THE DESTRUCTION OF HIGH EXPANSION FIRE-FIGHTING FOAM BY THE COMPONENTS OF FUEL PYROLYSIS AND COMBUSTION. PART III. TESTS OF FULL SCALE FOAM GENERATORS EQUIPPED WITH SCRUBBERS

The report involved (1) pilot tests of an intermediate scale scrubber-generator unit, (2) development of a full scale foam supply for a typical ship's engine room, and (3) tests on the scrubber-generator system with several types of foam under a variety of fire conditions. These full scale tests confirmed the previous laboratory observation that regardless of the chemical countermeasures, inlet air above 212F must be cooled before foam can be produced. With the degree of cooling and scrubbing achieved in the pilot tests, a 50% reduction in foam yield occurred; therefore, the engine room system was designed with twice the capacity required to achieve the specified fill rate of three feet per minute. With this safety factor, the system was only marginally successful. The design fill rate was readily exceeded for spray fires but only one of the fresh water foams met the requirements for bilge and bilge plus spray fires. Either a layer safety factor or improved scrubbing efficiency will be required for the salt water compatible foams. (Modified author abstract)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • See also Part 2, AD-744 647.
• Corporate Authors:

  Naval Ordnance Laboratory

  Indian Head, MD  United States  20640

  Stanford Research Institute

  333 Ravenswood Avenue
  Menlo Park, CA  United States  94025
• Authors:
  • Alger, R S
  • Alvares, N J
• Publication Date: 1974-7-29

Media Info

• Pagination: 103 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Fire fighting; Fire fighting equipment; Foams; High expansion foams
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00084310
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NOLTR-74-101 Final Rpt.
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 26 1975 12:00AM