Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This report describes experiments on some large scale simulated aircraft fires, to determine the influence of the rate of application of foaming solution, and the physical properties of the made foam, on the time and quantity of foaming solution required to control fire. It concludes that rate of application has a significant effect on the time to control the fire, and the quantity of foaming solution used. Of the physical properties, expansion does not appear to have a significant effect. Critical shear stress appears to have an optimum value of 400-500 dynes/cm² at which the fire is controlled most quickly, and the effect of this optimum appears to be more pronounced at the lower rates of application of foaming solution. While the effect of drainage was not measured directly, it is clearly advantageous to obtain the lowest drainage characteristic, consistent with the optimum shear stress.