Numerical Study on Smoke Diffusion and Smoke Control in Urban Underground Curved Tunnel

Abstract

Effects of the radius and fire heat release rate on the smoke propagation and smoke control in curved tunnel are studied by the numerical methods. Six radiuses as 70 m, 150 m, 200 m, 250 m, 300 m and 400 m and two different fire sizes as 5 MW and 30 MW are involved. Numerical results show that comparing with the smoke flow in the straight tunnel, smoke temperature distributions across the cross-section is not symmetry with the centerline in the curved tunnel, and the smoke diffusion close to the outside boundary appears to be fast. At the higher level of the curved tunnel, such as 3 m above the tunnel floor, the smoke temperature would decrease with the distance from the fire increasing. However, at the lower level of the tunnel, the temperature would increase firstly and then decrease, maximum temperature would occur in the bend region of the curved tunnel. When the fire heat release rate is big, this temperature might be high enough to injure the people. Smoke ventilation system would run in time under this condition. Critical velocity in curved tunnel is larger than that in the straight tunnel.