Case Study Fire Engineering of Airbus Halls, Toulouse, France

Case Study: Fire engineering of Airbus halls, Toulouse, France SP014a-EN-EU

Case Study: Fire engineering of Airbus halls, Toulouse, France

An assembly plant was constructed for the World's largest aircraft, the Airbus A380. The plant includes of seven long-span steel framed buildings. The buildings were designed using various fire scenarios, including fire in an aircraft, and these scenarios demonstrated acceptable fire safety.

Airbus A380 Assembly Plant (Photograph E. Grimault)

Contents

1. The Achievement 2

2. Introduction 2

3. Structure 2

4. Fire Safety study 4

5. General information 5

6. References 6

Case Study: Fire engineering of Airbus halls, Toulouse, FranceC

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1. The Achievement The achievement of this major production facility in Toulouse, currently one of the largest projects in France, concerned the following:

Construction of seven long-span production halls for the Airbus A380, which is the largest aircraft in the world.

The construction of lattice trusses with a curved top chord and large lattice columns. Stability is provided by a rigid ‘truss-frame’ action.

Various fire scenarios were investigated, from fire in a delivery truck to fire in an aircraft full of fuel, in order to develop a fire safety model.

Progressive collapse scenarios were investigated and it was shown that major failure of one part of the structure would not extend to other parts.

2. Introduction The assembly plant of Airbus A380, the future largest passenger aircraft in the world, occupies an area of 300 hectares. It is also one of the most important industrial projects in progress in France. In July 2006, the first aircraft A380 assembled in this plant will be delivered. This required the construction of long span structures capable of accommodating such a large aircraft in assembly.

3. Structure The buildings of the plant assembly are arranged along a north-south axis corresponding to the assembly route of an aircraft A380, from the delivery of its sections in the north of the site until haulage of the completed aircraft toward the airport zone. The overall site plan is shown diagrammatically in Figure 3.1.

Once the sections have been transported to the site, they are unloaded in one building in the north part of the site and then moved to a building called an ‘apse’ for preparation prior to assembly. The aircraft is assembled in the ‘assembly hall’, and then brought to the ‘equipment halls’ for additional equipment installation (hydraulic and electric equipment), for some specific tests and for the installation of motors. Finally, the aircraft is moved to an external area where it will be subjected to the final tests before its first flight. An independent and separate ‘static testing hall’ is provided in order to perform static testing for attestation of the A380. A second hall of similar size, 40 m away from the static testing hall, is used for finishing activities, weighing and recoating of the aircraft.


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Key: a Static testing d Assembly halls g Logistics shop b Weighing and recoating hall e Apse c Equipment halls f Hall for unloading of sections

h External area for tests and delivery

Figure 3.1 Steel frames of the assembly plant of Airbus A380 (Copyright photo by permission of EADS Airbus)

The main characteristics of these buildings are:

Hall for unloading of sections: floor area – 44 m × 135 m, internal net height – 14 m, maximum outside height – 16 m;

Logistics shop: floor area – 85 m × 70 m, internal net height – 10 m, maximum outside height – 14 m;

Apse building, for assembly preparation: floor area – 50 m × 250 m, internal net height – 20 m, maximum outside height – 23 m;

Assembly hall: floor area – 115 m × 250 m, internal net height – 32,30 m, maximum outside height – 46 m;

Equipment hall: floor area – 6 cells of 95 m × 100 m, internal net height – 32,30 m, maximum outside height – 44 m;

Static testing hall: floor area – 100 m × 100 m, internal net height – 32,30 m, maximum outside height – 44 m.

Weighing and recoating hall: floor area – 100 m × 100 m, internal net height – 32,30 m, maximum outside height – 44 m.

All these buildings were constructed as long span steel structures. In most cases, their lateral stability of is provided by a bracing system using a truss frame. The steel structure is illustrated in Figure 3.2.


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a) External view during construction

b) Internal view Figure 3.2 Assembly hall

(Copyright photo by permission of EADS Airbus)

4. Fire Safety study The normal fire safety requirements are not applicable to such type of major project and production facility. As a consequence, an important discussion was necessary with the fire brigade and insurance company to identify appropriate strategies and solutions and gain experience from similar works. It was decided to use a fire partition wall between assembly hall and the equipment halls in order to limit the potential loss in case of a severe fire. The question arises about the possible progressive collapse of adjacent buildings due to the failure of one of them in case of fire.


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In order to provide an answer to above question, a fire safety study was made by CTICM on the basis of natural fire concept, using the following three fire scenarios:

Fire in a delivery truck near a critical column;

Fire of aircraft without fuel and various working tools;

Fire of an aircraft full of fuel.

The structural model used for the fire safety assessment is shown in Figure 4.1.

A global structural analysis was applied. This showed that the collapse of columns could create a dynamic impact of a steel truss beam on a concrete partition wall, leading to its damage. As a consequence, the intensity of sprinklers around the columns was increased, to avoid such a potential failure mode.

Figure 4.1 Equipment halls - Applied modelling in global structural analysis and fire safety engineering

5. General information Client: EADS - AIRBUS France

Architect: ADPi and CARDETTE et HUET

Planning of structural framework: Jaillet-Rouby

Executive company: - URSSA (Spain) - CIMOLAI (Italy) - CASTEL et FROMAGET - JOSEPH PARIS - RICHARD DUCROS


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- BUICK - GAGNE - RENAUDAT

Fire protection expertise: CTICM and others.

Construction period: 2000 – 2004

Main parameters: Common building span ≥ 100 m

Average building height ≈ 45 m

Ground-plan: 200 000 m²

6. References CTICM Revue Construction Métallique N°1 2004, «Usine d’assemblage de l’Airbus A380 sur le site aéro-constellation à toulouse».


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Quality Record RESOURCE TITLE Case Study: Fire engineering of Airbus halls, Toulouse, France

Reference(s)

ORIGINAL DOCUMENT

Name Company Date

Created by Bin Zhao CTICM 2003

Technical content checked by Haller Mike PARE 08/11/05

Editorial content checked by Brasseur Marc PARE 08/11/05

Technical content endorsed by the following STEEL Partners:

1. UK G W Owens SCI 20/1/06

2. France A Bureau CTICM 20/1/06

3. Sweden A Olsson SBI 20/1/06

4. Germany C Müller RWTH 20/1/06

5. Spain J Chica Labein 20/1/06

6. Luxembourg M Haller PARE 20/1/06

Resource approved by Technical Coordinator

G W Owens SCI 13/7/06

TRANSLATED DOCUMENT

This Translation made and checked by:

Translated resource approved by:


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Case Study Fire Engineering of Airbus Halls, Toulouse, France

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