CliveL
First of all a hearty welcome from myself also to the thread, speaking as a fellow old Filtonian/Fairfordian. (I'm sure I must have bumped into you during my years at BAC Clive).
It is thanks to the tremendous skill and dedication of 'designer chaps', such as yourself and ChristiaanJ, that Concorde became this breathtakingly amazing aeroplane that she was. I can't wait to read some more of your informative posts; you obviously have one hell of a story to tell, and can obviously teach us all (especially me) a thing or three.
Anyway, after that 1980 engine fire incident we did find a couple of small holes in the centrewall and as a result we fitted some ceramic coated steel plates in the vulnerable areas.
But as stated, the fire precautions built in did a good job. In this connection though it is worth saying that the cooling air passing over the engine comes from the ramp bleed in the intake and that it is controlled by 'secondary air doors' in the corners left between the circular engine and the square nacelle. These are there to stop air flowing back from the engine bay into the intake during takeoff and are opened once the pressure diferential between intake and engine bay is favourable. Part of the fire drill was to close these doors so the engine fire was deprived of oxygen, which helps a lot
It was thanks to this superb system for sealing off the engine bay (as well as actuating closed the nacelle ground running flap) when the ESDH (fire handle) was pulled, that generally limited the damage caused by the engine bay fire you mentioned on G-BOAF in 1980 to the affected engine only. (Save as you say, those small holes in the centre wall). Also worth mentioning is the fact that extinguisher pressure would also trip a 'fire flap', that would isolate the ram airflow into the air conditioning heat exchangers, that were mounted directly above the engines.. In the case of the aforementioned incident, this was just as well, as both heat exchangers were seriously damaged by the fire, and another potential source of oxygen was fortunately removed. Yet another truly brilliant piece of design.
Best Regards
Dude
