See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/313400597

Road Tunnel Ventilation: Compendium and practical guideline

Book · August 2013

CITATION READS

1 242

1 author:

Petr Pospisil
IP Engineering GmbH
14 PUBLICATIONS   13 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Tunnel Ventilation View project

Risk & Safety View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Petr Pospisil on 07 February 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Road Tunnel Ventilation

Compendium and practical guideline

Petr Pospisil
MSc, Mech. Eng.

Edition 08/2013
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

Have courage to use your own understanding

Immanuel Kant, 1724-1804

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013

www.p-i.ch/books

This work including all content is protected by copyright. Reprints or reproductions in any form as well as the
processing, reproduction and distribution by means of electronic systems of any kind, as a whole or in extracts, is
unlawful and will be penalized. All translation rights reserved.

PDF Edition 08/2013

ISBN 978-3-9524178-1-2

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 2 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

Contents
1   Preface ............................................................................................................................... 6  
2   Analysis of the present situation......................................................................................... 7  
3   Rational decision-making ................................................................................................... 8  
4   Fundamentals of tunnel ventilation................................................................................... 10  
4.1   The benefit of ventilation............................................................................................ 10  
4.2   Basic principle of tunnel ventilation............................................................................ 11  
4.3   Goals of Ventilation.................................................................................................... 12  
4.4   Traffic and Tunnel Categories ................................................................................... 13  
4.5   Simplicity, Reliability and Testability .......................................................................... 14  
5   Ventilation Concepts ........................................................................................................ 15  
5.1   Longitudinal Ventilation.............................................................................................. 15  
5.2   Transversal Ventilation .............................................................................................. 18  
5.3   Semi-transversal Ventilation ...................................................................................... 18  
5.4   Longitudinal Flow Control .......................................................................................... 20  
6   Operating ventilation ........................................................................................................ 22  
6.1   Visibility and air quality in the tunnel .......................................................................... 22  
6.2   Displacement und dilution.......................................................................................... 22  
6.3   Dynamics of airflow.................................................................................................... 23  
6.4   Limits of longitudinal ventilation ................................................................................. 24  
6.5   Operating ventilation control ...................................................................................... 25  
6.6   Humidity Problems..................................................................................................... 26  
6.7   Emission control ........................................................................................................ 27  
7   Fire Ventilation ................................................................................................................. 28  
7.1   Goals and Principles .................................................................................................. 28  
7.2   Longitudinal smoke control with high flow velocity .................................................... 31  
7.3   Longitudinal smoke control with low flow velocity ...................................................... 32  
7.4   Concentrated Smoke Extraction ................................................................................ 33  
7.5   Concentrated extraction in tunnels with unidirectional traffic ..................................... 36  
7.6   Concentrated extraction with fixed extraction points ................................................. 37  
7.7   Short Tunnels, Galleries and Open Roads ................................................................ 37  
7.8   Start-up of fire ventilation ........................................................................................... 38  

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 3 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

7.9   Fire Detection ............................................................................................................ 39  

7.10   Control of fire ventilation .......................................................................................... 40  
8   Escape Routes ................................................................................................................. 42  
8.1   Fundamentals ............................................................................................................ 42  
8.2   Prevention of entry of smoke ..................................................................................... 42  
9   Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety .................................................................. 45  
10   Traffic management ....................................................................................................... 46  
11   Cost-Benefit Analysis ..................................................................................................... 47  
11.1   Risk analyses and overall safety consideration ....................................................... 47  
11.2   Scenario analysis of fire ventilation and rescue of persons ..................................... 48  
11.3   Costs........................................................................................................................ 49  
11.4   Findings ................................................................................................................... 50  
12   Conception and Design .................................................................................................. 51  
12.1   General .................................................................................................................... 51  
12.2   Recommended ventilation systems and concepts .................................................. 52  
12.3   Stationary design of longitudinal ventilation ............................................................ 53  
12.4   Exhaust system and transversal ventilation design ................................................. 53  
12.5   Boundary Conditions ............................................................................................... 54  
12.6   Dynamic Analysis .................................................................................................... 55  
13   Ventilation System Requirements .................................................................................. 56  
13.1   Quality Requirements .............................................................................................. 56  
13.2   Structural Provisions ................................................................................................ 56  
13.3   Jet Fans ................................................................................................................... 57  
13.4   Impulse Nozzles ...................................................................................................... 58  
13.5   Exhaust and air supply fans..................................................................................... 58  
13.6   Dampers .................................................................................................................. 60  
13.7   Power supply ........................................................................................................... 60  
13.8   Temperature Resistance ......................................................................................... 61  
13.9   Control System ........................................................................................................ 62  
13.10   Airflow measurement in the tunnel ........................................................................ 62  
13.11   Opacity and pollutant measurement ...................................................................... 64  
13.12   Fire Detection System ........................................................................................... 65  
13.13   Device Monitoring .................................................................................................. 65  

