New System Being Developed to Combat Tunnel Fires
Stockholm Bypass is a proposed new highway connection for E4 through western Stockholm. A large part of the road, about 50 km, will pass through a tunnel and it is very important that adequate protection against fire is in place. The number of passing vehicles is large: Forecasts show that up to 145,000 vehicles/day may pass through the Stockholm Bypass.
“The amount of vehicles makes the tunnel a congestion risk and so the danger of fire occurrence is greater,” says Haukur Ingason, professor and tunnel fire expert at SP.
The fixed fire-fighting system was developed by the Swedish Transport Administration and the fire consultant company Brandskyddslaget in collaboration with SP. It is a simple and relatively inexpensive solution where large water droplets are sprayed from nozzles in a tube mounted along the ceiling in tunnels.
“The new technology for fixed fire-fighting systems is key to the security of the Swedish Transport Administration modern urban road tunnels. It is very important that we can verify the function in full-scale,” says Ulf Lundström from the Swedish Transport Administration.
The fire tests will be conducted in mid-September in the Runehamar Tunnel, which is a disused road tunnel in Åndalsnes, Norway, where SP has previously conducted extensive fire tests. 420 wooden pallets will be placed in the tunnel to simulate the pay load of a truck. This fuel is expected to produce a fire that radiates energy at about 100 million watts. It is as much as 2.5 million ordinary 40-watt lamps, giving an idea of how much energy a fierce fire can create.
“If the tests show that the technology works as intended, it will affect the vision around the world on how future fixed fire-fighting systems can be dimensioned,” says Ingason.
The information is based on a press release from SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden.
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