Large scale tunnel fire tests with different types of large droplet fixed fire fighting systems
2019 (English)In: Fire safety journal, ISSN 0379-7112, E-ISSN 1873-7226, Vol. 107, p. 29-43Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The paper presented the main results of large-scale fire tests with different types of fixed firefighting systems (FFFS) conducted in the Runehamar tunnel in June 2016. The background to the tests, the performance of the different systems, and conclusions regarding the efficiency of the systems were presented. The fire load consisted of 420 standardised wooden pallets and a target of 21 wooden pallets. Five of the tests were carried out with a 30 m long deluge zone delivering varying water densities using three different types of side-wall nozzles with an interval distance of 5 m. One test with 93 °C glass-bulb automatic sprinklers in the same zone was also conducted. In the five deluge tests, the detection system was simulated using thermocouples in the tunnel ceiling. The alarm was registered when the ceiling gas temperature reached 141 °C, and the system was activated manually after a delay of 4 min. The protection goal of the system was to prevent fire spread to a target positioned 5 m from the rear of the main fuel area, and to ensure that the fire did not exceed 30 MW in size. The system setups tested were found to meet these goals.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier Ltd , 2019. Vol. 107, p. 29-43
Keywords [en]
Automatic sprinkler, Deluge, Fixed firefighting system (FFFS), Heat release rate, Water density, Wood pallets, Fire extinguishers, Fire protection, Hose, Pallets, Thermocouples, Heat Release Rate (HRR), Fires
National Category
Natural Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ri:diva-39267DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2019.04.007Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85067036002OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ri-39267DiVA, id: diva2:1334712
Note
Funding details: Trafikverket; Funding text 1: The project was financially supported by the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) which is gratefully acknowledged. We would like to thank tunnel safety officer Ulf Lundström of the STA, and Conny Becker of Brandskyddslaget AB. We would also like to thank all of the technicians at RISE Fire Research in Borås and RISE Fire Research A/S in Trondheim for their great work. Thanks also to Per Fiva of the Norwegian Public Road Administration in Åndalsnes for the technical support during the tests. The nozzles tested were provided by TYCO Fire Protection Products, who is gratefully acknowledged.
2019-07-032019-07-032023-06-08Bibliographically approved