Critical ventilation velocity for tunnel fires occurring near tunnel exits

Ventilation is an effective method for controlling smoke during a tunnel fire. The “critical ventilation velocity” u_cr is generally defined as the minimum velocity at which smoke is prevented from spreading against the longitudinal ventilation flow in tunnel fire situations. This study conducted small-scale experiments to investigate u_cr for situations when tunnel fire occurs near tunnel exits. The model tunnel was 4 m long, 0.6 m wide and 0.6 m tall, and the fires were located at 0.5 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m from the tunnel exit. 6.3×6.3 cm² and 9.0×9.0 cm² square asoline fuel pans were used as fire source. Results show that u_cr decreases as the fire approaches the tunnel exit.     

Effects of buoyancy induced roof ventilation systems for smoke removal in tunnel fires

The present article highlights the performance of natural roof ventilation systems and its effects on tunnel fire flow characteristics. Numerical analysis is performed using Large Eddy Simulations (LES) to predict fire growth rate and smoke movement in tunnel with single and multiple roof openings. The smoke venting performance of ceiling vents are investigated by varying the vent size and fire source locations. The critical parameters such as mass flow rate through ceiling openings, smoke traveling time and fire growth patterns are presented. The ceiling openings are effective in transferring hot gases and reduces the longitudinal smoke velocity. The heat source and ceiling vent locations significantly affects the vent performance and smoke behavior in tunnel. The present results are in good agreement with the experimental results available in literature.     

Full-scale experimental study on smoke flow in natural ventilation road tunnel fires with shafts

Three full-scale burning tests were conducted in a natural ventilation city road tunnel with shafts. Fire sources were placed to be at different locations but its peak release heats were all around 5 MW. Results showed that large amounts of smoke and heat were released through shafts. The maximum smoke temperatures under the ceiling were below than 100 °C, and being lower than 110 °C at the safe height farther 3 m away from fires. The maximum smoke spreading horizontal lengths were less than 240 m both in the upwind and downwind. During the late stages, many smoke particles descended from the ceiling and downdraught occurred at shafts due to low smoke temperatures, but the visibility was not very bad and people needn’t evacuate. All These results are valuable for fire protection and construction of natural ventilation road tunnel with shafts.     

Wind tunnel tests on compartment fires with crossflow ventilation

When a fire occurs in a room at ground level or a compartment located in the higher floors of a very tall building , the strong ambient wind will play an important role in fire spreading and smoke movement behavior. However, wind effect on compartment fire in cross ventilation condition has not been fully studied so far. In the present study, an effort has been made to study the wind effect on compartment fire in cross ventilation condition through experimental investigations. The experimental fire was generated by 250 ml n-heptane on the floor center of a cube enclosure with two opposite vents on the walls. The inside and outside gas temperature profiles at different vertical and horizontal locations were recorded by two thermocouple matrixes. The ambient wind velocity was set to 0, 1.5 and 3 m s⁻¹. It is observed that the ambient wind would enhance the fire severity by increasing the compartment fire temperature and reducing the time to flashover. The spilled-out flame/plume would extend horizontally farther with the increase of wind speed. Simple theoretical analysis shows that there is a critical wind velocity, or a dimensional number, to differentiate whether the gas flow across the vents is bidirectional or unidirectional, which is believed to influence enclosure fire behavior greatly.     

Performance validation of a hybrid ventilation strategy comprising longitudinal and point ventilation by a fire experiment using a model-scale tunnel

We examined the exhaust performance of a hybrid ventilation strategy for maintaining a safe evacuation environment for tunnel users in a tunnel fire. The hybrid ventilation strategy combines the longitudinal ventilation strategy with the point ventilation strategy which is a type of transverse ventilation strategy. The model tunnel developed by this study was scaled to 1/5 the size of a full-scale tunnel. The model-scale experiment was performed taking into consideration Froude's law of similarity. Measurement items were the distribution of temperature and concentration of smoke inside the tunnel, longitudinal wind velocity, mass flow of smoke in the point ventilation duct, and the heat release rate of the fire source. The following main conclusions were obtained. The smoke height was constant even when varying the extraction rate of smoke from the ceiling vent. The backlayering length and critical velocity of the smoke flow in the hybrid strategy could be predicted by the methodology developed by using the longitudinal strategy. The hybrid strategy maintained a safe evacuation environment on both sides of the tunnel fire.     

