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Numerical study on the ceiling gas temperature in a subway train with different fire locations

  • Research Article
  • Indoor/Outdoor Airflow and Air Quality
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Abstract

Ceiling gas temperature rise is an important evaluation indicator determining the level of risk in a subway tunnel fire. However, very little literature has been found that has addressed the emergency when a fired subway train with lateral multiple openings stops in the interval tunnel. Hence, a battery of full-scale numerical simulations were employed to address the impact of train fire location on the gas temperature beneath the train ceiling. Numerical results showed that the ceiling gas temperature rise is affected by the pressure difference on both sides of fire source and the backflow from the end wall, which depends on the heat release rate and the fire location. The ceiling gas temperature rise decays exponentially in the process of longitudinal spread, and it can be predicted by a dimensionless model with a sum of two exponential equations. Finally, based on a critical fire location (L *cr = 0.667), two exponential equations were developed to quantitatively express the influences of the fire size and the fire location on the maximum ceiling gas temperature. The research results can be utilized for providing an initial understanding of the smoke propagation in a subway train fire.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFC0807600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51776192), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (No. CX2320007001), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. WK2320000048). We sincerely appreciate these supports.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China

    Wei Cong, Zhicheng Shi, Min Peng, Hui Yang & Xudong Cheng

  2. Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3004, Australia

    Long Shi

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  1. Wei Cong
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  2. Long Shi
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  3. Zhicheng Shi
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  4. Min Peng
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  5. Hui Yang
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  6. Xudong Cheng
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Correspondence to Xudong Cheng.

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Cong, W., Shi, L., Shi, Z. et al. Numerical study on the ceiling gas temperature in a subway train with different fire locations. Build. Simul. 15, 549–560 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0793-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0793-8

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