National Academies Press: OpenBook

Design Fires in Road Tunnels (2011)

Chapter: Front Matter

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2011. Design Fires in Road Tunnels. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14562.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2011 www.TRB.org NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 415 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SUBSCRIBER CATEGORIES Bridges and Other Structures • Design • Highways Design Fires in Road Tunnels A Synthesis of Highway Practice CONSULTANT IGOR Y. MAEVSKI Jacobs Engineering New York, N.Y.

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP SYNTHESIS 415 Project 20-05, Topic 41-05 ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 978-0-309-14330-1 Library of Congress Control No. 2010943183 © 2011 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report. NOTE: The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol- ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni- cal matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academyís purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisci- plinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transporta- tion, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

NCHRP COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT 20-05 CHAIR CATHERINE NELSON, Oregon DOT MEMBERS KATHLEEN S. AMES, Michael Baker, Jr., Inc. STUART D. ANDERSON, Texas A&M University CYNTHIA J. BURBANK, PB Americas, Inc. LISA FREESE, Scott County (MN) Public Works Division MALCOLM T. KERLEY, Virginia DOT RICHARD D. LAND, California DOT JAMES W. MARCH, Federal Highway Administration (retired) JOHN M. MASON, JR., Auburn University ANANTH PRASAD, Secretary, Florida DOT ROBERT L. SACK, New York State DOT FRANCINE SHAW-WHITSON, Federal Highway Administration MARY LYNN TISCHER, Federal Highway Administration LARRY VELASQUEZ, QUALCON, Inc. FHWA LIAISON JACK JERNIGAN TRB LIAISON STEPHEN F. MAHER Cover figure: Plabutch Tunnel Fire Test (Graz University of Technology). COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF CHRISTOPHER W. JENKS, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs NANDA SRINIVASAN, Senior Program Officer EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications SYNTHESIS STUDIES STAFF STEPHEN R. GODWIN, Director for Studies and Special Programs JON M. WILLIAMS, Program Director, IDEA and Synthesis Studies JO ALLEN GAUSE, Senior Program Officer GAIL R. STABA, Senior Program Officer DONNA L. VLASAK, Senior Program Officer DON TIPPMAN, Senior Editor CHERYL KEITH, Senior Program Assistant DEMISHA WILLIAMS, Senior Program Assistant DEBBIE IRVIN, Program Associate TOPIC PANEL HARRY A. CAPERS, JR, Arora and Associates, Lawrenceville, NJ DONALD DWYER, New York State Department of Transportation GARY ENGLISH, Seattle Fire Marshall Office, Vashon, WA BRUCE V. JOHNSON, Oregon Department of Transportation STEPHEN F. MAHER, Transportation Research Board JIM MILKE, University of Maryland, College Park PRASAD NALLAPANENI, Virginia Department of Transportation DHARAM PAL, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey KEVIN J. THOMPSON, Arora and Associates, Auburn, CA SHEILA RIMAL DUWADI, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) JESUS M. ROHENA, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison)

Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which infor- mation already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and prac- tice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a consequence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and evalu- ating such useful information and to make it available to the entire highway community, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials—through the mechanism of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program—authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Project 20-05, “Synthesis of Information Related to Highways Problem,” searches out and synthe- sizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice. This synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each report in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measure found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems FOREWORD This synthesis offers information on the state of the practice of design fires in road tunnels, focusing on tunnel fire dynamics and the means of fire management for design guidance. Information is derived from a literature review and a survey of U.S. and interna- tional transportation agencies and tunnel owners and reports on their experience with tunnel fire life safety systems such as ventilation and fire protection and detection. Ex- tensive appendices offer more details about tunnel safety projects, fire tests, and national and international standards requirements, as well as past tunnel fire descriptions. Basic information is provided for tunnel operators, first responders, and tunnel agencies to better understand their tunnels and train their personnel. It includes statistical data for fire incidents in road tunnels since 1949 through the last decade, as well as statistical data doc- uments for several tunnel fire safety projects that have been established and accomplished in the United States and Europe. Survey data were also solicited about agencies’ experiences regarding problems with sys- tems, gaps in current knowledge, and what improvements agencies would like to see made. Worldwide, a total of 15 agencies reported on their experiences with 319 tunnels yielding a 60% national and 100% international response rate. A majority of the respondents ex- pressed interest in a tunnel fire computer simulator, as only research programs using “Vir- tual Fires” have been successfully developed and used in Sweden and Austria. Dr. Igor Y. Maevski, Jacobs Engineering, New York, N.Y., collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable within the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. PREFACE By Donna L. Vlasak Senior Program Officer Transportation Research Board

CONTENTS 1 SUMMARY 7 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background, 7 Project Overview, 7 Description of the Survey Process, 8 10 CHAPTER TWO TUNNEL SAFETY PROJECTS—LITERATURE REVIEW Overview of Recently Completed and On-going Tunnel Safety Projects, 10 Prevention of Tunnel Highway Fires, 10 Making Transportation Tunnels Safe and Secure, 11 International Technology Scanning Program–Summary, 12 UPTUN—Summary, 12 FIT, 13 DARTS, 13 SafeT, 13 SIRTAKI, 14 Virtual Fires, 14 Safe Tunnel, 14 EuroTAP, 15 SOLIT, 15 L-surF, 15 EGSISTES, 15 Summary, 16 17 CHAPTER THREE TENABLE ENVIRONMENT—LITERATURE REVIEW Heat Effects, 17 Air Carbon Monoxide Content, 18 Toxicity, 19 Smoke Obscuration Levels, Visibility, 19 Air Velocities, 19 Noise Levels, 20 Geometric Considerations, 20 Time Considerations, 20 Summary, 20 21 CHAPTER FOUR SIGNIFICANT FIRE INCIDENTS IN ROAD TUNNELS—LITERATURE REVIEW Cause of Vehicular Fires in Road Tunnels, 21 Frequencies of Tunnel Fires, 24 Consequences of Tunnel Fires, 24 Summary, 25

