N25.2 Definitions

(a)Bulk Average Fuel Temperature means the average fuel temperature within the fuel tank or different sections of the tank if the tank is subdivided by baffles or compartments.

(b)Flammability Exposure Evaluation Time (FEET). The time from the start of preparing the aeroplane for flight, through the flight and landing, until all payload is unloaded, and all passengers and crew have disembarked. In the Monte Carlo program, the flight time is randomly selected from the Flight Length Distribution (Table 2), the pre-flight times are provided as a function of the flight time, and the post-flight time is a constant 30 minutes.

(c)Flammable. With respect to a fluid or gas, flammable means susceptible to igniting readily or to exploding (ref. CS-Definitions). A non-flammable ullage is one where the fuel-air vapour is too lean or too rich to burn or is inert as defined below. For the purposes of this appendix, a fuel tank that is not inert is considered flammable when the bulk average fuel temperature within the tank is within the flammable range for the fuel type being used. For any fuel tank that is subdivided into sections by baffles or compartments, the tank is considered flammable when the bulk average fuel temperature within any section of the tank, that is not inert, is within the flammable range for the fuel type being used.

(d)Flash Point. The flash point of a flammable fluid means the lowest temperature at which the application of a flame to a heated sample causes the vapour to ignite momentarily, or “flash.” Table 1 of this appendix provides the flash point for the standard fuel to be used in the analysis.

(e)Fleet average flammability exposure is the percentage of the flammability exposure evaluation time (FEET) the fuel tank ullage is flammable for a fleet of an aeroplane type operating over the range of flight lengths in a world-wide range of environmental conditions and fuel properties as defined in this appendix.

(f)Gaussian Distribution is another name for the normal distribution, a symmetrical frequency distribution having a precise mathematical formula relating the mean and standard deviation of the samples. Gaussian distributions yield bell shaped frequency curves having a preponderance of values around the mean with progressively fewer observations as the curve extends outward.

(g)Hazardous atmosphere. An atmosphere that may expose maintenance personnel, passengers or flight crew to the risk of death, incapacitation, impairment of ability to self-rescue (that is, escape unaided from a confined space), injury, or acute illness.

(h)Inert. For the purpose of this appendix, the tank is considered inert when the bulk average oxygen concentration within each compartment of the tank is 12 percent or less from sea level up to 10,000 feet altitude, then linearly increasing from 12 percent at 10,000 feet to 14.5 percent at 40,000 feet altitude, and extrapolated linearly above that altitude.

(i)Inerting. A process where a non-combustible gas is introduced into the ullage of a fuel tank so that the ullage becomes non-flammable.

(j)Monte Carlo Analysis. The analytical method that is specified in this appendix as the compliance means for assessing the fleet average flammability exposure time for a fuel tank.

(k)Oxygen evolution occurs when oxygen dissolved in the fuel is released into the ullage as the pressure and temperature in the fuel tank are reduced.

(l)Standard deviation is a statistical measure of the dispersion or variation in a distribution, equal to the square root of the arithmetic mean of the squares of the deviations from the arithmetic means.

(m)Transport Effects. For purposes of this appendix, transport effects are the change in fuel vapour concentration in a fuel tank caused by low fuel conditions and fuel condensation and vaporization.

(n)Ullage. The volume within the fuel tank not occupied by liquid fuel.

[Amdt 25/6]