NUMERICAL STUDY ON THE OPTIMIZATION OF SMOKE VENTILATION IN A SITUATION OF A TRAIN FIRE AT A SUBWAY STATION

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Mechanical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering El Mataria Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

 
Smoke is the most deadly factor in the event of subway fire because it spreads in direction coincide with passenger’s evacuation path. It reduces visibility and can cause deaths by suffocation (known as the silent killer). This paper presents a numerical study on the optimization of smoke ventilation mode at the conjunction area between the tunnel track and the platform in a situation of a train fire at a subway station. The present study investigates the effectiveness of smoke control or smoke ventilation utilizing an over track exhaust (OTE) fan. Fire dynamics simulator (FDS) program is utilized to simulate a subway car fire source with a steady heat release rate resulted from burning heptane as a fuel; the model dimensions are 150-m long, 22-m wide, and 19-m height. Calculations are based on the time of smoke spreading, people evacuation period, and the measurement of temperature by using distribution thermocouple along the station tunnel before and after applying the control. The results showed that, before applying the control, smoke filled the station, the vision became absent, and the smoke was expected to cause suffocation accompanied by death. After applying the control utilizing an OTE fan, smoke spreading was reduced, which suppressed the suffocation, and the visibility was clear improved during people evacuation.

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