Tunnel Fire Dynamics Haukur Ingason • Ying Zhen Li Anders Lönnermark Tunnel Fire Dynamics 1 3 Haukur Ingason Anders Lönnermark Fire Research Fire Research SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Borås Borås Sweden Sweden Ying Zhen Li Fire Research SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden Borås Sweden ISBN 978-1-4939-2198-0 ISBN 978-1-4939-2199-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2199-7 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954828 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 This work is subject to copyright. 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Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Printed on acid-free paper Springer New York is a brand of Springer Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface Fire safety engineering in tunnels is essential in order to obtain good safety for tun- nel users. The knowledge about fire safety in tunnels has increased over the past few decades due to both new research and analysis of real accidents. The aim of this book is to give researchers, engineers, and authorities worldwide a good insight into the fire phenomena in tunnels and the physics behind it. Guidance in calcula- tion of important parameters such as heat release rates, critical velocity, spread of smoke gases and heat, temperatures, heat fluxes, fire spread, and flame lengths is given as well as the theories behind them. A comprehensive overview of how fires in vehicles develop and how different physical parameters such as flammability, ventilation, and geometry influence them is presented. The focus is not on the de- sign aspects of fire safety in tunnels, although some parts are described. It is more about understanding the dynamics and developments of fires in tunnels and other underground constructions. The tunnels are becoming more and more complex and the need for performance based design increases. The authors have found the need for presenting and gath- ering the latest knowledge on fire research and experience from different testing. Therefore, the emphasis is on engineering relations and physics of fires. This will provide good and solid background information which the readers can on their own hand, use in its daily research and engineering work. The knowledge presented here comes very much from research that the authors have been involved in, but also from other large-scale experiments and practical experience. The book can also serve as a base for a university education for those who are interested to understand the basics of tunnel fire safety engineering using correlations and formulas obtained within different fields. The book is divided into numerous chapters where the focus ranges from di- rect physical phenomena to advanced calculation models. The catastrophic fires that have occurred in tunnels are put into context of the subject of this book, namely fire dynamics in tunnels. These fires have raised the level of awareness about the problem and through experimental and theoretical work by many re- searchers around the world the knowledge level on the fire physics has increased v vi Preface considerably. This knowledge needs to find its way to the engineers working with the problems on daily basis and, therefore, it is our hope that the book will serve as a platform for practicing engineers, researchers, and students dealing with fire safety in tunnels. Borås 2014-07-06 Haukur Ingason Ying Zhen Li Anders Lönnermark Acknowledgement We would like to thank Dr Margaret McNamee, Dr Francine Amon and Dr David Lange at SP Fire Research for their valuable comments. The research presented in this book would not have been possible without financial support from SP Tunnel and Underground Safety Center. We also want to thank other Swedish research col- leagues for their contribution and financial support through research projects from the Swedish Fire Research Board (BRANDFORSK), the Swedish Research Coun- cil (FORMAS), the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), and the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket). Finally, we would like to thank the techni- cians at SP Fire Research who so skilfully carried out all the high quality large-scale and model-scale experimental work together with us. vii Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 I ntroduction ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 C haracteristics of Tunnel Fires ............................................................ 2 1.3 M itigation Systems in Tunnels ............................................................ 6 1.4 I ncidents in Tunnel .............................................................................. 9 1.4.1 Fires in Road Tunnels ............................................................ 9 1.4.2 Fires in Rail Tunnels .............................................................. 17 1.4.3 Fires in Metro Tunnels ........................................................... 19 1.5 S ummary ............................................................................................. 20 References .................................................................................................... 20 2 Fuel and Ventilation Controlled Fires ...................................................... 23 2.1 I ntroduction ......................................................................................... 23 2.2 F ire Development in Building Fires .................................................... 23 2.3 F ire Development in Tunnel Fires ....................................................... 25 2.4 F uel or Ventilation Control in a Compartment Fire ............................ 29 2.5 F uel or Ventilation Control in a Tunnel with Longitudinal Flow ........ 33 2.5.1 Fuel Control ........................................................................... 34 2.5.2 V entilation Control ................................................................. 35 2.5.3 D etermination of Combustion Mode ..................................... 35 2.6 Effects of Vitiation on the Combustion Process .................................. 40 2.7 Summary ............................................................................................. 41 References .................................................................................................... 42 3 T unnel Fire Tests ........................................................................................ 45 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 45 3.2 Overview of Large-Scale Tunnel Experiments ................................... 46 3.3 Large-Scale Tunnel Fire Tests ............................................................. 52 3.3.1 Ofenegg 1965 ......................................................................... 52 3.3.2 Glasgow 1970 ........................................................................ 55 3.3.3 T he West Meon Tests in Early 1970s ..................................... 56 3.3.4 Z wenberg 1975 ...................................................................... 56 ix x Contents 3.3.5 P.W.R.I 1980 ........................................................................ 61 3.3.6 TUB-VTT Tests 1986 .......................................................... 64 3.3.7 EUREKA EU499 Tests 1990–1992 ..................................... 65 3.3.8 Memorial Tunnel Tests 1993–1995 ...................................... 