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Fire Protection of Petrol Tanks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

A. R. Weyl
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Extract

Petrol is a highly inflammable fluid which can be ignited easily and whose vapour forms with air a highly explosive mixture.

There are, however, possibilities of giving a certain amount of protection against such fire risks created by damage to petrol tanks.

The three main problems which have to be dealt with are:—

  1. (i) To exclude an ignition which may be caused by bullets hitting a petrol tank;

  2. (ii) To seal leaks caused by bullet holes;

  3. (iii) To prevent fire after a crash.

These problems are by no means new. A large amount of research and experimental work has been devoted to their solution.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 44 , Issue 356 , August 1940 , pp. 657 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1940

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References

1 Which, originally, was intended solely for the use against balloon and airships.

2 German Patent No. 322,048 of April, 1918, and No. 365,749.

3 See also German Patent No. 342,084 of 1918.

4 By means of suction, see German Patent No. 375,590 of 1918.

5 The maximum temperature of a bullet can be up to about 160°C, which is well below the ignition temperature of petrol (about 670°C). See also Cranz-Becker, Handbook of Ballistics, Vol. I, p. 442 (London, 1921).

6 In outer-ballistics (see Cranz-Becker, Vol. I, para. 74) often termed “explosive waves.” This expression is discarded here in order to distinguish this phenomenon clearly from an explosion caused by a chemical reaction.

7 F. L. Boothby. Flight (The Aircraft Engineer), 27/1/1927, p. 7.

8 The accident of Capt. Musiek, which occurred during jettisoning petrol while crossing the Pacific with a flying boat, might find its explanation in the same cause.

9 In this connection it seems fair to mention that two Austrian chemists, L. Wolf and M. Stein, secured as far back as July, 1918, a patent for the use of laminated compressed cellulose plastics based on formaldehydes for aeroplane petrol tanks (German Patent No. 321,849).

10 Kecent references in the American technical literature (see “The Journal of the Aeronautical Sciences,” January, 1937) confirm this view.