Experimental Research - Large-Scale Tunnel Fire Tests and the use of CFD Modelling to predict Thermal Behavior

Gabriele Vigne
16 October 2009

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Presentation
Introduction The Tests The Models Results and Future Works

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Introduction

- Arup Fire in Madrid forms part of a European construction Technology Platform (ECTP) - Test series were conducted in La Ribera del Folgoso (Spain) in a 50m cross section tunnel during March 2009 - Similar tests were conducted in 2008 and the results have been considered when realizing these tests

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

The Tests
Five tests were conducted in the tunnel, each one with the same configuration and external conditions in order to quantify the uncertainty of the experimental measurements. Fire Size: 5-6 MW Duration: 8 minutes Ventilation : <0.2 m/s

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Geometry

- Cross Section Area of 50m - 100m Length - Concrete surface

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

The Fire
A metal containers designed to achieve a Fire Power of 5-6MW Dimension: 2.0m x 1.00m The container was filled with a thin layer of water and a layer of Heptane

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Instrumentation
Thermocouples were placed at ceiling height along the tunnel, every 2m from the fire and through the fire plume Four couple of plate thermometers were placed 4m from the fire at a height of 2.5m and 3.5m. Two velocimeters were positioned 5m from the fire to ensure that low velocities were maintained at the start of each test. 2.50
2.0000
2.0000
2.0000
2.0000 2.50
2.0000
2.0000
2.0000
2.0000

1.5000

1.0000

1.0000

6.500
5.5000

1.0000

2.0000
3.5000
2.000

2.5000

1.0000
4.00
5.0000

5.0000

4.00

8.0000

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Models Setup
3 simple Models were run, each one with a different grid resolution
Model name FDS 1 FDS 2 FDS 3 Resolution of the Fire mesh (m) 0.2 0.1 0.05 Resolution of the other meshes (m) 0.2 0.2 0.1 Total number of meshes 3 5 9 D*/x
Recommended value

10 20 40

Assuming a 5.5MW fire => D*=2.0

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

The Model
-Software used: FDS 5.3.1 - HRR: from test data - Reaction: heptane - Walls: concrete, thermally thick - THCPs modelled as thermocouples - Velocity: none

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
-Temperature
Above the fire plume FDS has a tendency to heavily over predict the temperatures, once outside the plume the temperatures are closer to the measured temperatures.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
-Temperature
It is difficult to capture the correct temperature above the plume due to the continuous fluctuation of the flame. For this reason it is very difficult to draw valid conclusions about the temperature of the thermocouple placed above the fire.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
Heat Release Rate
HRR from mass loss measurements was close to what expected from empirical pool-fire calculations The fuel was burning consistently for 5 minutes

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
The combination of the experimental uncertainty associated with both the model input parameters and the measured model outputs served as a benchmark for evaluation of the models A range of 10% was obtained as result of the experiments.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
Measured vs. predicted gas temperature, 2m from the fire

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
Measured vs. predicted gas temperature, 4m from the fire

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
Measured vs. predicted gas temperature, 6m from the fire

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Results
Measured vs. predicted gas temperature, 8m from the fire

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Plate Thermometers
Due to the quantity of Heptane available during the tests and the wish to perform as many tests as possible, the time allowed to the pool fire to burn consistently was limited to about 5 minutes. Because of the thermal inertia of the plate thermometers, the duration of the fire did not permitted the plate thermometers to reach steady state conditions during the tests as can be seen in the graph below.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Conclusions

-FDS has shown a good performance in predicting the temperature magnitude inside the tunnel -The evaluation showed the importance of using a correct grid resolution to get reliable results. This is very important it should be assured that a proper grid resolution always is to be used. - To be able to fully investigate and analyse the heat flux behaviour it is necessary with longer burning times.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Further Works
The duration of the fire was enough to reach steady state condition for the normal thermocouples whilst it was not possible for the plate thermometers The FDS model was deliberately built in a simple way as it would have been created by an average user; further adjustments to the FDS model could lead to better results Additional tests will be performed in order to investigate the heat flux behaviour around the fire.

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Acknowledgement

-Fundacin Santa Barbara - NIST, VTT

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009

Thanks

Gabriele Vigne
16 October 2008

Fire Protection and Life Safety in Buildings and Transportation Systems , Santander 16 October 2009