27 CHAPTER FIVE COMBINED-USE ROAD TUNNELS—LITERATURE REVIEW Combined Use for Road Vehicles and Pedestrians, 27 Combined Use for Road Vehicles and Utilities, 27 Combined Use for Road and Railway Vehicles, 27 29 CHAPTER SIX FIRE TESTS—LITERATURE REVIEW Full Scale Tests, 29 Small-Scale Testing (Physical Modeling), 36 Large-Scale Experimental Facilities, 37 Gaps in Fire Testing, Modeling Limitations, and Computational Fluid Dynamics Verifications, 38 Summary, 39 41 CHAPTER SEVEN ANALYTICAL FIRE MODELING—LITERATURE REVIEW Analytical (Numerical) Fire Modeling Technique, 42 Findings on Numerical Modeling Based on Literature Review, 44 Summary, 45 46 CHAPTER EIGHT SURVEY RESULTS Fire Frequency in U.S. Tunnels, 46 Consequences of Fire Incidents, 46 Severity of Tunnel Fires, 46 Existing Practice of Fire Management in Road Tunnels, 47 Best Design Practice, 48 Maintenance, Repair, and Rehabilitation of the Fire Management Systems, 49 Selected Important Examples, 50 Findings and Future Studies, 51 Computer-Based Training Tools for Operators to Manage Fire—Virtual Training, 51 54 CHAPTER NINE DESIGN FOR TUNNEL FIRES—LITERATURE REVIEW Background, 54 Integrated Approach to Safety in Tunnels, 56 Design Fire Size, 58 Exploring the Emerging Issues of Alternative Fuel Vehicles on Design Fires, 60 Fire Smoke and Smoke Production—Literature Review, 65 Temperature of Fire Gases and Tunnel Walls, 69 Fire Development Based on Literature Review, 71 Summary, 76 79 CHAPTER TEN COMPILATION OF DESIGN GUIDANCE, STANDARDS, AND REGULATIONS Tunnel Ventilation and International Standards Requirements, 83 Tunnel Fire Protection, Fire Fighting, and International Standards Requirements, 90 Tunnel Fire Detection, Notification, and International Standards Requirements, 90 Tunnel Egress and International Standards Requirements, 93 Tunnel Incident Response and International Standards Requirements, 94 Summary, 96 97 CHAPTER ELEVEN DESIGN FIRE SCENARIO FOR FIRE MODELING Time–Temperature and Time-of-Tenability Curves, 97 Emergency Egress Timeline, 100 Equipment Activation Timeline, 102 Combined Curve for Evacuation and System Activation, 102 Summary, 103

105 CHAPTER TWELVE FIXED FIRE SUPPRESSION AND ITS IMPACT ON DESIGN FIRE SIZE Background, 105 Summary, 111 112 CHAPTER THIRTEEN EFFECTS OF VARIOUS VENTILATION CONDITIONS, TUNNEL GEOMETRY, AND STRUCTURAL AND NONSTRUCTURAL TUNNEL COMPONENTS ON DESIGN FIRE CHARACTERISTICS—LITERATURE REVIEW Influence of Ventilation on Fire Heat Release Rate, 112 Influence of Tunnel Geometry on Fire Heat Release Rate, 113 Influence of Structural and Nonstructural Components on Fire Heat Release Rate, 113 Summary, 114 Example of Design Fire Size Estimate, 115 117 CHAPTER FOURTEEN CONCLUSIONS 124 REFERENCES 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY 130 GLOSSARY 131 APPENDIX A SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 137 APPENDIX B LIST OF RESPONDING AGENCIES 138 APPENDIX C SUMMARY OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES 151 APPENDIX D TUNNEL SAFETY PROJECTS ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION 157 APPENDIX E FIRE TESTS 161 APPENDIX F COMPARISON OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS 179 APPENDIX G PAST TUNNEL FIRES DESCRIPTION APPENDIXES D–G ARE WEB-ONLY AND CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.TRB.ORG, SEARCH ON “NCHRP SYNTHESIS 415.”

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 415: Design Fires in Road Tunnels information on the state of the practice of design fires in road tunnels, focusing on tunnel fire dynamics and the means of fire management for design guidance.

Note: On September 20, 2011, the following errata was released related to NCHRP Synthesis 415. The electronic version of the publicaiton was changed to reflect the corrections.

On pages 106 and 107, an incorrect reference was cited. In the final paragraph on page 106, the last sentence should read: One study came to the conclusion that, although some minimum water application rates would achieve a certain objective, a marginally higher rate would not necessarily improve the situation (79). The figure caption for Figure 35 at the bottom of page 107 should read: FIGURE 35 NFPA 13, NFPA 15, and other International Water Application Rates (79).

The added reference is as follows:

79. Harris, K., “Water Application Rates for Fixed Fire Fighting Systems in Road Tunnels,” Proceedings from the Fourth International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security, A. Lönnermark and H. Ingason, Eds., Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Mar. 17–19, 2010.

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