TY - GEN
T1 - Explosion suppression of an armoured vehicle crew compartment
AU - Kim, Andrew
AU - Liu, Zhigang
AU - Crampton, George
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - A project was initiated to identify and evaluate candidate options for the protection of the crew compartment of tanks and armoured personnel carriers from fire and explosion hazards. Three potential candidate extinguishing systems, high pressure HFC-227ea extinguisher, a hybrid gas generator with HFC-227ea, and a hybrid gas generator with water, were evaluated for their explosion suppression performance in real-scale crew compartment explosion experiments. Also, any negative aspects of the systems, such as toxicity issues, and the effect of additives on the suppression performance and scavenging effect of thermal decomposition products, were studied. The experimental results showed that each of the three extinguishing systems could extinguish a deflagration type explosion in the compartment, but, depending on the situation, they could not prevent re-ignition of the explosion in the compartment. Their performance depended on many factors. Discharging the extinguisher sideways instead of aiming towards the centre of the compartment increased the suppression performance of the extinguishers. Additives, such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium acetate, improved the suppression performance of all extinguishing systems, in addition to its primary purpose of scavenging thermal decomposition products or protect water from freezing.
AB - A project was initiated to identify and evaluate candidate options for the protection of the crew compartment of tanks and armoured personnel carriers from fire and explosion hazards. Three potential candidate extinguishing systems, high pressure HFC-227ea extinguisher, a hybrid gas generator with HFC-227ea, and a hybrid gas generator with water, were evaluated for their explosion suppression performance in real-scale crew compartment explosion experiments. Also, any negative aspects of the systems, such as toxicity issues, and the effect of additives on the suppression performance and scavenging effect of thermal decomposition products, were studied. The experimental results showed that each of the three extinguishing systems could extinguish a deflagration type explosion in the compartment, but, depending on the situation, they could not prevent re-ignition of the explosion in the compartment. Their performance depended on many factors. Discharging the extinguisher sideways instead of aiming towards the centre of the compartment increased the suppression performance of the extinguishers. Additives, such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium acetate, improved the suppression performance of all extinguishing systems, in addition to its primary purpose of scavenging thermal decomposition products or protect water from freezing.
KW - Armoured vehicle
KW - Crew compartment
KW - Explosion
KW - Suppression
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=12344267223&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:12344267223
SN - 7030143868
SN - 9787030143860
T3 - Progress in Safety Science and Technology Volume 4:Proceedings of the 2004 International Symposium on Safety Science and Technology
SP - 1070
EP - 1074
BT - Progress in Safety Science and Technology Volume 4
A2 - Yajun, W.
A2 - Ping, H.
A2 - Shengcai, L.
T2 - Progress in Safety Science and Technology Volume 4: Proceedings of the 2004 International Symposium on Safety Science and Technology
Y2 - 25 October 2004 through 28 October 2004
ER -