Investigation of the performance of emergency ventilation strategies in the event of fires in a road tunnel - a case study

Numerical and experimental studies were used to assess the effectiveness of in-place emergency ventilation strategies for controlling smoke spread in the event of a fire in the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine road tunnel in Montreal, Quebec. The numerical study was conducted using the Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) model and experimental study was used to establish the initial and boundary conditions for the model. A heat source of 20 MW was used for the simulations. Two fires scenarios, deemed to cover the two main situations probable to occur in the tunnel, were simulated. The paper includes recommended improvements to the tunnel ventilation strategy.Des \ue9tudes num\ue9riques et exp\ue9rimentales ont permis d'\ue9valuer l'efficacit\ue9 des strat\ue9gies de ventilation de secours qui sont en place aux fins du contr\uf4le de l'enfumage en situation th\ue9orique d'incendie dans le tunnel routier Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine, \ue0 Montr\ue9al (Qu\ue9bec). L'\ue9tude num\ue9rique a \ue9t\ue9 men\ue9e au moyen du mod\ue8le Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS), et l'\ue9tude exp\ue9rimentale a permis d'\ue9tablir les conditions initiales et limites pour le mod\ue8le. Une source de chaleur de 20 MW a \ue9t\ue9 utilis\ue9e aux fins des simulations. On a simul\ue9 deux (2) sc\ue9narios d'incendies, cens\ue9 couvrir les deux principales situations susceptibles de survenir dans ce tunnel. Le document contient des recommandations en vue d'am\ue9liorer la strat\ue9gie de ventilation dans le tunnel.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye