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Flight decks buckle from heat in 10 minutes

Leaving an MV-22 Osprey’s rotors idling on a flight deck will create enough heat to melt and buckle the deck in about 10 minutes.

Repeated deck buckling will ruin the flight deck in about 40 percent of the ship’s projected life span.

And introducing the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jump-jet variant will only add to the problem.

Those are among the issues cited by the Office of Naval Research as it seeks a modification for flight decks to better withstand and distribute the heat from the new aircraft’s exhaust and downwash.

ONR is seeking proposals on how to build a “flight deck thermal management” system that will help distribute the heat from the aircraft and keep the deck temperatures below 300 degrees.

Testing shows Osprey downwash can raise deck temperatures as high as 350 degrees.

“Currently there are no available solutions other than heavy structural modifications to mitigate deck buckling and thermo-mechanical deck failure,” according to a recent document seeking proposals from private companies, known as a broad agency announcement.

The new systems — which could involve a one-inch plate on top of the deck or a cooling system installed below the deck — will likely be installed in the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships and future America-class flattops, according to the ONR document.

The ONR announcement reveals the Navy’s challenges as it tries to introduce a new generation of aircraft with tilt-rotor and short-take-off-vertical-landing ability on ships designed for traditional helicopters.

The Ospreys, the military’s first tilt-rotor aircraft, create extraordinary heat and force when the nacelles are tilted upward and the rotors muster enough force to lift the aircraft like a helicopter.

The F-35B Lightning IIs that are expected to join the fleet in 2012 have a unique vertical-landing feature that turns the jet’s thrusters to face downward during landing and expose the flight deck to hot exhaust that could damage the flight decks.

Osprey’s downwash creates enough force to knock sailors and aircraft off the flight deck, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.

Naval Sea Systems Command has not made any determination on the need for flight deck modifications, and potential solutions are still under consideration, NavSea spokesman Alan Baribeau said. Procedures used on the Osprey’s first at-sea deployment aboard the amphibious assault ship Bataan were effective and will be used again, he said.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Office of Naval Research’s proposed timeline aims to develop a flight deck cooling system by 2014:

• 2010: Award contract.

• 2011: Test materials to handle aircraft heat.

• 2012: Build a large-scale test panel.

• 2013: Conduct land-based testing.

• 2014: Install the Thermal Flight Deck Management system on a ship.