Effect of cross section on critical velocity in longitudinally ventilated tunnel fires

Numerical and theoretical work was conducted to investigate the effect of tunnel cross section on critical velocity for smoke control in longitudinally ventilated tunnel fires. The results show that for small fires, the critical velocity decreases with both the increasing tunnel height and tunnel width. For large fires, the critical velocity significantly increases with the increasing tunnel height but is independent of tunnel width. Different calculation models are compared with a focus on effect of tunnel cross section. A new correlation is proposed to account for the effect of tunnel width based on the previous model.     

The ventilation and climate modelling of rapid development tunnel drivages

The extraction of minerals and coal at greater depth, employing higher-powered machinery to increase production levels has imposed an increased burden on ventilation systems to maintain an acceptable working environment. A deterioration in the climate experienced within these workings may also adversely affect the health and safety of the workforce. In the UK, mineral extraction is now being practiced at depths of over 1000 m. In addition, the adoption of continuous miner and tunnel bolting support methods has permitted improved development rates to be achieved at the cost of increased emissions of dust, gas and heat and humidity. There is a recognized need to improve the efficiency in the design and operation of auxiliary ventilation systems to maintain an adequate underground environment and climate. Any improvement achieved in the quality, quantity and control of the delivered ventilation will assist in the provision of improved gas and dust dilution and climatic control. Due to the constraints imposed by the mining method, there may be an economic or practical limit to the climatic improvement that may be obtained by the sole use of ventilation air. Where this limit is identified, there may be the need to consider the selective application of air-cooling systems. The paper details the construction of a computer based climatic prediction tool developed at the University of Nottingham. This work builds upon earlier research (Ross et al., 1997, Proceedings of 6th International Mine Ventilation Congress, SME, Littleton, CO, pp. 283–288) that developed a prototype model for short tunnel developments. The current model predicts the psychrometric and thermodynamic conditions within long rapid development single entry tunnel drivages. The model takes into account the mass and heat transfer between the strata, water, machinery and the ventilation air. The results produced by the model have been correlated against ventilation, climatic and operational data, obtained from a number of rapid tunnel developments within UK deep coalmines. The paper details the results of a series of correlation and validation studies conducted against the ventilation and climate survey data measured within 105s district Tail Gate tunnel development at Maltby Colliery, UK. The paper concludes by presenting the results of a case study that illustrate the application of the validated model to the design and operation of an integrated mine ventilation and cooling system. The case study illustrates the effect that an increased depth and hence increased virgin strata temperature has on the climate experienced within rapid tunnel developments. Further investigations were performed to identify the optimum cooling strategy that should be adopted to maintain a satisfactory climate at the head of the drivage.     

Effect of cross section and ventilation on heat release rates in tunnel fires

Model scale fire tests were performed in tunnels with varying tunnel widths and heights in order to study the effect of tunnel cross-section and ventilation velocity on the heat release rate (HRR) for both liquid pool fires and solid fuel fires. The results showed that for well ventilated heptane pool fires, the tunnel width nearly has no influence on the HRR whilst a lower tunnel height clearly increases the HRR. For well ventilated solid fuel fires, the HRR increases by approximately 25% relative to a free burn test but the HRR is not sensitive to either tunnel width, tunnel height or ventilation velocity. For solid fuel fires that were not well ventilated, the HRRs could be less than those in free burn laboratory tests. In the case of ventilation controlled fires the HRRs approximately lie at the same level as for cases with natural ventilation.     

Possibility of using roof openings for natural ventilation in a shallow urban road tunnel

