The increasing demand for safety and reliability in aerospace applications necessitates rigorous testing of aircraft components, including light units, for explosion proofness. Traditional explosion proofness tests are destructive, expensive, and time-consuming, requiring significant resources for test setups and prototypes. To address these challenges, this research presents a numerical methodology using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the explosion proofness for aircraft light units. The primary motivation of this study is to establish a computational framework that supports early-stage design screening, reduces the number of physical prototypes, and enhances understanding of explosion behavior before formal qualification testing.
This work contributes to advancing engineering practices in the aerospace industry by demonstrating the efficacy of CFD simulations in evaluating and enhancing the explosion proofness of light units. The proposed CFD model, implemented in ANSYS Fluent, adheres to the standards outlined in DO 160 for case setup, ensuring the accuracy and relevance of the simulation results. The methodology involves creating a simulation domain for the light unit, initially containing an air-fuel mixture with a localized high-temperature region to initiate ignition. This setup replicates the conditions of actual explosion proofness tests, providing a realistic assessment of light unit performance
This CFD simulation methodology incorporates reduced chemical reaction mechanisms to model the explosion process effectively. By simplifying the chemical reactions involved, the computational load is minimized, making the simulations both accurate and feasible. This approach ensures that the CFD model can provide precise insights into the explosion dynamics while maintaining computational efficiency.