Analyses of disasters such as the Piper Alpha explosion (Sylvester-Evans and Drysdale, 1998), the World Trade Centre collapse (Torero et al, 2002, Usmani et al, 2003) and the fires at Kings Cross (Drysdale et al, 1992) and the Mont Blanc tunnel (Rapport Commun, 1999) have revealed many mistaken decisions, such as that which sent 300 fire-fighters to their deaths in the World Trade Centre. Many ...

Vehicles or freight cars on fire below a bridge or inside a tunnel are exceptional events and imply difficult intervention conditions for firefighters. A buried technical network like high voltage electricity line, gas or steam pipeline around such a fire causes additional specifics risks. Vulnerability areas for firefighters are defined as zones where both factors exist: a difficult incident a...

Abstract Fire throttling is the increase in flow resistance due to a large fire longitudinally ventilated tunnel. Although effect has been known and studied for tunnels over last 40 years, there not yet consistent one-dimensional (1D) model that can describe this behaviour or framework suitable practical application. We propose semi-empirical model, based upon pipe engineering principles, by se...

The paper presents results from three large scale experiments on seven reinforced concrete panels obtained during an extensive experimental program. This was aimed at possible application of cement reduced (fly ash replaced) concrete in the production of precast segmental linings for tunnels created by a tunnel boring machine (TBM). In particular, this paper is focused on the comparison of fire...

Early warning systems are critical in providing emergency response in the event of unexpected hazards. Cheap cameras and improvements in memory and computing power have enabled the design of fire detectors using video surveillance systems. This is critical in scenarios where traditional smoke detectors cannot be installed. In such scenarios, it has been observed that the smoke is visible well b...