Core tips：On 22 May, the French aerospace research centre Onera inaugurated a unique test facility at its Fauga-Mauzac site in Haute-Garonne region, dedicated in particular to studying the fire behaviour of composite materials used in aeronautics.
Thanks to PyCoFiRe, France now has the world’s first test facility capable of recreating and analysing fires in the engine compartments of single-aisle commercial aircraft under representative conditions on a 1:1 scale.ink="https://www.jeccomposites.com/?attachment_id=157587" data-orig-file="https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427.png" data-orig-size="1162,649" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}" data-image-title="Onera" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-300x168.png" data-large-file="https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-1024x572.png" src="https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-1024x572.png" alt="" class="wp-image-157587" srcset="https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-1024x572.png 1024w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-300x168.png 300w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-768x429.png 768w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-500x279.png 500w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-700x391.png 700w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-600x335.png 600w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-107x60.png 107w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427-161x90.png 161w, https://www.jeccomposites.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Capture-decran-2025-05-28-220427.png 1162w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" style="box-sizing: border-box; height: auto !important; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: bottom; border-style: none;" />
This is the test facility that the French aerospace research centre onera officially inaugurated on 22 May at its Fauga-Mauzac site in Haute-Garonne region.
PyCoFiRe, which stands for Pyrénées Composite Fire Research, studies the fire behaviour of composite materials used in aeronautics, as well as developing and evaluating new fire extinguishing technologies that are environmentally friendly and certifiable.
“This project embodies a national and European scientific ambition, a remarkable collective commitment, a technological breakthrough in the service of safety, the environment and aerospace sovereignty, and a strategic location at the gateway to Comminges (an area of the Occitanie region in the south of the Haute-Garonne)
,” said Bruno Sainjon, Chairman and CEO of Onera.
The collaborative platform, which is aimed at aerospace manufacturers and researchers, comprises two test cells. The FAN assembly, with its 2.4 metre external diameter, reproduces the annular compartment located behind an aircraft engine nacelle. The CORE assembly models another annular compartment (1.4 metres in diameter) located in the fire zone in the engine cavity near the combustion chamber.
At the initiative of the Occitanie Region, the PyCoFiRe project has received financial support from the European Union, with €10 million from the FEDER (a European Regional Development Fund). It has also received financial support from Airbus, Ariane Group and Safran, who helped define the test bed and are its first users.
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