A jet blast deflector (JBD) or blast fence is a safety device that redirects the high energy exhaust from a jet engine to prevent damage and injury. The structure must be strong enough to withstand heat and high speed air streams as well as dust and debris carried by the turbulent air. Without a deflector,

jet blast Jet blast is the phenomenon of rapid air movement produced by the jet engines of aircraft, particularly on or before takeoff. A large jet-engined aircraft can produce winds of up to as far away as behind it at 40% maximum rated power. Jet b ...

can be dangerous to people, equipment, vehicles and other aircraft.Morrison, Rowena. ''ASRS Directline'', Issue Number 6, August 1993
"Ground Jet Blast Hazard."
Retrieved on November 13, 2009. Jet blast deflectors range in complexity from stationary concrete, metal or fiberglass fences to heavy panels that are raised and lowered by hydraulic arms and actively cooled. Blast deflectors can be used as protection from

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

and fixed-wing aircraft propwash. At

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

s and jet engine service centers, jet blast deflectors can be combined with sound-deadening walls to form a ground run-up enclosure within which a jet aircraft engine can safely and more quietly be tested at full thrust.

Purpose

High energy jet engine exhaust can cause injury and damage. Jet blast has been known to uproot trees, shatter windows, overturn automobiles and trucks, flatten poorly made structures and injure people. Other aircraft in the jet blast, especially lightweight ones, have been blown around and damaged by jet exhaust. Hurricane-force air streams moving at speeds up to have been measured behind the largest jet-powered aircraft at distances of over . A

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap betw ...

's two

General Electric GE90 The General Electric GE90 is a family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines built by GE Aviation for the Boeing 777, with thrust ratings from . It entered service with British Airways in November 1995. It is one of three options for the 777 ...

engines combine to create a thrust of approximately ,Stanley, Lynn B. ''Split exhaust jet blast deflector fence''. , issued July 4, 1995. a level of force which is high enough to kill people. To prevent these problems, jet blast deflectors redirect the air stream in a non-dangerous direction, frequently upward.

Airports

Jet blast deflectors began to appear at airports in the 1950s. Airports in the 1960s used jet blast deflectors with a height of , but airports in the 1990s needed deflectors that were twice as high,Stanley, Lynn B. ''Jet blast deflector fence''. , issued July 7, 1992. and even up to high for jet airliners such as the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long- range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 197 ...

and

MD-11 The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is an American tri-jet wide-body airliner manufactured by American McDonnell Douglas (MDC) and later by Boeing. Following DC-10 development studies, the MD-11 program was launched on December 30, 1986. Assembly of t ...

, which have engines mounted in the tail above the fuselage. Airports often place their deflectors at the beginnings of runways, especially when roadways or structures are adjacent. Airports that are in dense urban areas often have deflectors between taxiways and airport borders. Jet blast deflectors usually direct exhaust gases upward.Campion, Gordon Pearson. ''Blast deflector''. issued October 12, 2004. However, a low-pressure zone can form behind the blast fence, causing ambient air and debris to be drawn upward with the jet exhaust, and hot, toxic gases to circulate behind the blast fence. Jet blast deflectors have been designed to counteract this problem by using multiple panels and various angles, and by using slotted panel surfaces.

Ground run-up enclosure

After a jet engine has been overhauled or has undergone the replacement of parts, it is normal to run the engine up to full thrust to test it.Stanley, Lynn B. ''Blast deflecting fence''. , issued September 18, 1984. Rural airports rarely provide more than a distant portion of the airfield within which to test engines at full thrust, but urban airports surrounded by residential areas often specify that engine tests be conducted within a ground run-up enclosure ("

hush house A hush house is an enclosed, noise-suppressed facility used for testing aircraft systems, including propulsion, mechanics, electronics, pneumatics, and others. Installed or uninstalled jet engines can be run under actual load conditions. Testing ...

"), so that the engine noise can be reduced for residents.

Aircraft carriers

US Navy 030405-N-9951B-021 Two F-A-18 Hornets prepare to launch

Aircraft carriers use jet blast deflectors at the rear of

aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...

s, positioned to protect other aircraft from exhaust blast damage. Jet blast deflectors are made of heavy duty material that is raised and lowered by

hydraulic cylinder A hydraulic cylinder (also called a linear hydraulic motor) is a mechanical actuator that is used to give a unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. It has many applications, notably in construction equipment ( engineering vehicles ...

s or linear actuators. The jet blast deflector lies flush with and serves as a portion of the

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

until the aircraft to be launched rolls over it on the way to the catapult. When the aircraft is clear of the deflector, the heavy panel is raised into position to redirect the hot jet blast. As soon as the deflector is raised, another aircraft can be brought into position behind it, and flight deck personnel can perform final readiness duties without the danger of hot, violent exhaust gases. Such systems were installed on aircraft carriers in the late 1940s and early 1950s, as jet-powered aircraft began to appear in navies. Jet blast deflectors aboard aircraft carriers are placed in very close proximity to the temperatures of modern jet fighter exhaust. The non-skid decking surface of the deflector suffers heat damage and requires frequent maintenance or replacement. Additionally, the hot deflector surface cannot be used as normal decking until it has cooled enough to allow aircraft tires to roll over it. To mitigate the heat problem, active cooling systems were installed in the 1970s, tapping the fire mains (fire suppression water systems) to use seawater circulating through water lines within the deflector panel.Fischer, Eugene C. and Dale A. Sowell, John Wehrle, Peter O. Cervenka. ''Cooled jet blast deflectors for aircraft carrier flight decks''. , issued June 10, 2003. However, the water cooling system adds more complexity and failure points, and requires additional maintenance. The most recent method tried by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for solving the heat problem was introduced in 2008 with USS ''George H.W. Bush'' which uses heavy-duty metal panels covered in heat-dissipating ceramic tiles similar to those used on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

. The tiled panels can be changed quickly and easily—the ship carries a large replacement supply. Without active water lines, the passively-tiled deflector is expected to require much less maintenance.GlobalSecurity.org
"CVN-77 - George H.W. Bush."
July 10, 2006. Retrieved on November 14, 2009.

Blast deflector

A jet blast deflector is often called simply a "blast deflector", however, this term has other uses. In gunnery, the term "blast deflector" refers to a device which protects the gun crew from the muzzle blast of a gun. In small arms, a "blast deflector" is another name for a

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

which directs muzzle blast to the sides and upward to prevent the muzzle from climbing during automatic fire.Carlucci, Donald E. and Sidney S. Jacobson. ''Ballistics: Theory and Design of Guns and Ammunition'', pp. 158–159. CRC Press, 2007.

References