Gas Temperatures in Heavy Goods Vehicle Fires in Tunnels

Large-scale fire tests were carried out with heavy goods vehicle (HGV) cargos in the Runehamar tunnel in Norway. The tunnel is a decommissioned, two-way-asphalted road tunnel that is 1600 m long, 6 m high and 9 m wide, with a slope varying between 0.5% uphill and 1% downhill. In total four tests were performed with fire in an HGV set-up and a longitudinal ventilation flow of approximately 3 m/s. In three tests, mixtures of different cellulose and plastic materials were used; in the fourth test a commodity consisting of furniture and fixtures was used. In all tests the mass ratio was approximately 82% cellulose and 18% plastic. A polyester tarpaulin covered the cargo. One purpose of the large-scale tests was to obtain new relevant gas temperature-time data from large-scale HGV fires in tunnels. There is presently a lack of such information for road tunnels. The maximum heat release rates produced by the four different fire loads varied between 66 and 202 MW resulting in maximum gas temperatures at the ceiling ranging between 1281 and 1365 °C. A comparison with literature values shows that the gas temperatures obtained here are uniformly higher than those obtained in other similar large-scale test series conducted using solid materials. A mathematical correlation of a temperature–time curve is given and this is the best representation of the measured temperature and a combination of frequently used temperature curves for tunnels (the HC curve and the RWS curve).

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03797112
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Lonnermark, Anders
  • Ingason, Haukur
• Publication Date: 2005

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 506-527
• Serial:
  • Fire Safety Journal
  • Volume: 40
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0379-7112
  • EISSN: 1873-7226
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03797112/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cellulose; Field tests; Freight transportation; Plastics; Temperature; Trucks; Tunnels; Vehicle fires; Vehicular tunnels
• Uncontrolled Terms: Tunnel fires
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Freight Transportation; Highways; Motor Carriers; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment; I25: Design of Tunnels; I80: Accident Studies; I91: Vehicle Design and Safety;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01045307
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 29 2007 5:52PM