Temperature and ventilation in the Toronto subway : an experimental study

Temperature and air flow measurements in two adjacent stations of the Toronto Yonge Street subway systemindicated average ventilation rates due to train piston action plus fans of between 70ft3/min and 130ft3/min perfoot of tunnel. These rates were enough to limit the average subway temperature to about 11 "F above ambient and to limit the diurnal subway temperature variation to about 1O0F, the ambient temperature varying as much as 20\ub0F. Comparison with approximate theory indicated that the Yonge Street subway is operating near optimum conditions and that reduced ventilation would be deleterious whereas increased ventilation would not be effective in further improving comfort conditions with the existing traffic.Des mesures de temp\ue9rature et d'\ue9coulement de I'air effectu\ue9es dans deux stations adjacentes du m\ue9tro de la rue Yonge \ue0 Toronto ont permis de constater que le d\ue9bit moyen de la ventilalion provoqu\ue9e par l'effet de piston des rames se d\ue9placant dans les tunnels et par les ventilateurs varie entre 70 pieds 3/mn et 130 pieds 3/mn par pied de tunnel. Ce d\ue9bit est suff'isant pour limiter la temp\ue9rature moyenne du m\ue9tro \ue0 environ 11\ub0F au-dessus cle la temp\ue9rature ambiante et pour limiter les variations de temp\ue9rature du m\ue9tro. dans la journ\ue9e, \ue0 environ 10\ub0F. la ternp\ue9rature ambiante pouvant varier jusqu \ue0 20\ub0F. Compar\ue9s \ue0 la th\ue9orie approximative ces r\ue9sultats montrent que le m\ue9tro de la rue Yonge fonctionne clans des conditionspresque optimales et que la r\ue9duction de la ventilation serait nuisible tandis que son intensification n'am\ue9liorerait nullement les conditions actuelles de confort.Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye