, velocity, and pressure. ASTM standardized methods for ignition are limited to stagnant and falling drops downward (autoignition) at atmospheric pressure (ASTM E659, ASTM D8211, and ASTM E1491) and at pressures from 218 to 203 kPa (ASTM G72). Past studies have shown that MHSIT decreases with increasing pressure, but the available databases lack results of extensive experimental investigation. Therefore, such data for pressures between 101 to 203 kPa are missing or inadequate. As such the generic experimental apparatus was modified to produce the 101 to 203 kPa air duct pressure levels representative of a typical turbofan engine. </div><div><br></div><div>Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have become widely available in recent years. Open-source software packages and languages have made it possible to implement complex ML based data analysis and modeling techniques on a wide range of applications. The application of these techniques can expedite existing models or reduce the amount of physical lab investigation time required. Three data sets were utilized to examine the effectiveness of multiple ML techniques to estimate experimental outcomes and to serve as a substitute for additional lab work. To achieve this complex multi-variant regressions and neural networks were utilized to create estimating models. The first data sets of interest consist of a pool fire experiment that measured the flame spread rate as a function of initial fuel temperature for 8 different fuels, including Jet-A, JP-5, JP-8, HEFA-50, and FT-PK. The second data set consists of hot surface ignition data for 9 fuels including 4 alternative piston engine fuels for which properties were not available. The third data set is the MHSIT data generated by the generic experimental apparatus during the investigations conducted to expand the understanding of minimum hot surface ignition temperatures. When properties were not available multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE) was utilized to estimate fluid properties. Training and testing data sets were split up to 70% and 30% of the respective data set being modeled. ML techniques were implemented to analyze the data and R-squared values as high as 92% were achieved. The limitation of machine learning models is also discussed along with the advantages of physics-based approaches. The current study has furthered the application of ML in combustion through use of the MHSIT database.</div>

An accumulated combustible dust layer on some hot process equipment such as dryers or hot bearings can be ignited and result in fires when the hot surface temperature is sufficiently high. The ASTM E 2021 test procedure is often used to determine the Hot Surface Minimum Ignition Temperature for a half inch deep layer of a particular dust material. This test procedure was used in this thesis to study possible effects of combustible liquid (such as lubricating oil) and powder additives in the dust layer as well as air flow effects. The following combustible dusts were used: paper dust from a printing press, Arabic gum powder, Pittsburgh seam coal, and brass powder. To develop an improved understanding of the heat transfer, and oxygen mass transfer phenomena occurring in the dust layer, additional instrumentation such as a second thermocouple in the dust layer, an oxygen analyzer and gas sampling line, and an air velocity probe were used in at least some tests. Hot Surface Minimum Ignition temperatures were 220oC for Pittsburgh seam coal, 360oC for paper dust, 270¡Ãƒâ€° for Arabic gum powder, and > 400oC for brass powder. The addition of 5-10 weight percent stearic acid powder resulted in significantly lower ignition temperature of brass powder. When combustible liquids were added to the dust layer, the ignition temperatures did not decrease regardless of the liquids¡¯ ignitibility because the liquids seemed to act as heat absorbents. Although air velocity on the order of 1 cm/s did not affect test results, much larger air velocities did affect the results. With 33 cm/s downward airflow at the elevation of the surface of the layer, Pittsburgh seam coal was not ignited at 230¡Ãƒâ€° which was 10¡Ãƒâ€° higher than the 220¡Ãƒâ€° hot surface ignition temperature without airflow. Based on the results and data from the additional instrumentations, modifications of the ASTM E2021 test procedure are recommended.

