AFRL Designs and Constructs Double-Deck Aircraft Mockup for Fire Research

  • Published
  • By Materials & Manufacturing Directorate
  • AFRL/ML
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  AFRL collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to design, fabricate, and install a 60 ft section mockup of a double-deck aircraft, facilitating new large aircraft (NLA) fire research that is unachievable with smaller-scale mockups. Both agencies gain the capability to conduct research trials on a full-scale mockup similar in size and shape to the Boeing 747, Airbus A380, and military C-5 aircraft. They also acquire a fire scenario differing from that of AFRL's existing C-130 mockup, which has seen extensive use in military and civilian firefighting and rescue evaluations since its installation in the early 1990s. Whereas engineers built the NLA mockup 10 ft off the ground (simulating fire impingement on the fuselage belly), the C-130 mockup rests on the ground (simulating a landing with the wheels up).

The FAA requested that AFRL engineers design and build a double-deck aircraft mockup to serve as the focal point for fire research programs. NLA, such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8, present new challenges to current aircraft rescue and firefighting principles, practices, theories, training methods, and equipment. In turn, airport firefighters face greater risks as commercial aviation increases the number of  passengers aboard aircraft, incorporates the use of composite materials in aircraft structures, and expands aircraft fuel storage capacity. 

The resulting NLA mockup is constructed of 1/4 in. plate steel, erected on 12 in. diameter support legs. The fuselage section measures over 27 ft in diameter and encompasses the cargo, main, and upper  passenger decks, along with the first three passenger doors, located directly behind the cockpit. The wing  is designed to represent the first 10 ft of the leading edge and possesses three-dimensional characteristics to emulate a realistic firefighting platform. A 20 ft section of the inner engine nacelle is suspended from the wing. Engineers have fabricated a set of three plate steel, high temperature evacuation slides that can  be used on either the wet side (for live fire evaluations) or the dry side (for vehicle and other non-firerelated evaluations). The entire mockup is instrumented with over 75 thermocouples, which monitor the thermal loading of the mockup and provide critical data on temperature and fire behavior.