One-dimensional analysis of the global chimney effect in the case of fire in an inclined tunnel

Abstract

A one-dimensional computational analysis is presented of the global chimney effect due to a fire source in an inclined tunnel. Fire-induced flows are not accounted for in the present study: the computed velocity, due to global heating, is to be superposed as an initial and/or boundary condition in detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations in a region of interest. The results must not be used as a replacement for such detailed simulations in e.g. network problems. Two calculation options are explained for the global chimney effect. The first method is based on the global heating of the entire tunnel part between the fire source and the higher positioned tunnel outlet. In the other method, the initial fire-influenced region is restricted to a certain distance and, as soon as a prescribed temperature rise is met, the fire-influenced region length increases until the tunnel outlet is reached. The treatment of the enthalpy flow rate through the fire-influenced region boundaries is discussed. In order to identify the most important parameters and to quantify their influence on the global chimney effect, a sensitivity study is presented with respect to the different model ingredients. The following quantities are examined: fire source heat release rate, tunnel inclination angle, tunnel length, tunnel wall roughness, ambient temperature, ambient pressure conditions, tunnel cross-section area, and fire source position. Attention is focused onto the fire-influenced region mean temperature and the air velocity at the tunnel inlet. The inlet air velocity is quantified by means of a correlation, taking into account the parameters mentioned.