Fire safety in tunnels forming part of critical infrastructure

Abstract

Road and railway tunnels form vital part of transportation infrastructure as they often represent the only means of crossing a difficult geography. Failure of such critical links may lead to significant disruption to large parts of the transportation system. Due to their enclosed construction they are very vulnerable to fire damage resulting from a terrorist attack or accident. This paper deals with the problem of fire safety in tunnels and the prediction of the effects of a fire on the tunnel construction and the evacuation of the persons inside the tunnel. A realistic worst case fire scenario was modelled for a selected tunnel in the Slovak critical infrastructure, with the aim to establish the potential structural damage as well as the tenability and evacuation conditions. The outcomes are two-fold; firstly, to demonstrate computer modelling capabilities in this area, and secondly, to determine the required fire safety measures and precautions to ensure appropriate structural fire resistance and adequate means of escape. The ability to accurately predict fire severity is key to the robustness of critical infrastructure design and it greatly reduces the likelihood of a catastrophic failure.