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 4 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

14   Testing............................................................................................................................ 66  
14.1   General requirements .............................................................................................. 66  
14.2   Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) ............................................................................. 67  
14.3   Site Acceptance Test (SAT) .................................................................................... 67  
14.4   Site Integration Tests (SIT) ...................................................................................... 68  
14.5   Fire and Smoke Tests.............................................................................................. 69  
14.6   Tests for tunnels in operation .................................................................................. 70  
15   References ..................................................................................................................... 71  
15.1   Norms and Guidelines ............................................................................................. 71  
15.2   Technical Literature ................................................................................................. 72  
Advertisements ...................................................................................................................... 74  

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 5 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

1 Preface

Investors, operators and designers of road tunnels are responsible for decisions related to
significant investments. The tunnel ventilation is an important element for the safety of a tun-
nel, as well as for investment and operational costs. Therefore, comprehension of basic as-
pects of tunnel ventilation should be advanced to provide useful criteria for decisions.
Over a decade after some catastrophic road tunnel fires in alpine tunnels with a lot of media
attention and extensive experience with the new safety standards that have been imple-
mented as a consequence of those fires, the findings from that experience shall be consoli-
dated to define the actual state of the art of road tunnel ventilation. With the explanations in
this compendium, open questions shall be answered, and errors, ambiguities and misunder-
standings shall be cleared. Only the reader can judge whether these goals are achieved or
not.
Simple, clearly understandable und practically oriented specifications for concept, design,
realisation and operation of road tunnel ventilation systems shall be described. With its help,
decision makers, stakeholders and interested parties shall be enabled to assess tunnel venti-
lation concepts in the context of general safety of road tunnels. Design fundamentals, which
are considered as common knowledge and available in corresponding technical literature,
are not repeated, but only commented or adapted if necessary.
This compendium is based on the knowledge from the author's practical experience over
years in the realisation, design and conception of technical systems, particularly tunnel venti-
lation systems since 1998. Unlike scientific papers, most of the findings have never been
published, besides in the project documentation. Important is also the value of insights from
failed experiments, problems during realisation and operation, and real incidents, which of
course are never made public. That’s why only a few particular examples, which are publicly
available, will be mentioned.
Special thanks goes to colleagues, partners and other professionals who worked and dis-
cussed with the author, and from whom the author has learnt a lot about theory and practice
of the treated areas of expertise.

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 6 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

2 Analysis of the present situation

Pollutant emissions have significantly decreased in countries with strict emission standards
since the 1980s. Nevertheless, in many road tunnels, tunnel users complain about poor visi-
bility and air quality.
Until the end of the 1990s, transversal tunnel ventilation systems with equally distributed ex-
traction were designed. These systems were unable to control the smoke propagation in
case of fire, and often even worsened the situation1. Since then, thanks to the media pres-
ence, public opinion focused on safety and ventilation of tunnels.
Since the millennium, many norms and guidelines focussing on the design of tunnel ventila-
tion systems have been worked out (see Chap. 15.1). A lot of investigations about fires in
tunnels can be found among the technical literature. However, in practice, many incidents
show that the safety and ventilation equipment fails to fulfil satisfactorily its purpose.
Extraordinary high costs, which are justified by safety requirements, lead to financial short-
ages and therefore many tunnel projects cannot be realized or essential refurbishments are
delayed. In an overall view over a long time period, this leads to a decrease in safety.
Particularly in existing tunnels with obsolete, unsuitable ventilation systems (from today’s
point of view), a significant increase of tunnel safety would be possible with simple modifica-
tions2.
The ventilation must not be seen as individual equipment, but as an important element of a
general operational and safety concept. For ventilation aspects, its control, instrumentation
and power supply, and also the traffic management, constructional provisions, and other tun-
nel equipment (e.g. signals, lighting, etc.) have to be considered.
An improvement of the present situation is necessary and possible with the help of following
measures:
- Basics, principles and goals of the tunnel ventilation as part of the general operational
and safety concept of a tunnel must be clearly defined (Chap. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10)
- Conceptual decisions must be worked out on basis of a systematic analysis taking
into account benefits and costs, with appropriate emphasis on particular criteria
(Chap. 3, 11)
- It must be ensured that the requirements are reliably achieved during the whole life-
time of the tunnel (Chap. 9, 12, 13). For this, the inspection and test concept is essen-
tial (Chap. 14).