<div>Due to the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and emission challenges associated with its usage, there is a need for alternative aviation fuels for future propulsion. The alternative fuels with handling, storage and combustion characteristics similar to conventional fuels can be used as “drop-in” fuels without significant changes to the existing aviation infrastructure. Fire safety characteristics of alternative aviation fuels have not been studied intensively and therefore research is needed to understand these characteristics. In this study, fire safety characteristics namely hot surface ignition (HSI) and flame spread phenomena are investigated for alternative aviation fuels. </div><div><br></div><div>HSI is defined as the process of a flammable liquid coming in contact with a hot surface and evaporating, mixing and reacting with the surrounding oxidizer with self-supporting heat release (combustion). If all the conditions are adequate, the fuel may completely turn into combustion products following the ignition process. This work presents results from more than 5000 ignition tests using a newly developed reproducible test apparatus. A uniform surface temperature stainless steel plate simulating the wall of a typical exhaust manifold of an aircraft engine is used as the hot surface. Ignition tests confirmed that the ignition event is transient and initiates at randomly distributed locations on the hot surface. The results show many significant differences and some similarities in the ignition characteristics and temperatures of the different fuels. In this work, hot surface ignition temperatures (HSITs) are measured for nine hydrocarbon liquids. Five of these fuels are piston engine based, three fuels are turbine-engine based and one fuel is a pure liquid, heptane. The piston engine based fuels are given by FAA and are confidential and hence labeled as test fuels A, B, C, D for this study. The HSITs of these fuels are measured and compared against a baseline fuel 100 LL aviation gasoline (100LL Avgas). HSITs of conventional turbine engine based fuels namely Jet-A, JP-8, and JP-5 are also measured. </div><div><br></div><div>Flame spread along liquid fuel has been one of the important combustion phenomena that still requires more in-depth research and analysis for the deep understanding of the chemical processes involved. Flame spread rate determines how fast the flame spreads along the fuel surface and it is an important parameter to study for fire safety purposes. For the flame spread rates study, a novel experimental apparatus is designed and fabricated. The experimental apparatus consists of a rectangular pan, a fuel heating system, an autonomous lid actuation system, a CO2 fire extinguisher system, and a laser ignition system. The flame spread phenomenon is studied for a conventional aviation fuel namely, Jet-A and three alternative aviation fuels namely, hydro-processed ester fatty acids (HEFA-50), Fischer-Tropsch – IPK (FT-IPK) and synthetic iso-paraffin (SIP). The experiments are conducted for a wide range of initial fuel temperatures ranging from 25°-100°C for Jet-A, HEFA-50, FT-IPK and from 80-140°C for SIP as the flash-point of SIP is 110°C and is ~3 times higher than that of other three fuels. The flame spread rate of all fuels increases exponentially with increasing fuel’s initial temperature. Flame spread rate is as low as ~5 cm/sec for Jet-A, HEFA-50, FT-IPK for 25°C initial fuel temperature and goes to as high as 160 cm/sec for 80°C initial fuel temperature. For SIP based jet fuel, flame spread rate is ~160 cm/sec for initial fuel temperature of 140°C. Additionally, it was also found that the flame propagation consists of two types of flames: a precursor blue flame located ahead of the main yellow flame. These flames are more evident over the fuels’ surface with initial fuel temperatures higher than their respective flash-points. The precursor blue flame propagates like a premixed flame and the main yellow flame propagates like diffusion combustion.</div><div><br></div><div>This dissertation includes eight chapters. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the work done until now in the field of hot surface ignition. Following this review, the experimental apparatus designed and fabricated for this study are discussed in Chapter 2. This chapter also talks about the test matrix, data acquisition tools and concludes with the data analysis method. In Chapter-3, HSITs of 3 turbine engine based fuels and 5 piston engine based fuels are reported. This chapter also discusses the effect of drop height and curvature (flat v/s cylindrical) for two fuels, Jet-A, and heptane. This concludes the work done in the field of HSI in this dissertation. Chapter 4 talks about the past work reported by various researchers in the field of flame spread phenomenon and key learnings from their work. Chapter 5 discusses the experimental apparatus designed and fabricated for flame spread phenomenon study. In chapter-6, flame spread rates of 4 alternative aviation fuels are reported. This chapter also discusses the flame spread mechanism associated with slower (liquid-phase controlled) and faster (gas-phase controlled) flame propagation. Chapter 7 discusses flame propagation which consists two types of flames: a precursor blue flame and a main yellow flame. Chapter 8 concludes the key findings of the hot surface ignition and flame spread phenomenon study in this research work </div><div><br></div>