Emission model for use in road tunnels

Tunnels for road and street traffic become increasingly important for transport provisions, primarily in large cities. Currently, there are in Stockholm and Gothenburg high-volume tunnels in the primary road network. In addition, many new tunnels will soon be finalised or are planned both in Stockholm and Gothenburg. The exhaust emissions in road tunnels may not exceed certain limits. Road tunnels are equipped with ventilation systems to make sure that limits for air quality are not exceeded, primarily emissions of NO2. The ventilation systems are dimensioned using data on maximum expected emissions per unit of time. VTI has obtained a commission from the Swedish National Road Administration (SNRA) to develop a model for calculation of exhaust emissions in tunnels, which in addition shall take into account oversaturated conditions. Currently, SNRA has no satisfactory model for calculations at hourly level. The objective of the development effort has been to formulate a calculation model for travel speeds and emissions in motorway tunnels, to be used when tunnel ventilation systems are dimensioned. For a complete structure, the model shall provide individual tunnel tube emission data for hourly traffic, split upon homogenous - from the viewpoint of traffic engineering - road links and ventilation segments. This report describes the results of the development project for calculation of emissions in tunnels. The completed model comprises two parts, one for calculation of speed and corresponding hourly flow at given demand level and one for calculation of emissions, using hourly flows and speed as input data. For each part, there is a computer program with user manual. Test runs of the model for some basic typical tunnel cases, has been carried out to illustrate the results of the total model. The total emissions of NOx (kg/km) as a function of traffic flow have been calculated for different degree of traffic load. In addition, the model has been validated by comparisons of calculated NOx values from the model with measured NOx values in three different tunnels: the Gnistäng tunnel and the Tingstad tunnel in Gothenburg and the Southern Route tunnel in Stockholm