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Experimental and Theoretical Study for Tunnel Fires with Natural Ventilation

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Abstract

Natural ventilation mode is a ventilation strategy to control fire-induced hot smoke and provide safe and secure egress routes in subway tunnels. The study was carried out in a 1/15 reduced-scale tunnel using Froude modeling technique to investigate the fire-induced smoke temperature distribution and smoke exhaust through vertical shafts located at the ceiling of the scaled tunnel. A porous bed burner placed on the tunnel floor was used to simulate the fire source and propane was used as the fuel. The temperature distributions under the tunnel ceiling were measured using a series of K-type thermocouples to analyze smoke temperature distribution characteristics. The smoke temperature and velocity in the ventilation shafts were also monitored using hot wire anemometers. The effect of fire size, shaft distance, shaft geometry, train blockage on ceiling temperature distributions and smoke exhaust from shafts were studied. Based on the one-dimensional theory, the ceiling temperature decay characteristics were studied. Finally, empirical equations for predicting ceiling temperature distributions and smoke exhaust in tunnel fires with a natural ventilation mode were derived.

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Abbreviations

a :

Constant value

b :

Constant value

c :

Constant value

c p :

Heat capacity (kJ/kg/K)

Fr :

Froude number

g :

Gravity acceleration (m/s2)

H :

Tunnel height (m)

H :

Shaft height (m)

k :

Decay coefficient in fire section (m−1)

k n :

Decay coefficient non-fire section (m−1)

L :

Shaft distance (m)

l :

Shaft length (m)

m :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

Q :

Heat release rate (kW)

S :

Distance from the fire source to the inner boundary of the shaft (m)

T :

Temperature (K)

V :

Volume flow rate (m3/s)

w :

Shaft width (m)

x :

Distance from fire source (m)

Δ:

Difference property between smoke and ambient

α :

Ratio of small-scale to full-scale

ρ :

Density (kg/m3)

ξ :

Local resistance factor

* :

Dimensionless quantity

0:

Ambient quantity

m :

Small-scale property

nref :

Reference property in non-fire section

r :

Full-scale property

ref :

Reference property in fire section

s :

Smoke property in shaft

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Ministry of Railway of the People’s Republic of China, which is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to thank associate Prof. Zhihao Xu and associate Prof. Zhihui Deng for their assistance in the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Leshan, China

    Zhongyuan Yuan & Bo Lei

  2. Construction Division, National Research Council, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Ahmed Kashef

Authors
  1. Zhongyuan Yuan
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  2. Bo Lei
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  3. Ahmed Kashef
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Correspondence to Ahmed Kashef.

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Yuan, Z., Lei, B. & Kashef, A. Experimental and Theoretical Study for Tunnel Fires with Natural Ventilation. Fire Technol 51, 691–706 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-013-0378-x

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