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Large Scale Tunnel Fire Tests with Large Droplet Water-Based Fixed Fire Fighting System

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Abstract

This paper presents the main results of six large scale fixed fire fighting system tests that were carried out in the Runehamar tunnel in September 2013. It describes the background and the performance of the system. The main fire load consisted of 420 standardized wood pallets and a target consisting of a pile of 21 wood pallets placed 5 m from the rear end of the main fire load. The purpose was to investigate possible fire spread. The water spray system is a deluge zone system delivering 10 mm/min in the activated zone. The detection system was simulated with use of thermocouple in the tunnel ceiling. The alarm was registered when the ceiling gas temperature was 141°C. After alarm was obtained the system was activated manually after a given delay time that was varied in the tests. The heat release rates in tests with fire suppression were reduced to 20–45 MW compared to 100 MW estimated for a free-burn test or 75 MW in test 6 with a failure of activation. Fire spread to the target was prevented after fire suppression.

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank all the technicians at SP Fire Research for their fantastic work and Reidar Stolen at SP Fire Research AS for his great work with the instrumentation and the measurements. Thanks also to Per Fiva at the Norwegian Public Road Administration in Åndalsnes and to Henric Modig at Faveo Projektledning AB. The Stockholm bypass project has been granted co-funding for research, including testing, from the European Union through the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). These tests were performed within the frame of this EU project. The TN-25 nozzles used in the tests were provided by TYCO.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Borås, Sweden

    Haukur Ingason & Ying Zhen Li

  2. Swedish Transport Administration, Borlänge, Sweden

    Glenn Appel & Ulf Lundström

  3. Brandskyddslaget AB, Stockholm, Sweden

    Conny Becker

Authors
  1. Haukur Ingason
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  2. Ying Zhen Li
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  3. Glenn Appel
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  4. Ulf Lundström
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  5. Conny Becker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Haukur Ingason.

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Ingason, H., Li, Y.Z., Appel, G. et al. Large Scale Tunnel Fire Tests with Large Droplet Water-Based Fixed Fire Fighting System. Fire Technol 52, 1539–1558 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-015-0479-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-015-0479-9

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