# 45 2012 brandposten - sp · 2 brandposten #45 2012 ... sive gathering of experts took the trouble...

brandposten

# 45 2012

NEWS FROM FIRE TECHNOLOGY

A tunnel inferno

English Edition

2 brandposten #45 2012

Editorial/Björn Sundström

Björn Sundström

A tunnel infernoThe fire tests using complete trains in a disused tunnel in the Arvi-ka area have understandably attracted widespread international at-tention. The Metro project comprises an envelope of unique experi-ments, the results of which will help to improve fire safety in tunnels, and perhaps throw up surprises for those working in the sector. The pictures on YouTube of a pulsating fire in a metro train carriage are both strangely beautiful and frightening at the same time. An impres-sive gathering of experts took the trouble to make their way well off the beaten track to witness the tests and hold a workshop.

One positive result was that the fires grew only slowly, and that it was quite difficult to set the interior of a modern metro carriage alight. The fire safety requirements applicable to the interiors of trains are clearly worthwhile and it seems that they delay the fire growth. The work being carried out by the international FIRESTARR and TRANSFEU projects feeds into national regulations, and can be seen as very valuable. However, passengers’ baggage must not be forgot-ten. Bags and their contents can often burn fiercely, and are easy to ignite. The result is that a normal quantity of baggage on a train rep-resents a serious potential fire load that must be taken into account. In this respect, this is a similar problem to that presented by furnish-ings and fittings in buildings, where the building itself often meets stringent fire resistance requirements. An escape route may have no building products that would contribute to a flashover. However, if the area contains upholstered furniture, the value of the passive fire protection is immediately negated as, for example, a single sofa can cause a flashover fire in about a minute. It is, of course, the whole that determines overall fire safety, constituting the challenge and the strength of fire safety engineering, FSE.

The previous issue of Brandposten included considerable discus-sion of just who should bear the responsibility for safety of property: the insurance companies or society. In many cases, the performance requirement of ‘safe evacuation’ in building regulations can be de-livered even if a building burns to the ground, and this is of particu-lar interest as the consequential costs of fires rises sharply. Kai Ödeen was involved right from the start when the original ideas behind the Building Regulations requirements were being formulated, subse-quently developing in a performance-based direction with particu-lar emphasis on safe evacuation. This is further discussed by him in a separate article in this issue.

For the first time, the fire safety and fire protection of an entire ves-sel has been assessed in relation to performance requirements. The passenger ferry, Birger Jarl, can continue in traffic as a result of SP’s fire risk analysis, coupled with the expertise of the Swedish Transport Agency in matters relating to fires. This would not have been possi-ble under a system of rules based only on prescriptive detail require-ments. I believe that we are now seeing greater use of fire safety de-sign, building upon analysis of risks and means of protection against fires on ships. Safety based on performance requirements opens the

way to innovative designs, such as greater use of lightweight materi-als and their subsequent benefits for the environment, capacity and costs. In the case of the Birger Jarl, the safety requirements and im-provements were such as to maintain compatibility with the vessel’s listing as a historic ship. As the ship is, in fact, the shipping line’s only vessel, this successful treatment meant that the safety of the many jobs was maintained.

2012 will be a busy year from the point of view of conferences. ISTSS (Fifth International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Secu-rity) will be held in New York in March, and has attracted so much interest that there will be parallel sessions. See the entire programme elsewhere in this issue. Also in March will be the Lightweight Ma-rine Structures conference (LIWEM), which we will be organising in Gothenburg. The conference will present lightweight design solutions for ships and associated industrial research applications. The FIVE (Fires In Vehicles) conference will be in September in Chicago. Chica-go operates the USA’s second largest public transport system. With its central location in relation to the American automotive industry, we expect high numbers of participants from North America, in addition to the international delegates.

In my previous editorial I presented seven new members of SP Fire Technology’s staff, and I am now pleased to welcome a further sev-en persons. For the first time, one member of Fire Technology’s staff, Michael Strömgren, is now permanently stationed away from Borås, at SP’s facilities in Lund. He joins us from the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, where his duties included responsi-bility for the fire protection aspects of the Building Regulations. We greatly appreciate the substantial enhancement of our services provid-ed by Michael.

brandposten #45 2012 3

Table of contentsSid

Editorial 2

Unique full-scale fire tests in the Brunsberg tunnel 4-6

Fire tests of glulam beams for Japan 7

The S-LÄSS network helps Swedish industry to build lightweight ferries

8-9

Assessment of a parking garage after a major fire 10

Listed ferry keeps sailing with upgraded fire protection 11

Some reflections on Hans-Eric Zetterström’s contribution in Brandposten No. 44, 2011 ‘New building regulations will result in more major fires

12

Experience from fullscale fire tests in underground structures

13

SP Fuel Storage Safety – a new competence platform 14-15

The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s new Building Regulations (BBR 19) come into force on 1st January 2012