68 3.3.9 Shimizu No. 3 2001 ............................................................. 71 3.3.10 2nd Benelux Tests 2002 ....................................................... 72 3.3.11 Runehamar 2003 .................................................................. 76 3.3.12 METRO Tests 2011 .............................................................. 78 3.3.13 Carleton University Laboratory Train Tests 2011 ................ 80 3.3.14 Singapore Tests 2011 ........................................................... 81 3.3.15 Runehamar Test 2013 ........................................................... 81 3.4 Model Scale Fire Tests ...................................................................... 81 3.4.1 The TNO Tests ..................................................................... 82 3.4.2 A utomatic Water Spray System Tests .................................. 82 3.4.3 L ongitudinal Ventilation Tests ............................................. 82 3.4.4 P oint Extraction Ventilation Tests ........................................ 83 3.4.5 Tunnel Cross-Section Tests .................................................. 83 3.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 83 References .................................................................................................. 84 4 Heat Release Rates in Tunnels ................................................................ 89 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 89 4.2 Measured HRR in Different Vehicles ................................................ 90 4.2.1 R oad Vehicles ....................................................................... 90 4.2.2 R ailway Rolling Stock ......................................................... 112 4.3 P arameters Influencing the HRR ....................................................... 112 4.3.1 H eat Feedback ...................................................................... 112 4.3.2 E ffects of Tunnel Geometry ................................................. 117 4.3.3 E ffects of Ventilation on Peak HRR .................................... 117 4.3.4 F uel-Controlled Fires ........................................................... 119 4.3.5 Ventilation-Controlled Fires ................................................. 121 4.4 HRR per Exposed Fuel Surface Area ................................................ 123 4.4.1 Liquids ................................................................................. 125 4.4.2 Solid Materials ..................................................................... 126 4.4.3 V ehicle Fires ......................................................................... 127 4.5 S ummary ........................................................................................... 129 References .................................................................................................. 130 5 F ire Growth Rates in Tunnels ................................................................. 135 5.1 I ntroduction ....................................................................................... 135 5.2 T heory of Fire Growth Rate .............................................................. 138 5.2.1 O pposed Flow Spread (Upstream) ....................................... 139 5.2.2 Wind-Aided Spread (Downstream) ...................................... 140 5.2.3 R elationship Between FGR and Flame Spread Rate ........... 141 5.2.4 Fuels Consisting of Several Parts ........................................ 142 5.3 C orrelations for Fire Growth Rate..................................................... 143 Contents xi 5.3.1 Comparison with Model Scale Tests .................................... 144 5.3.2 Comparison with Full Scale Tests ........................................ 145 5.4 T he Effects of Windbreaks on Fire Growth Rates ............................. 147 5.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 149 References .................................................................................................. 150 6 Design Fire Curves ................................................................................... 153 6.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 153 6.2 Design Fire Methods ......................................................................... 155 6.2.1 Constant Values for Design Fires ......................................... 155 6.2.2 T ime Dependent Methods for Design Fires ......................... 158 6.3 Exponential Design Fire Curve Method with Superposition ............ 162 6.3.1 Determination of Design Fire Scenarios .............................. 163 6.3.2 Maximum Heat Release Rate ............................................... 164 6.3.3 T ime to Maximum Heat Release Rate ................................. 166 6.3.4 Energy Content .................................................................... 167 6.3.5 Reconstruction of a Large Scale Test ................................... 167 6.3.6 Design Fire for a Tram Carriage .......................................... 168 6.3.7 Design Fire for a Road Vehicle ............................................ 170 6.4 New Concept for Design Curves ....................................................... 171 6.4.1 T heoretical Aspects .............................................................. 172 6.4.2 Calculation ........................................................................... 173 6.5 Summary ........................................................................................... 175 References .................................................................................................. 176 7 Combustion Products from Fires ........................................................... 179 7.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 179 7.2 Combustion and Fire Chemistry ....................................................... 180 7.3 Yields ................................................................................................. 183 7.4 Emissions from Fires in Vehicles and Tunnels .................................. 186 7.5 Effect of Ventilation Condition ......................................................... 193 7.6 Summary ........................................................................................... 203 References .................................................................................................. 204 8 Gas Temperatures .................................................................................... 207 8.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 207 8.2 Interaction of Ventilation Flow with Fire Plume ............................... 209 8.3 M aximum Ceiling Gas Temperature ................................................. 211 8.3.1 Fire Plume Mass Flow Rate in a Ventilated Flow ................ 211 8.3.2 Maximum Ceiling Gas Temperature in a Small Fire ........... 213 8.3.3 Maximum Ceiling Gas Temperature in a Large Fire ........... 214 8.4 P osition of Maximum Ceiling Gas Temperature ............................... 219 8.5 C eiling Gas Temperature Distribution............................................... 222 8.6 O ne-Dimensional Simple Model ....................................................... 227 8.7 Summary ........................................................................................... 229 References .................................................................................................. 230