FUEL SYSTEM OF AIRBUS A380

AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS

MOHAMAD HAMDI NAJJAR

Faculty Number: 363215016

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 3

2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................... 5

3. TRANSFER SYSTEM .............................................................................................. 8

4. FUEL QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (FQMS).............................................. 9

5. INSIDE COCKPIT (PANEL) ................................................................................... 12

6. CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................... 12

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 1. INTRODUCTION

The ultimate aim of any fuel system is to deliver the right amount of fuel at the right
pressure to the engines all times. But as an ultra-long haul aircraft of such size, the
percentage of the total weight of the aircraft at maximum weight which is fuel can be very
high. For A380 aircraft the maximum takeoff weight is 569000kg, out of which 254000kg is
fuel which makes about 44.5% of the total weight. The total capacity of fuel tanks of Airbus
A380 is 320000 liters. The fuel system has following main functions

a) Supply fuel to the engines and to the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU)
b) Stores fuel and controls fuel transfers from one tank to another
c) Enable fuel jettison, if necessary.
d) Alleviate structural loads
e) Maintain the Center of Gravity (CG) within limits
f) Control refueling and defueling
g) Contains a collector cell that has a fuel capacity of approximately 1 000 kg to keep the
fuel pumps immersed.

A380 has a swept back wing at an angle of 33.5°.Therefore, as the fuel is used during
flight the balance point of the aircraft, moves quite significantly. All aircraft designs have an
optimum point for the centre of gravity (C of G). In order to keep the A380 C of G at the
optimum for as long as possible the aircraft has a large fuel tank in the horizontal stabilizer.
During flight fuel is transferred out of this into the other tanks, so maintaining the optimal
balance point.

Moving of fuel in various tanks makes the A380 fuel system more complex. There are 11
main tanks used to store fuel. Each wing has 5 main tanks. An outer tank, a mid tank, an
inner tank and two feed tanks. The final storage tank is the one in the horizontal stabilizer at
the rear, known as the trim tank. In addition to these tanks there are various surge tanks and
vent tanks. Surge tanks are there to collect any overflow from the main tanks which may
occur when they are full. This can happen if the fuel expands or if it ‘sloshes’ out of the tanks
during tight turns during taxi. The vent tanks connect the main tanks to the outside
atmosphere. Using a vent tank limits the differential pressure between the main tanks and the

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 atmosphere, keeping it within structural limits. The fuel tanks in Airbus A380 are shown in this
image.

Figure 1 A380 Fuel Tanks

Different feed tanks have different capacities which is given in the table below.

Fuel Tank Capacity (Ltrs)

Tail tank 23,698
Inner tank 90,600
Mid tanks 72,000
Feed tank 2 and 3 28,130 each
Feed tank 1 and 4 26,974 each
Outer tanks 9,524 each

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 Fuel is supplied to the engines via the feed tanks. Each engine has it’s own feed tank. The
outer, mid, inner and trim tanks can be considered as storage tanks which are used to keep
the feed tanks full. If there is a problem with a feed tank an engine can be supplied with fuel
from other feed tanks using a cross feed system. Aviation fuel has a typical specific gravity of
around 0.785 kg/l. Each liters of fuel weighs 0.785kg. To understand the concept of specific
gravity, just compare it with water. Water has a specific gravity of approximately 1kg/l. 1 liter
of water into a jug which is placed on a set of scales, we will find it weighs 1kg. Aviation fuel is
less dense than water, so if we were to do the same again we would find out 1 liter of aviation
fuel would only weigh 0.785kg.

2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION

The horizontal stabilizer runs through section 19 and includes an integral fuel tank
between ribs 8 left and right. The fuel level in the tail tank, which can take up to 23,698 liters,
is adjustable in flight for trimming purposes. Overall, the hard-line A380-800 fuel-tank capacity
is 315,292 liters, most of which is contained in two inner tanks with more than 90,600 liters.
Two other mid-tanks hold about 72,000 liters between them, with inner engine 2 and 3 feed
tanks containing 28,130 liters each. The outer engine 1 and 4 feed tanks each hold 26,974
liters, while the two outer tanks each hold 9,524 liters. The detailed specification of fuel tanks
taken from "A380 briefing for Pilots" is given below

Figure 2 Fuel Tanks Detailed Specifications

Engine Feed Pumps: Each collector cell contains two engine feed pumps, one main pump
and one standby pump. In normal operation, each main fuel pump runs continuously and
feeds its assigned engine. If a main pump fails or is off, the corresponding standby pump
automatically takes over. One main or standby pump can supply fuel to the four engines. If all
fuel pumps fail, fuel can be fed to the engines by gravity.

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 Cross Feed Valves: Each engine has an assigned crossfeed valve. This valve enables the
engine to be fed via any Engine-feed pump, if necessary.

Engine Low-Pressure Valves: Each engine has a Low Pressure (LP) valve that can stop the
flow of fuel to the engine.

APU Feed: The APU can be fed via its assigned feed pipe. If fuel pressure is too low for the
APU to operate correctly the main or standby pump of engine no 4, or APU feed pump
operates automatically. The APU can also be fed by the main or standby pump of any other
engine, provided that the applicable cross feed valves are open.

