A Benefit Analysis for Nitrogen Inerting of Aircraft Fuel Tanks Against Ground Fire Explosion.

Abstract : The International Cabin Safety Research Technical Group's Survivable Accidents Database was used to identify past worldwide transport aircraft accidents and extract detailed data for those accidents where explosion was an issue in the survivability of the occupants. Each of these accidents was analysed in depth to assess the number of lives and injuries that might be saved if the fuel tanks were protected with nitrogen inerting systems. The objective of this analysis was to assess the potential benefits, in terms of reducing fatalities and injuries, resulting from three methods of aircraft fuel tank inerting. The methods analyzed were ground nitrogen inerting in centre fuel tank only, ground nitrogen inerting in all fuel tanks, and onboard nitrogen inerting in all fuel tanks. Thirteen accidents to transport category aircraft were identified during the period from 1966 to 1995 that may have involved a fuel tank' explosion. A mathematical technique was used to model each accident scenario and a Monte Carlo simulation was used to assess a high, median, and low value for the total achievable benefits.