1
Particularly, the fire incidents in the Mont-Blanc and Tauern tunnels (1999) and in the Gotthard road
tunnel (2001) with a total of 62 deaths.
2
In many cases, an enhancement of the ventilation software would be sufficient.

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 7 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
Road tunnel ventilation compendium

3 Rational decision-making

Discussions about useful concepts and appropriate systems often become a matter of con-
viction: What is the ultimate truth? Rational decision-making goes against human nature.
Humans (including engineers and technicians) tend to make decisions based on small ran-
dom samples of easily available ideas or based on their gut feeling (Lit. [61], [62]).
However, time and funds are not unlimited. Irrational decisions tie up substantial funds and
time which then lack for more efficient measures. Consequently, poor decisions on safety
measures increase casualties and costs in a global context (Lit. [63]).
In a socio-political context, the decision about the right allocation of funds is a difficult and
delicate matter. However, in practical technical questions, the right approach is easier.
When the issue is about the safety of persons and long-term investments of several millions,
decisions should be made based on a serious and objective analysis of benefit and costs of
useful variants (Chap. 11).
For such a rational decision-making, first of all clear goals must be defined. Useful goals of a
tunnel ventilation system may be:
- to ensure a clear visibility in the tunnel and at the portal zones
- to limit the concentrations of noxious substances in the tunnel and its environment
- to limit smoke propagation in the tunnel in case of a fire incident so that the danger to
the tunnel users is minimized and safe evacuation is enabled
Naturally, there are many possibilities to strive towards these goals. These possibilities lead
to different variants of concepts and technical solutions. Each variant has its advantages and
drawbacks, limits of adaptability, an optimal range of application, uncertainties and costs.
For variants, which have their advantages in a certain, preferred context, humans tend to
ignore the disadvantages, and vice versa (Lit. [62]). That’s why good solutions can be evalu-
ated only by a systematic approach. At the end, what counts is whether a concept or a sys-
tem achieves the defined goals reliably and at what price, taking the whole lifetime into ac-
count.

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 8 / 81

FREE PREVIEW
 Road tunnel ventilation compendium

Finally, the optimal solution is always a compromise, taking into account different points of
view and thus varying weightings of arguments in a given context:
- The public wants a tunnel to be a safe and comfortable line of communication.
- The tunnel user, i.e. the car or truck driver, wants to drive fast and safely through the
tunnel.
- In case of an incident, the tunnel user shall be affected as less as possible, at least
staying alive and unhurt.
- Emergency services need to fulfil their duty in case of an incident, that is, saving the
tunnel users and mitigating the damages.
- The investor intends to minimize investment costs.
- The operator has an interest in low operational costs.
- Construction companies, equipment suppliers, the financial industry, and mostly also
the designers, are interested in complex, expensive solutions.
- Lawyers, experts and consultants are intrigued by hazy, contradictory or faulty re-
quirements and specifications, which lead to endless discussions.
Huge funds are invested for constructions and equipment with doubtful usefulness, which
often do not even work in practice. This is in principle nothing bad, rather a question of point
of view.
In this guideline, the focus is on defining useful goals and how to achieve those goals safely
and reliably by simple, economic concepts, to efficiently allocate limited funds for an ade-
quate level of safety.

© Copyright P-I Pospisil Ing. 2013 Edition 08/2013 9 / 81

FREE PREVIEW

View publication stats