16

Major success for METRO workshop in Arvika 17

Fire spalling of self-compacting concrete 18

Developing Research in Performance Based Design 20

New instruments for measuring heat release rate 21

ETANKFIRE moving forward 22-23

New report on the Runehamar fire tests 23

Finalisation of the programme for ISTSS 2012 in New York on 14th-16th March 2012

24-27

Conference on lightweight ship building organized in Gothenburg

28

EU research project SafePellets started 29

Electrical discharges for flame detection 30

Freezing of flowing water in sprinkler systems 32-33

Workshop on fire safety in critical under-ground in-frastructure facilities

33

New SP reports 34

Disputation of Dr. Ying Zhen Li in China 34

New employees at SP Fire Technology 35

Egolf course on heat transfer in Prague 35

4

SP Fuel Storage Safety – a new competence platform.

Listed ferry keeps sailing with upgraded fire protection.

Brandposten is a magazine published by SP Fire Technology in Swedish and English (two issues/year).

Editor in chief Björn Sundström, [email protected]

Editorial staff Erika Hjelm, Magnus Arvidson and Ulf Mårtensson

Advertisements Kaisa Kaukoranta, [email protected]

Address SP Fire Technology, P O Box 857, 501 15 BORÅS, Sweden, +46 10 516 50 00

Address changes [email protected]

Printing works Responstryck, Borås, Sweden 2012.

Reprint Reprints of the articles in the magazine can be made if the source is clearly stated.

Cover picture: Full-scale test in the Brunsberg tunnel. Photo Per Rohlén.

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Unique full-scale fire tests in the Brunsberg tunnel.

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Unique full-scale fire tests in the

Brunsberg tunnel ANDERS LÖ[email protected]

+46 10 516 56 91

Fire underneath a carriage.

The interior of a carriage prior to Test 2, showing the original fittings.

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Interior of the carriage prior to Test 3, with interior fittings as for Type C20 Stockholm metro carriage.

In September, unique fire and explosion tests on a train were carried out in an abandoned railway tunnel outside Arvika. The purpose of the tests was to investigate how fire and combustion products spread in the early stages of a fire, as well as to obtain values of temperatures and heat release rates in a fully developed fire in a tunnel. The results can then be used as input data for evacuation tests, as part of the continuous work of risk analysis, by fire and rescue services, for de-sign purposes and for validating and developing mathematical models.

Underground metro rail systems are complex infrastructures of con-siderable importance for their communities. They create a situation in which many persons share a relatively limited area at the same time. This creates considerable risks, with the tunnel fires that have oc-curred in recent years showing clearly that a fire can have both ma-jor and deadly consequences. Terrorist attacks, such as those that oc-curred in London in 2005 and in Moscow in 2010, show the new threats to which a metro system is vulnerable. Large numbers of per-sons, differences in levels, long escape routes etc. all complicate evac-uation and rescue efforts. The speed at which a fire develops, and the resulting conditions inside carriages and in the tunnel, are decisive in determining whether passengers can escape safely. This is one of

the main reasons for performing the full-scale fire tests as part of the METRO project. See Page 6 for further information on the project.

Unique full-scale fire testsIn order to obtain a better understanding of the growth of a fire and conditions governing rescue work in tunnels, full-scale fire tests were carried out in the abandoned Brunsberg tunnel, 20 km outside Ar-vika. The tunnel is a 276 m long singletrack tunnel that was aban-doned when a new tunnel was built close by in order to improve track alignment (greater curve radius). Full-scale fire tests are de-manding in terms of resources, and only very few such tests have been performed on metro trains or full-size trains anywhere in the world. These tests are, in fact, unique in several ways: partly in terms of their performance, bringing together many research and working disciplines actively to participate in the tests and benefit from the re-

HAUKUR [email protected]

+46 10 516 51 97

JOHAN LINDSTRÖ[email protected]

+46 10 516 52 02


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Fire in the carriage with original interior fittings. The backlayering smoke can be clearly seen.

Fire in the converted carriage took longer to reach flashover.

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sults, and partly because typical baggage was used in order to provide an additional fire load in the tests. Earlier tests have been carried out without considering the baggage carried by passengers, and possibly left behind when the train is evacuated. The fires in the Bakus met-ro in 1995, and the Kaprun mountain railway tunnel in 2000, show that abandoned clothing and baggage can play an important part in the progress of the fire. For this reason, as part of the work of the METRO project, a field survey were carried out on Stockholm com-muter trains and underground trains, under the leadership of the Mälardalen University in conjunction with SL and MTR in Stock-holm. The survey looked at what, and how much, baggage the pas-sengers had with them. Working with SP, Mälardalen University then carried out tests in SP’s fire test laboratory, burning typical bags in order to determine their heat release rates and energy contents. The fact that passengers’ baggage can increase the risk of spread of fire in a metro carriage is shown not least by the tests performed at SP in the summer of 2011. The baggage is one of the factors that deter-mines whether a fire will flash over or not. The full-scale tests in the Brunsberg tunnel therefore included baggage in the carriages in the form of an average distribution of 4.4 kg on or beside 81 % of the available seats, which were the values found by the above described survey in the Stockholm metro. Bags used in the tests contained pa-per, plastic and fabrics in a representative allocation, as based on the earlier field tests.

