Concorde Accident Analysis
FAILURE ANALYSIS
Investigators in the Concorde accident undertook research to find incidents that involved tyres or landing gear on the Concorde since its entry into service. Archives from EADS, Air France, British Airways, BEA, AAIB, DGAC, CAA and Dunlop were consulted to establish a list of such incidents.
The assembled list contained fifty-seven entries; all cases of tyre bursts or deflations. Thirty cases were for the Air France fleet and twenty-seven for British Airways.
Of these events;
• Twelve had had structural consequences on the wings and/or the fuel tank
• Six led to penetration of the tanks
• Nineteen of the tyre bursts or deflations were caused by foreign objects
• Twenty-two occurred during takeoff
• One case of tank penetration by a piece of burst tyre
However none of the events showed any rupture of a tank, a fire, or a significant simultaneous loss of power on two engines.
It was clear that the case of tyre bursts or deflation was not a new topic as far as the history of Concorde is concerned. In this accident and in many other incidents, this material (rubber and other materials constituting the tyres) failure led to other failures on the aircraft structure. Understanding the destruction mechanisms of the tyres and tank rupture as well as the production of the fire would arm the investigators with powerful tools in preventing future accidents.
Tyre failure
Experimental tests
Tests were carried out by Air France’s tyre supplier, Goodyear, at their technical centre in the United States to reproduce the conditions on the day of the accident. Two new Concorde tyres were used for the test and curved metallic strips with comparable dimensions to the one found on the runway were also used.
The tyres were installed on the side of a trolley towed by a truck. The load spread out on the trolley allowed each tyre to bear a load of about twenty-five tons, equivalent to that on each main landing gear tyre on Concorde. Taking
Investigators in the Concorde accident undertook research to find incidents that involved tyres or landing gear on the Concorde since its entry into service. Archives from EADS, Air France, British Airways, BEA, AAIB, DGAC, CAA and Dunlop were consulted to establish a list of such incidents.
The assembled list contained fifty-seven entries; all cases of tyre bursts or deflations. Thirty cases were for the Air France fleet and twenty-seven for British Airways.
Of these events;
• Twelve had had structural consequences on the wings and/or the fuel tank
• Six led to penetration of the tanks
• Nineteen of the tyre bursts or deflations were caused by foreign objects
• Twenty-two occurred during takeoff
• One case of tank penetration by a piece of burst tyre
However none of the events showed any rupture of a tank, a fire, or a significant simultaneous loss of power on two engines.
It was clear that the case of tyre bursts or deflation was not a new topic as far as the history of Concorde is concerned. In this accident and in many other incidents, this material (rubber and other materials constituting the tyres) failure led to other failures on the aircraft structure. Understanding the destruction mechanisms of the tyres and tank rupture as well as the production of the fire would arm the investigators with powerful tools in preventing future accidents.
Tyre failure
Experimental tests
Tests were carried out by Air France’s tyre supplier, Goodyear, at their technical centre in the United States to reproduce the conditions on the day of the accident. Two new Concorde tyres were used for the test and curved metallic strips with comparable dimensions to the one found on the runway were also used.
The tyres were installed on the side of a trolley towed by a truck. The load spread out on the trolley allowed each tyre to bear a load of about twenty-five tons, equivalent to that on each main landing gear tyre on Concorde. Taking