Naturally ventilated urban vehicular tunnels with multiple roof openings have increased in China. Unnecessary gas (polluted air or fire smoke) are expected to be exhausted out through openings. Whether its safety standards can be satisfied or not still needs to be verified. In this paper, a safe CO concentration was firstly discussed, and a heat risk level of very high to extreme up to 46 °C was given. Secondly, a real 1410 m tunnel was proposed, and a 1/10 scale model tunnel was reproduced. Ambient winds of 0.95 m/s in prototype and 0.3 m/s in model were considered. Under normal traffic test, a track circuit was constructed with model vehicles moving on it to form traffic wind, and once the air velocity was larger than 0.31 m/s, the airflows were found to be not relevant to the Reynolds number. The traffic winds were weakened by openings. For three of all tested traffic, the actual air velocities were larger than the required ones, so its air qualities were satisfied. In firing test, two sets of burning experiments were conducted with which the heat release rates (HRR) were 8.35 kW and 13.7 kW. Large amounts of smoke were exhausted out of openings, and the high-temperature was not significant. Full-scale numerical simulations were carried out to verify the experimental results respectively using Fluent 6.0 for normal traffic and FDS 4.07 for firing. The simulations were compared well with the experiments. Further FDS simulations show that the openings’ mass flow rates are influenced little by ambient temperature; with the increasing length of the buried section, much smoke accumulate inside leading to a high temperature; having 4–5 openings in one shaft group is oversize in the actual engineering design.     

Studies on buoyancy driven two-directional smoke flow layering length with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation in tunnel fires

This paper investigates the buoyancy-driven smoke flow layering length (both upstream and downstream) beneath the ceiling with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation in tunnel fires. A theoretical model is developed based on previous back-laying model with only longitudinal ventilation, with modified actual heat release rate, as well as modified upstream and downstream opposing longitudinal air flow velocities by the induced flow velocity due to point extraction. Experiments are carried out in a reduced scale model tunnel with dimensionless of 72 m×1.5 m×1.3 m. A LPG porous gas burner is used as fire source. The smoke flow layering length both upstream and downstream are identified based on temperature profiles measured along the ceiling, for different experiment conditions. CFD simulations with FDS are also performed for the same scenarios. Results show that with combination of point extraction and longitudinal ventilation, the smoke flow layering length is not symmetric where it is longer downstream than that upstream. The upstream smoke layering length decreases, while the downstream layering length increases with increase in longitudinal ventilation velocity; and they both decrease with increase in point extraction velocity. The predictions by the proposed theoretical model agree well with the measurements and simulation results.     

Wind tunnel experiments on wind-induced natural ventilation rate in residential basements with areaway space

In residential building design, areaways can act as an open subsurface space to help improve the living environment in adjacent basements for residential purposes, mainly by wind-induced natural ventilation. The accurate prediction of effective air change rate is quite important; nevertheless so far little is known about this kind of ventilation issue. In order to acquire more knowledge in this field and make accurate ventilation predictions, direct measurement of ventilation rate was performed in this study using small-scale wind tunnel models. In the experiment, considering ventilation induced only by the exterior wind, we applied the constant tracer gas flow technique to measure the time-averaged ventilation rate for nine wind directions for each case. Furthermore, the relationships between the ventilation rate and a variety of parameters including wind direction, opening type, plan area of the areaway space and building coverage ratio, etc. were investigated and analyzed in detail. The findings of the present study can provide fundamental data for the design of areaway space in the urban residential buildings.     

On the maximum smoke temperature under the ceiling in tunnel fires

Maximum smoke temperature under the ceiling in a tunnel fire was studied experimentally and numerically. Full-scale burning tests in two vehicular tunnels of length 3.27 and 1.032 km with and without operating the longitudinal ventilation system were carried out. Smoke temperatures at selected positions under the ceiling were measured under different longitudinal ventilation velocities. Two different pool fires of 1.6 and 3 MW were set up. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations with Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) version 3.10 were carried out on those scenarios. CFD predicted smoke temperatures were firstly verified by comparing with the measured values at those selected positions, and then compared with the calculated values using the empirical equation due to Kurioka et al. Fairly good agreement was achieved, though the slope of the tunnel was not considered in this empirical equation.     

Numerical analysis of tunnel thermal plume control using longitudinal ventilation

A CFD model of the 4th Beijing subway line was used to study the effect of longitudinal ventilation on heat and smoke plume movement in the tunnel. The critical ventilation velocity is correlated with the heat release rate for both a simplified heat fire source model and a complete combustion fire source model with methane gas as fuel. The influences of the heat source length and the fuel gas inlet geometry on the critical velocity are investigated for both fire source models. The results show that the influences of the combustion process and fire source area variation are not included in models based on Froude number preservation theory. Thus, Ri is no longer suitable as a dimensionless number for the critical ventilation velocity when the fire geometry or combustion conditions influence the results. The back-layering air temperature above the front of the fire source can be used to explain the different critical velocity variation regimes for all the simulation conditions.     