Figure 3 Fuel System Schematic

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 Figure 4 Fuel System Schematic 2

Each transfer tank has a pump connected to the forward gallery. Each feed and transfer
tank can receive fuel from the forward gallery via an inlet valve. The inner and mid tanks have
a pump connected to the aft gallery, and again, each feed and transfer tank can receive fuel
from the aft gallery via an inlet valve. The trim tank is connected to both the forward and aft
galleries.

The forward gallery is used to transfer fuel between all the wing tanks. The aft gallery is
used to transfer fuel from the trim tank to the wing tanks. The trim tank can accept fuel during
refuel operations before the flight and while on the ground in order to change the centre of
gravity. However, in flight, fuel can only from from the trim tank to the wing tanks, not the other
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 way. The design of the gallery system means if there is a failure in one of the galleries, the
other can take over and complete the fuel transfer. Re-fuelling is carried out using the galleries.
There are two re-fuelling points installed under the wings, each of which can accept two fuel
hoses from the re-fuelling vehicle. When both hoses are in use it takes around 45 minutes to
upload 200 tones of fuel.

3. TRANSFER SYSTEM

Fuel tank transfers enable the transfer of necessary fuel quantities from tank to tank. The
purpose of fuel transfers is to provide fuel to the engines (Main Transfers), to reduce the loads
on the aircraft structure (Load Alleviation Transfers) and to control the center of gravity (CG)
of the aircraft (CG control transfers). Two galleries (FWD and AFT) pass through all wing
tanks (inner, mid, outer, and feed tanks) to enable fuel transfers. Each wing transfer tank has
one or two transfer pumps, each connected to one of the two galleries. One trim pipe
connects the trim tank to the AFT and FWD galleries. The trim tank is equipped with two trim
transfer pumps, each connected to the trim pipe. In normal operations the FWD gallery is for
fuel transfers between the wing tanks and the AFT gallery is for fuel transfers between the
trim tank and the wing tanks via the trim pipe. The FWD and AFT galleries can be connected
to each other via two auxiliary refuel valves (one on each side). during refueling, defueling
and jettison. In the case of a failure of any gallery, the other gallery takes over for alternate
fuel transfers using a network of transfer pumps, inlet valves and crossfeed valves.

Figure 5 Transfer System

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 Figure 6 Inner to Outer & Trim to Inner Fuel Transfer

4. FUEL QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (FQMS)

Two Fuel Quantity and Management Systems (FQMS) permanently monitors the fuel
quantity And the Center of Gravity (CG) of the aircraft. The main purpose of FQMs is to
control /perform CG control, control fuel transfers automatically, perform ground operations
(Refueling and defueling) and controls the fuel jettison. The FQMS can control the fuel loading
and distribution, depending on the zero fuel weight (ZFW) and ZFCG, to obtain a post-refuel
CG of 39.5% . This is referred to as CG targeting. If no ZFW/ZFCG values have been
entered, the FQMS uses the default ZFW/ZFCG values to start the refueling. If the actual CG
is out of the takeoff limits, the flight crew can start an automatic ground transfer using the
AUTO GND XFR pb. This will redistribute the fuel, to obtain the ground CG target (+/- 1%),
based on the final ZFW/ZFCG values entered in the FMS .

Main Transfers: The quantity of fuel in the feed tanks continuously decreases, due to engine
fuel burn. Main transfers are automatic transfers from the other tanks to the feed tanks, and
occur in the following sequence:

a) Inner tanks to feed tanks, until empty

b) Mid tanks to feed tanks, until empty
c) Trim tanks to feed tanks, until empty

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 d) Outer tanks to feed tanks.

Load Alleviation (LA) Transfers: The load alleviation transfers occur in flight is After
Takeoff (Transfer to the outer tanks, until the outer tanks are full and Before Landing Transfer
from the trim tank, until the trim tank is empty. Transfer from the outer tanks, until the outer
tanks are half empty.

Center of Gravity (CG) Control Transfers: CG control transfers maintain the aircraft's CG
forward of the aft certified limit by transferring fuel from the trim tank to the appropriate wing
tanks. There are no aft CG transfers, because the CG only has a minor impact on the cruise
performance.

Fuel Jettison: To rapidly reduce the aircraft’s gross weight, fuel can be jettisoned from all the
transfer tanks simultaneously at an output rate of approximately 150 000 kg (330 000 lbs) per
hour. It is not possible to jettison fuel from the feed tanks.

Figure 7 Fuel Jettison

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 Figure 8 Fuel Schema after Detail Analysis

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 5. INSIDE COCKPIT (PANEL)
On the flight deck there is a dedicated fuel control panel above the pilots. One of our setup
actions is to turn on 20 fuel pumps. During flight the transfer of fuel between tanks is
completely automatic (so long as the system is working properly ). Below is the view of A380
Cockpit

Figure 9 Fuel System Indicators (Inside Cockpit)

6. CONCLUSION
A380 fuel system is reasonably complex. With so many pumps, valves and sensors etc
which make the A380 fuel system quite so challenging. The automatic system and center of
gravity adjustment using Quality management system is remarkable. It would have been very
difficult besides the automatic transfers. Indeed, the system on the A380 is somewhat similar
to that used on Concorde but the supersonic airliner a Flight Engineer had to do all the fuel
transferring by manual switch and pump selection. The nature and sheer size of the A380
means we have a much more complex fuel system. But by imaginative use of the fuel in order
to maintain the optimum centre of gravity for as long as possible in flight, the designers have
found a way to not only power the aircraft but also make use of it to improve efficiency.

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