Impact of passive fire protection on heat release rates in road tunnel fire: A review

Abstract

A review concerning passive fire protection system and their role in road tunnel fire is presented. A Road tunnel fire usually involves high uncertainty due to the presence of various tunnel conditions that affects or governs fire in tunnels. One of the main objectives of fire safety in road tunnels is structure stability during the fire as very high temperatures are expected. This necessitates the need for a suitable passive fire protection system for road tunnels. There are many types of passive fire protection techniques such as insulation boards, sprays, paints and poly propylene fibers which are widely used in road tunnels around the world. Such passive protections are usually designed to withstand the Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) temperature curves for a minimum of two hours as required by various international codes and local authorities. The prolong contact of these passive component with such high temperature and interaction with heat released in tunnel involves complex heat transfer mechanism. This paper reviews the possible effect of passive fire protection techniques on the peak heat release rates and temperature inside the tunnel. Investigating such effects will help us in better understanding of tunnel fires and enhance the fire safety in road tunnels.