Fire suppression and structure protection for cargo train tunnels: macadam and HotFoam

The increasing heavy goods transports and potential of transporting goods on rail has put the focus on the fire safety of rail tunnels for cargo trains. In the paper two different aspects of fire behaviour and fire safety in cargo rail tunnels are presented: the effect of the use of macadam on the burning rate of liquid fuels and the possibility of extinguishing simulated cargo trains with foam systems. Two different tests series were performed. One test series with different depth of liquid fuel (heptane and diesel) in a pool with macadam showed that the macadam had a significant influence on the burning rate of the fuel. In a second test series a High Expansion foam system (HotFoamo) was tested in tunnel fire scenarios. Four different principle fire test scenarios were used in the test series in the tunnel section built in the fire hall of SP Fire Technology: hidden fire inside a locomotive mock-up, wood pallets placed on a simulated goods wagon, pool fire placed on a simulated goods wagon, and pool fire placed under a simulated goods wagon. Different types of fuels were used: diesel, heptane, E-85, acetone, and wood pallets. The Svenska Skum HotFoam fire extinguishing system was started with a pre-defined delay after alarm from the installed detection system and was able to extinguish all reported scenarios. Easiest to extinguish (shortest time between foam production and extinguishment) were the heptane fires, both on and below the simulated goods wagon. Most difficult to extinguish (with the same nominal filling rate of foam) was Test 7 with E-85 (A). For the covering abstract of the conference se ITRD E216860.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9789185829255
• Authors:
  • LOENNERMARK, A
  • KRISTENSON, P
  • HELLTEGEN, M
  • BOBERT, M
• Publication Date: 2008

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: pp217-228
• Monograph Title: Proceedings from the Third International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, Stockholm, Sweden, March 12-14 2008
• Serial:
  • SP RAPPORT
  • Issue Number: 2008:11
  • Publisher: SP Sveriges provnings- och forskningsinstitut, Sweden
  • ISSN: 0284-5172

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Fire extinguishers; Fires; Foams; Freight cars; Prevention; Railroad tracks; Testing equipment; Tests; Tunnels
• Uncontrolled Terms: Full scale
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Railroads; Security and Emergencies; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01141078
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
• ISBN: 978-91-85829-25-5
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Sep 30 2009 9:00AM