Fire safety in tunnels

In 2006 the European Parliament requested the author to conduct a study of tunnel safety and make recommendations to be considered with a view to implementation in the European Union. This had been spurred by the large number of serious tunnel fires which have occurred in Europe since 1995 and fire safety was the main concern. Following a ten-month project a report was published and made available on the web-site of the European Parliament in 2008. The full report, containing twenty five recommendations, is available and details are given in Ref. [A.N. Beard, D. Cope, Assessment of the Safety of Tunnels. Commissioned by the European Parliament via the committee on Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA); report IP/A/STOA/FWC/2005-28/SC22/29. Published in February 2008 on the European Parliament web-site at www.europarl.europa.eu]. The recommendations are intended to help to increase tunnel safety in the European Union and, primarily, to help to move towards a common system of tunnel safety decision-making and risk assessment. This article gives an outline of the report and high-lights some aspects of the content. This is not meant to imply that aspects which are not high-lighted here are of lesser importance.     

A City Beautiful plan for Canada's capital: Edward Bennett and the 1915 plan for Ottawa and Hull

The 1915 Report of the Federal Plan Commission on a General Plan for the Cities of Ottawa and Hull was one of Canada's first comprehensive plans. It was prepared by Edward Bennett, a leading City Beautiful architect, who combined both technical and aesthetic planning. Bennett employed some of the most advanced techniques of the day, similar to the 1909 Plan of Chicago. The 1915 Ottawa-Hull plan is almost unknown today, since it was shelved shortly after it was released. The plan was dogged by a fire in the Parliament Buildings, a European war, poor implementation provisions and reaction against its City Beautiful urban design recommendations. Nevertheless, many of its technical recommendations were implemented by the National Capital Commission over forty years later.     

地下空间开发对下方铁路隧道安全影响分析

石家庄新胜利大街地下空间利用工程位于穿城入地铁路六线隧道的上方,地下空间开发工程的建设及后期运营对铁路六线隧道的安全影响极为重要,保证铁路六线隧道安全是地下空间开发项目成立的前提条件。本文通过采用有限元模拟分析、理论公式推导计算等手段,分析了地下空间施工、建成对铁路六线隧道结构安全的影响,以及地下空间运营期间可能发生的突发事件对铁路六线隧道结构及运输安全的影响,并据此得出地下空间开发对铁路六线隧道安全性影响评估结论,同时根据地下空间开发工程的特点,提出了保证铁路六线隧道安全的措施与建议。     

浅谈隧道施工的安全管理

针对隧道工程施工的特殊性,从隧道施工的安全组织机构、施工管理体系和应急预案等方面进行了分析和论述,以便积累隧道施工企业管理经验,减少安全事故的发生,确保工程施工安全。     

The international FORUM of fire research directors: A position paper on future actions for improving road tunnel fire safety

Fire safety in tunnels has come in focus owing to numerous catastrophic fires and extensive monitoring in media. Casualties can be counted in hundreds and the economic damages have been enormous not only for tunnel owners but also for users and bordering communities. The recent increase in serious road tunnel fires is closely associated with the increase in the traffic volume as well as in the large number of tunnels being built in recent years. In particular, volumes transported on heavy goods vehicles have increased by 40–80% over a decade in many European countries. Today, about 75% of all goods traffic is by road, and is expected to increase by 40–60% over the next 10 years [Thamm B. The new EU directive on road tunnel safety. In: Proceedings of the international symposium on catastrophic tunnel fires (CTF), SP Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, SP Report 2004:05. p. 19–30].This FORUM position paper discusses some aspects on how to improve the design of road tunnels in order to obtain a higher level of fire safety. It discusses briefly design principles of tunnels as well as of fire safety of vehicles, use of forced ventilation systems and of active fire suppression.     

