Use of FLACS during the TWA-800 Accident Investigation
Abstract
The TWA flight 800 accident occurred on July 17, 1996 just outside New York City shortly after take-off. The airplane desintegrated as a result of an “explosion” and 230 people were killed. The investigation concentrated on the possibility of a gas explosion in the Centre Wing Fuel Tank (CWT). The hypothesis was that the heating of fuel in the tank by the air conditioning system was the cause of the flammable vapor concentration (temperature above flash-point). The explosion investigation used laboratory experiments, scale-model tests, and numerical simulations to examine the explosion of Jet-A (aviation kerosene) mixtures with air under conditions simulating the center wing tank environment at the time of the accident. Work was carried out over a period of four years to determine the chemical and physical properties of Jet A, particularly the flammability limits, combustion behavior, and the propagation of flames through the compartmentalized structure of the center wing tank. The CFD tool FLACS was adapted and validated against scale-model experiments. The problem of quenching or flame extinction was identified as an issue and addressed through experiments and modeling. FLACS was then used in full-scale simulations to explore the effects of various parameters and assumptions, especially ignition locations within the tank. All of this information was integrated through a rule-based system to attempt to narrow down the number of plausible ignition locations that would be consistent with the observed damage as deduced from the recovered wreckage.
Description
PresentationSubject
FLACSCollections
Citation
Wingerden, Kees van (2015). Use of FLACS during the TWA-800 Accident Investigation. Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center; Texas &M University. Libraries. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /193758.