Fire-smoke control strategies in road tunnels: The effectiveness of solid barriers

Abstract This paper discusses the effect of introducing solid barriers at the ceiling of a tunnel on slowing down propagation of smoke resulted from a fire using numerical simulations. Significant reduction of smoke spread and great enhancement of visibility conditions in the tunnel were achieved using solid barriers with specific design arrangements including the dimensions and number of solid barriers used. Using solid barriers with a height of 1 m and with a 5 m distance between two successive solid barriers resulted in the reduction of the total smoke spread distance by 66.5 % compared to the case without using solid barriers for a 30 MW fire. Results referred to that smoke layer thickness increases and also the temperature increases at specific regions close to the fire location when using solid barriers but with various degrees depending on number and geometry of the solid barriers. Findings of this paper confirm the advantages of using solid barriers and open the way for future research towards developing more knowledge on smoke barriers performance.