Reflections on Bayesian Network models for road tunnel safety design: A case study from Norway

Directive 2004/54/EC from the European Parliament states that all EU member states should have well defined methodologies for risk analysis. This means that decisions regarding the design of road tunnels must be supported by risk information. TRANSIT, a Bayesian Network (BN) model for conducting quantitative road tunnel risk assessments has been developed to comply with the requirements. The developers of TRANSIT claim that their model represents best practice for risk assessments of road tunnels. This article explores the foundation for this claim. Furthermore, we assess TRANSIT as a tool for decision support regarding the design of new and novel road tunnel designs. The interactions between TRANSIT and the engineering environment and between risk analysts and responsible decision makers are studied by analyzing the engineering process of the 25 km Rogfast subsea road tunnel project in Norway.Our analysis shows that TRANSIT could be a useful tool in combination with other risk assessment activities. We also find that the model has severe limitations, especially when used for novel tunnel design projects such as Rogfast. First, the model applies a definition of risk that in most cases fails to provide an adequate risk picture, and hence fails to communicate risk to important stakeholders. Second, both data and models are rigid and presented to the users as a “black box”. This poses challenges with regard to the ownership of the analysis results and the responsibility for decisions made on the basis of the model, i.e., the relationship between the developer/owner and the analysts. Third, a standardized model will lead to standardized problems and solutions, which means that the results obtained from TRANSIT will be predictable when some experience with the model is gathered. In this way the model will preserve existing design and not promote innovation with regards to traffic safety designs. Fourth, the model emphasizes key performance indicators such as average annual daily traffic (AADT), tunnel length and curvature, while causes found in accident reports such as driving behavior, latent conditions and organizational and managerial factors may be neglected in the design process.     

隧道施工技术与质量控制

隧道的种类和施工方法多种多样。在隧道施工过程中,应针对施工的具体情况,充分考虑工程在地质、安全、质量、环境等方面的要求,应用科学合理的施工技术,并采取相应的质量控制措施。这有利于加快工程进度,提高隧道工程的质量。     

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR) energy base: Additional final report and recommendations

The ADB authors felt that an additional set of recommendations were needed to the final Report. Two reasons guided that decision: one was simply that the planned and budgeted final presentation of the Report was to be made in December 07 in Beijing to high level members of the Central Government. That meeting was cancelled. No reason was given but due to the upcoming Olympic Games in August 2008, perhaps discussion of the energy issues in China were too sensitive.But the other reason for the need to state additional recommendations was basically to help support the IMAR government in its direction for the future. The IMAR Government throughout the two years of research for this Report were extremely supportive and actively following the presentations and data. It was obvious that they felt that the Report or parts of it, for example, helping the next Five Year Plan for all of China define what sustainable development was and was not.However there were other elements that emerged including strong support for new alternative energy business development, education in this area, and strong resistance to the IMAR becoming a pipeline for natural gas coming from Russia to China. In short IMAR and China did not want to become another dependent region on Russian fossil fuels. These issues and recommendations are built upon the ADB Report but did not become apart of it.     

The Impact of the Water Framework Directive on Catchment- Management Planning in the British Isles (Abridged)

The water framework Directive is proposed as a mechanism for applying river-basin management across the European Union. Proposals for River-Basin Management Plans might have an impact on the present system of Local Environment Agency Plans and on schemes which are used in the British Isles to provide river management on a catchment basis. For this study, representatives from the Environment Agency, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and European Parliament advisors were interviewed. In addition, Local Environment Agency Plans were assessed for compatibility with the requirements of River-Basin Management Plans.     

转型时期的卢布尔雅那修复工程

年轻的首都 斯洛文尼亚从2004年5月1日起成为欧盟的成员国之一，需要建立新的政治、经济和社会机构。许多机构仍使用原共和国时期的办公室，有些甚至可追溯到奥匈帝国时期。当初德国把政府从波恩迁到了柏林的议会大楼，而斯涪文尼亚政府与此不同，他们并没有采取任何象征形式作为其新的开始。位于卢布尔雅那的议会大楼只是简单地翻修过，并建造了一个带有环形坐位的会议大厅。     

The capability to reduce primary energy demand in EU housing

The European Union has been demonstrating its adherence to energy efficiency policy in the last decade. At the main EU summits there were stated the requirements to reduce energy consumption in the EU, and to make it sustainable over the long term. The “20-20-20” promise of a 20% share of renewable energies in total EU energy consumption and a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 2020 was determined in 2007 and affirmed in 2008. The paper deals with the evaluation of some ways of reaching a 20% reduction in primary energy demand in housing. For that purpose some measures leading to such a reduction for a dwelling house are estimated. These measures require an additional investment into the energy performance of a building. For the achievement of goals stated by the European Parliament in energy demand it will be necessary to involve a considerable level of financial and technical support in these spheres. An estimation of the amount of supporting program funds is also presented in the paper.     

