The Use of Fire Tunnel Test Techniques in the Design of Concorde Powerplant
In the very early design phases of Concorde Powerplant it was realized that the high airflows passing through the engine bay would pose significant problems in terms of the precautions necessary to withstand and extinguish fires within the powerplant. A better understanding of the conditions existing in the bay during fires would produce a rational approach to the problem for both the designer and the certifying authority. In order to obtain extensive coverage of all flight conditions it was necessary to depart from current practice and to construct a simulation of the engine and its environment thereby allowing a large number of tests to be carried out. Using this rig it has been possible, not only to prove the means of detection and extinguishing throughout the flight plan, but to obtain a considerable amount of generalized data for use in component design specifications.