Posted on 11/07/2002 4:27:52 PM PST by Asmodeus
Certain airplane fuel residues can conduct electricity and cause passenger jet fuel tanks to explode, researchers said Thursday. The finding might help prevent deadly explosions like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
The finding was part of a three-year, $800,000 study commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration and carried out in part by researchers at the University of Dayton Research Institute.
TWA 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean off the New York coast on July 17, 1996. All 230 people died in the accident. Government investigators determined the accident was caused by an explosion of the center wing fuel tank.
The university announced Thursday that residues that form in the presence of low-sulfur jet fuel, silver-coated surfaces and water conduct electricity and can ignite jet fuel when exposed to even low levels of electricity.
Robert Kauffman, a UDRI research chemist, said the findings don't reveal the definitive cause of the explosion that brought down TWA 800. But the research points out potential hazards that are being addressed by the FAA.
"In a situation like TWA 800, you try to find three or four plausible scenarios and see if they're possible," Kauffman said. "If they are, you do everything possible to stop them from happening, whether they caused the accident or not."
Kauffman said investigators found conductive residues on wires recovered from the TWA 800 accident site and also concluded that there was a low-power energy source on the plane that could have caused the ignition in the tank if it came into contact with the residues.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators haven't pinpointed what ignited the Boeing 747's fuel tank. But a report from the agency concluded that whatever triggered the explosion likely entered the tank through wiring for its fuel quantity indication system.
The NTSB's report further states that, "Although it is possible that the release of ignition energy inside the (tank) was facilitated by the existence of silver-sulfide deposits on an FQIS component, neither the energy release mechanism nor the location of the ignition inside the (tank) could be determined from the available evidence."
At least two other aircraft have experienced center wing fuel tank explosions in the last 12 years. In 1990, a Philippines Airlines 737 plane exploded while being pushed back from the gate. Last year, a Thailand Airlines 737 plane blew up while standing at the gate.
Kauffman's research found that fuel residues found on terminal blocks from fuel tanks contained silver or silver oxides with an outer layer of fuel gums. The residues were found on terminal blocks outfitted with silver-plated nuts.
Further testing showed that low-sulfur fuels react with silver or silver oxide to create what Kauffman called conductive residue.
"We found we could use really low power and could actually get these deposits to glow and ignite fuel," Kauffman said.
UDRI and Arizona State University conducted the study as subcontractors for SRI International, a Menlo Park, Calif., nonprofit independent research institute.
Michael McKrube, who co-authored the study, said high-sulfur fuels clean away the residues. As the use of environmentally friendly low-sulfur fuels widens, he worries about the safety ramifications for aircraft, he said. Such fuels are commonly used in Europe and Asia.
It was unclear whether TWA 800 or two other aircraft which experienced explosions in their center-wing tanks were carrying high- or low-sulfur fuel, McKrube said.
Kauffman said an Environmental Protection Agency mandate will require the use of low-sulfur fuels in the U.S. by 2005.
Kauffman said he wants to continue studying the correlation between low-sulfur fuels and aircraft accidents. Some potential solutions, he said, include sensors that alert aircraft personnel to the presence of low-sulfur fuels on planes and the creation of additives that reduce the fuel's volatility.
"...we decided to play around with all kinds of silly little lab expriments instead of taking a look at dozens of credible, first-hand, eye-witness reports."
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Yeah, electrically conductive .... fuel residue ... yeah, that's the ticket!!! |
But, nice try with the anti-missile disinformation.
The university announced Thursday that residues that form in the presence of low-sulfur jet fuel, silver-coated surfaces and water conduct electricity and can ignite jet fuel when exposed to even low levels of electricity.
Robert Kauffman, a UDRI research chemist, said the findings don't reveal the definitive cause of the explosion that brought down TWA 800. But the research points out potential hazards that are being addressed by the FAA.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators haven't pinpointed what ignited the Boeing 747's fuel tank. But a report from the agency concluded that whatever triggered the explosion likely entered the tank through wiring for its fuel quantity indication system.
The NTSB's report further states that, "Although it is possible that the release of ignition energy inside the (tank) was facilitated by the existence of silver-sulfide deposits on an FQIS component, neither the energy release mechanism nor the location of the ignition inside the (tank) could be determined from the available evidence."
Michael McKrube, who co-authored the study, said high-sulfur fuels clean away the residues. As the use of environmentally friendly low-sulfur fuels widens, he worries about the safety ramifications for aircraft, he said. Such fuels are commonly used in Europe and Asia.
It was unclear whether TWA 800 or two other aircraft which experienced explosions in their center-wing tanks were carrying high- or low-sulfur fuel, McKrube said.
"In the space of one hundred and seventy six years the Lower Mississippi has shortened itself two hundred and forty-two miles. That is an average of a trifle over a mile and a third per year. Therefore, any calm person, who is not blind or idiotic, can see that in the Old Oölitic Silurian Period, just a million years ago next November, the Lower Mississippi was upwards of one million three hundred thousand miles long, and stuck out over the Gulf of Mexico like a fishing-pole. And by the same token any person can see that seven hundred and forty-two years from now the Lower Mississippi will be only a mile and three-quarters long, and Cairo [Illinois] and New Orleans will have joined their streets together and be plodding comfortably along under a single mayor and a mutual board of aldermen. There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact."
--Mark Twain
Really? How do you explain the millions of internal combustion engines on the streets? Are they made of non-conducting plastic?
Notice it says if...IF..IF..If, Another Nebulous IF! if it came into contact... Can anybody say " square peg into a round hole"?!
LOL! They have spark plugs inside them, made not of non-conducting plastic but rather of non-conducting ceramic. Furthermore these plugs sometimes get "fouled" by conductive carbon soot buildup, and cease to function for exactly the reason I cited. Do airplane fule tanks have spark plugs in them? No. They also don't have mists or vapors of highly volatile fuel - except in the vicinity of an impact, explosion, or other energetic mechanical event.
But, like Asmodeus, nice try.
The finding was part of a three-year, $800,000 study commissioned by the Federal Aviation Administration and carried out in part by researchers at the University of Dayton Research Institute.
They that pay the piper call the tune.
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