Fire protection in traffic tunnels: General aspects and results of the EUREKA project

Against the background of increasing problems concerning safety in underground transport, facilities, nine European nations cooperated in the EUREKA project EU 499 FIRETUN. Their common efforts formed the basis for a remarkable condensed instrumentation of a 2300-m-long test tunnel. Altogether, 20 tests were conducted between 1990 and 1992 and evaluated from 1993 through 1995. The many important results gained during the project form a strong basis for international discussion of fire safety concepts.     

Industrial relatedness and regional resilience in the European Union

The 2008 Great Recession prompted interest in the concept of regional resilience. This paper discusses and empirically investigates the relationship between industrial relatedness and economic resilience across European Union regions over the 2008–2012 crisis period. The analysis focuses on two types of industrial relatedness: technological and vertical (i.e., market-based). The empirical analysis is performed on a sample of 209 NUTS 2 regions in 16 countries. Our results highlight a positive effect of technological relatedness on the probability of resilience in the very short run (i.e., the 2008–2009 period), while the negative effect of vertical relatedness seems to persist for longer.     

可持续发展目标下的欧盟“生态城”建设

在全球生态城市广泛实践的背景下．由欧盟资助的“生态城”建设项目（ECOCITY project）．选择了分别来自芬兰．德国．奥地利．斯洛伐克．匈牙利．意大利和西班牙7个国家的7个地区进行“生态城“建设试点。本文希望通过引介该“生态城”建设项目．从一个角度反映目前欧洲生态城市建设的趋势和侧重点．为我国生态城市的建设与研究提供借鉴。     

西气东输二线管道工程石马头山隧道设计浅析

针对西气东输管道工程及石马头山的水文地质的特点,结合公路和铁路隧道的设计方法,从隧道断面尺寸及形式、隧道衬砌、隧道洞口、隧道防排水、管道布置及稳管等方面进行设计,同时注重施工安全、环境保护和水土保持。设计经验可为同类型管道的穿越工程提供参考。     

Comparative evaluation of European methods for sampling and sample preparation of soils--the Portuguese contribution

The main purpose of this work was to prepare a Portuguese sampling strategy, according to the existing Portuguese recommendations, for the soil sampling exercise at Dornach in the framework of the CEEM soil project of the SMT Programme of the EU. Within this project, the results obtained from the Dornach study were compared with the results obtained by other European participants and also with the reference sampling. The objective of this comparison was to validate the method used and to evaluate possible factors of uncertainty that may arise from the application of our national guideline as well as possible advantages. Another objective, also important, was to provide information regarding the need for a harmonised procedure within the European Union related to soil sampling and sample preparation of soils. The results obtained were consistent with the results obtained by other participants, however, in the Portuguese recommendations there is a general lack of specific information that may complicate its application to polluted scenarios. In fact, those guidelines are valuable to detect the average contamination of the soil, but they are not useful to identify hot spots or the edge influence in a contaminated land. As a conclusion, the results obtained by the CEEM soil project helped to evaluate the Portuguese sampling plan. This may provide a basis for further standardisation of soil sampling for specific purposes, e.g. contaminated land, and to establish a technical support for criteria used in the accreditation of laboratories for soil sampling.     

纤维素纤维混凝土在隧道工程中的应用

主要分析了纤维素纤维与普通混凝土相比,在力学性能、工程性能及耐久性等方面的巨大优势,论证了其应用在隧道工程中可有效解决隧道衬砌中的非结构性裂缝及开裂掉块问题,降低工程成本,保证公路安全运行。     

Numerical modelling of masonry joints degradation in built tunnels

Old tunnels are generally supported by masonry structure. Nowadays, these constructions present many instability problems (cracks, collapses, convergence, etc.) due to aging phenomena on both blocks and mortars. After the analysis of blocks mechanical behaviour over time [Idris, J., Verdel, T., Al-Heib, M., 2008a. Numerical modelling and mechanical behaviour analysis of ancient tunnel masonry structures. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 23, 251–263.], we try in this paper to simulate the evolution of masonry joints mechanical behaviour in built tunnels and to quantify the influence of their mechanical proprieties on the tunnel behaviour by the help of the experimental design method and distinct elements numerical modelling.