Front propagation in the interaction of gases to model a fuel tank inerting process with a nonlinear parabolic operator

Purpose: The objective of this study is to model the propagating front in the interaction of gases in an aircraft fuel tank. To this end, we introduce a nonlinear parabolic operator, for which solutions are shown to be regular. Design/methodology/approach: The authors provide an analytical expressio...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Díaz Palencia, José Luis
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad a Distancia de Madrid (UDIMA)
Repositorio:udiMundus. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad a Distancia de Madrid
OAI Identifier:oai:udimundus.udima.es:20.500.12226/1548
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12226/1548
https://doi.org/10.1108/MMMS-10-2022-0224
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Nonlinear parabolic equations
Regularity
Inerting
Finite speed
Descripción
Sumario:Purpose: The objective of this study is to model the propagating front in the interaction of gases in an aircraft fuel tank. To this end, we introduce a nonlinear parabolic operator, for which solutions are shown to be regular. Design/methodology/approach: The authors provide an analytical expression for the propagating front, that shifts any combination of oxygen and nitrogen, in the tank airspace, into a safe condition to avoid potential explosions. The analytical exercise is validated with a real flight. Findings: According to the flight test data, the safe condition, of maximum 7% of oxygen, is given for a time t = 45.2 min since the beginning of the flight, while according to our analysis, such a safe level is obtained for t = 41.42 min. For other safe levels of oxygen, the error between the analytical assessment and the flight data was observed to be below 10%. Originality/value: The interaction of gases in a fuel tank has been little explored in the literature. Our value consists of introducing a set of nonlinear partial differential equations to increase the accuracy in modeling the interaction of gasses, which has been typically done via algebraic equations.