Improving Freight Fire Safety: Analysis and Testing of Real Engine Conditions to Progress Development of Mist-Controlling Additives for Fire Mitigation

The formation of a fuel mist resulting from high shear stresses acting on the fuel during violent sloshing and tank rupture under the energy of a crash severely increases the occurrence and intensity of fires in transportation related accidents. In order to minimize such crash-induced fires, adding long chained polymers to diesel fuel was proposed to arrest the break-up of diesel into a fine mist. Such polymers with specifically engineered properties are intended to impart non-Newtonian characteristics to diesel, which would then alter its flow behavior under the applied shear stresses. As a first step in this direction, calculations are performed to obtain the shear stresses experienced by diesel in a typical diesel engine fuel system. From this, a shear range was identified in which the added polymers should be most active and not affect the normal operation of the engine. In addition, drop impact experiments using high-speed imaging were carried out for diesel to characterize its flow behavior under a wide range of strain rates. Similar tests were performed with other common hydrocarbons to identify an appropriate simulant for diesel. Data generated from these tests enable validation for computer models of diesel drop impacts that are to be developed in the next phase of this project.

  • Record URL:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Mid-America Transportation Center

    University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
    Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851

    Research and Innovative Technology Administration

    University Transportation Centers Program
    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Authors:
    • Ratner, Albert
  • Publication Date: 2009-12

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Edition: Final Report
  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 26p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01680165
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: MATC-UI: 123, 25-1121-0001-123
  • Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
  • Created Date: Sep 11 2018 2:46PM