Implementation of Low Pressure Water Mist System for Fire Suppression inside a Model of Road Tunnel

Abstract

Previous studies have proven the performance of certain water mist system in general or in suppressing certain tunnel fires. The southern tunnel under the Suez Canal in the province of Ismailia length of 4 kilometers and 800 meters is serving the movement from Ismailia to Sinai through the Suez Canal old and new, while serving the northern tunnel movement from Sinai to Ismailia through the two channels. This tunnel in Ismailia is the largest in the world, with outer diameter of 12.6 meters, the internal 11,40 meters, the length of the tunnel is 4830 meters and reaches 6830 meters with the entrances and exits, the distance between the north and south tunnels 12 meters, and the maximum depth of the tunnel 45 meters down both Suez Canals. Since completing this project in the begin of 2019, this Tunnel did not experimentally test. This paper describes an experimental study of a low-pressure water-mist system (LPWMS) used in a scaled fire test conducted in a section of a scaled down road tunnel. The length, width, and height of the tunnel were 6 m, 2.4 m, and 2 m, respectively, which are in a ratio of 1:4 to the dimensions of an actual tunnel. The LPWMS used a pump pressure of 5.5 bar, and the system configuration was designed according to the pressure generated by the pump. Without a ventilation fan, the fire suppression time was 275 s, and amount of water required to fully suppress the fire was 696.67 L. When a ventilation fan was used, the maximum temperature location was moved from the center of the 6 m long tunnel toward the air inlet end of the tunnel (upstream). While this study will find the performance of the LPWMS in suppressing a fire in a small section of the Ismailia tunnel, determining the times spent and the amount of water consumed in the various stages of fire suppression, and in addition to studying the effect of the ventilation fan on These results and the location of the maximum temperature in the tunnel.