Abstract
It has occasionally been observed that fires in tunnels appear to be significantly more severe than fires in the open air. A literature review has been carried out, comparing heat release data from fires in tunnels with heat release data from similar fires in the open air. A Bayesian methodology has been used to investigate the geometrical factors that have the greatest influence on heat release rate. It is shown that the heat release rate of a fire in a tunnel is influenced primarily by the width of a tunnel; a fire will tend to have a higher heat release rate in a narrow tunnel rather than in a wide tunnel. The observed relationship between heat release rate and tunnel width is presented. Results from a study investigating the variation of heat release rate with ventilation velocity for fires in tunnels are also presented. A method for making realistic estimates of the heat release rates of fires in tunnels, based on these results, is presented.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 5-26 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Fire Technology |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2004 |
Keywords
- Heat release rate
- Longitudinal ventilation
- Tunnel fires
- Tunnel geometry