Experimental study of the temperature profile induced by the tunnel wall fire plume at various source-ceiling heights

Abstract

The smoke temperature profile beneath the ceiling of tunnel is one of the most important parameters to evaluate the tunnel fire risk and guide the early fire detection. This paper investigates experimentally the temperature profile induced by the tunnel wall fire plume at various source-ceiling heights. A series of experiments were carried out in a reduced-scale tunnel and a burner combustion inside. The burner elevation above the tunnel floor was changed at the center of the tunnel, and it attaches the side-wall of the tunnel to simulate the wall fire plume evolution with fire growth inside the tunnel. The temperatures beneath the ceiling were measured by the thermocouple array at the corner between the ceiling and side-wall of the tunnel. The maximum temperature beneath the ceiling could be correlated by the heat release rate and the source-ceiling height. A new characteristic parameter model considering the virtual point source at the side of the tunnel was proposed firstly considering the tunnel fire scenario to describe the tunnel plume temperature profile. The obtained experimental data and proposed temperature profile model in this work provide a basic understanding of the heat/thermal impact on the tunnel wall fire plume.

Keywords

• Tunnel fire
• Temperature profile
• Heat release rate
• Source-ceiling height
• Burner size
• Virtual point source