A numerical study on smoke movement in longitudinal ventilation tunnel fires for different aspect ratio

In this study, numerical simulation was carried out to analyze the effect of the aspect ratio on smoke movement in tunnel fires using FDS 3.0. Temperature distribution under the ceiling showed a relatively good agreement with experimental results within 10 °C. It confirmed the possibility of application of FDS code to tunnel fires. Results from varying of the aspect ratio showed good agreement with experimental data. Temperature near the fire source decreased with the increase of the aspect ratio. But, the rate of the temperature decrease was reduced by the decrease of the heat loss in the spanwise direction. Clear height of the simulation by the analysis of the velocity distribution was about 3% higher than that of the experimental result. Numerical results predicted the back-layering distance and the critical velocity reasonably.     

Effects of a transverse external wind on natural ventilation during fires in shallow urban road tunnels with roof openings

Fire experiments using a 1:12 scale model tunnel were conducted to evaluate effects of a transverse external wind on the performance of roof openings in a shallow urban road tunnel under fire conditions. A particular focus was placed on clarifying the characteristics of the spread of smoke in the tunnel under the condition of a transverse external wind blowing above the roof openings. Two types of median barriers, pillars and walls, were examined as dividing structures in the model tunnel, and the heat release rate was selected as the experimental parameter. The following conclusions were obtained. Compared to conditions with no external transverse wind, in the model tunnel with the pillar median structure, the smoke spreading distance was shortened when the transverse external wind was in the positive direction, and the distance remained the same when the wind was in the negative direction; in the model tunnel with the wall median structure, the smoke spreading distance was shortened when the wind was in the positive direction. Furthermore, the smoke spreading distance in each case was constant and independent of the heat release rate of the fire under the scope of the experimental conditions used in this study.     

A computer program for calculating ventilation in tunnelling works based on an explicit method

The calculation of ventilation is probably not the most important issue within the overall project of a tunnel (although it may become a very serious one during the tunnel development works). Nevertheless, there is no simple method (according to the problem) that can accurately describe the physical phenomena. For this reason, a simple computer program has been developed, based on a explicit method, aiming to be a useful tool for quick problem solving. It enables the user to perform preliminary calculations for ventilation systems, and is easy to calibrate with in-situ measurements for enhanced accuracy.     

竖井型城市隧道自然通风哮喘效应模型研究

在前期竖井型城市隧道自然通风模型实验研究的基础上,通过改变实验模型,研究了竖井"哮喘效应"产生的原因,以及如何克服"哮喘效应"的办法,得出"哮喘效应"是连续竖井通风的必然产物,是不能阻止的结论。     

The effect of fuel area size on behavior of fires in a reduced-scale single-track railway tunnel

A set of experiments was carried out in a 1/9 reduced-scale single-track railway tunnel to investigate the effect of fuel area size on the temperature distribution and behavior of fires in a tunnel with natural ventilation. Methanol pool fires with four different fuel areas 0.6 × 0.3 m² (1 pan), 1.2 × 0.3 m² (2 pans), 2.4 × 0.3 m² (4 pans) and 3.6 × 0.3 m² (6 pans), were used in these experiments. Data were collected on temperatures, radiative heat flux and mass loss rates. The temperature distribution and smoke layer in the tunnel, along with overflow dimensions and radiant heat at the tunnel entrance were analyzed. The results show that as the fuel area enlarges, the fire gradually becomes ventilation-controlled and the ceiling temperature over the center of fire source declines. Burning at the central region of fire source is depressed due to lack of oxygen. This makes the temperature distribution along the tunnel ceiling change from a typical inverted V-shape to an M-shape. As observed in the experiments, a jet flame appeared at tunnel entrances and both the size and temperature of the flame increased with the enlargement of fuel area leading to a great threat to firefighters and evacuees in actual tunnel fires.     

达成铁路云顶高瓦斯隧道通风管理

结合具体工程实例,提出了高瓦斯隧道通风方案,并进行了通风计算,介绍了隧道施工通风监测系统,探讨了瓦斯隧道施工通风的管理,积累了高瓦斯隧道施工经验,从而保证隧道施工安全有效地进行。