The Integrated Strategies for Fire Safety of Long Road Tunnels in Taiwan

Abstract

The Guanyinshan Tunnel opened in 2009 allowed passages of large chemical tankers. To ensure public safety, subsequent researches on fire safety design in a road tunnel in which dangerous goods are allowed to travel through were performed. The research results then led to the debate of effectiveness of the tunnel fire safety and to a consensus on the need for installation of water-based firefighting system (WFS) in the tunnels of Suhua Highway Improvement Project. The evolution of integrated fire safety management and design in long road tunnels has positively impact the fire safety industry, academia and transportation in Taiwan. This study proposes a new integrated fire safety strategy for long road tunnel in Taiwan based on the simulation inference of fire scenarios, design specifications, and project management in Japan and European. In this study, two-bus fire scenario in a road tunnel are analyzed using the fire dynamic simulators (FDS) program and a safety assessment method is developed for human evacuation and rescue operations in a road tunnel fire. A time constraint of 7minutes for firefighters to engage in firefighting activities is determined on full scale experimental results and simulation results. Based on the assessment and field survey results, an appropriate firefighting scheme can consequently be determined. The results of this study serve as a useful information for road tunnel fire safety design and strategy of emergency response management.