Type X1 rolling stockFor the full-scale tests, the Stockholm Public Transport (SL) provid-ed three Type X1 commuter train carriages. As the siding leading to the tunnel is still part of the operational rail network, the carriages could be transported all the way from Stockholm to Brunsberg with-out having to be lifted off the track. They did, however, make a long-er stop in Västerås for the fitting of instrumentation and, for one car-riage, interior modification to resemble the fitting-out of a Type C20 carriage (i.e. a metro carriage as used in Stockholm). This included new non-flammable surfaces and more modern seats. During the full-scale tests, one test a week was carried out over a period of four weeks. The first test involved a fire underneath a carriage, followed by two full-scale fire tests and a final explosion test. The two major fire tests were carried out in two identical Type X1 carriages, with the same additional fire load in the form of passengers’ baggage, but with one essential difference, in that the interior of one carriage was com-pletely refitted as described above. The actual fires in the carriages were started using a smaller quantity of petrol, similar to what would be likely with a deliberately started arson fire.

Temperatures, radiation, concentrations of various gases, smoke density, air velocity and heat release rate were measured at many po-sitions, both in the carriages and in the tunnel. A total of 139 differ-ent measurements were made simultaneously. A large mobile fan, which the project borrowed from the Höga Kusten Ådalen fire and rescue services, was used to ensure that the fire gases flowed in one direction, and to facilitate heat release rate measurements.

High heat release ratesThe data is still being analysed, and it is planned to present detailed results during the ISTSS 2012 conference in New York in March 2012 (www.istss.se). However, some conclusions can be drawn al-ready. The tests showed clearly that the presence of baggage plays an important part in the progress of the fire, but also that the work that has been done on improving fire safety in metro carriages is effec-tive. The fire grew considerably more slowly in the carriage that had been converted to better represent presentday metro carriage stand-ards. Although both the full-scale fires resulted in flashover, there was


BackgroundThe METRO project is concerned with fire and explosion safety in underground mass transport systems. It brings together sci-entists and experts from nine different organisations in Sweden: Mälardalen University, Lund University, SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, FOI Swedish Defence Research Agency, Uni-versity of Gävle, Swedish National Defence College, Swedish For-tifications Agency, Greater Stockholm Fire and Rescue Service and Stockholm Public Transport (SL). The three-year project is due for completion in 2012-2013. The project has been finan-ced by over SEK 14 million, with an additional project to a value of a further SEK 4.8 million. The project management group for the entire metro project consists of Mälardalen University, SP, and Lund University. Multidisciplinary work extends across speciali-sation fields and organisation boundaries, with the full-scale tests covering several subareas: fire, explosion, evacuation and rescue work. The project has been financed by SL, Formas (Swedish Re-search Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning), the Swedish Fire Research Board, the Swedish Trans-port Administration, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the Swedish Fortifications Agency.

Interior of the converted C20 carriage after the fire.

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a considerable difference in the time taken to reach it. On the other hand, the progress of the fire immediately before and during flashover is very similar in both cases. The measured heat release rates will be considerably higher than values that have previously been measured. An interesting phenomenon occurred during the tests, in that the en-tire air mass (bulk) in the tunnel started to pulsate. This phenomenon had been previously observed in the Runehamar road tunnel fire tests that were carried out by SP in 2003, but it was not clear whether it would also occur in these tests. Before pulsation occurred, the smoke was backlayering upstream of the fire, but this could be more or less controlled by increasing the speed of the fan. In the case of a real fire, this phenomenon would be of major importance when deciding whether it would be possible to attempt to approach the fire. Films from the fires can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/METRO-projectSE.

Results of value to manyThe results are expected to be of considerable value to tunnel opera-tors, fire and rescue services, public authorities, designers, consultants and insurance companies all over the world. Even while the tests were

in progress, the project and the full-scale tests were arousing consid-erable interest in the media. An international workshop, attended by over 170 delegates from 18 different countries, was held in parallel with one of the fire tests in the tunnel. Delegates were able to visit the tunnel before the test, and watch the test ‘live’ from the conference hall. This arrangement is described in more detail in a separate article on Page 17.

Applied Fluid Mechanics Tunnel Ventilation and Underground Fire Life Safety www.staceyagnew.com

IDA Tunnel Rail and Road Tunnel Ventilation and Fire Simulation Software www.equa.se Stacey Agnew Pty Ltd in collaboration with Equa Simulation AB and agents for IDA Tunnel


JOAKIM [email protected]

+46 10 516 53 35

PER LINDNorsk Treteknisk Institutt

[email protected] +47 909 68 223

Two glulam beams installed in the fire test furnace.

Residual cross-section of a glulam after 45 minutes fire exposure.

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Fire tests of glulam beams for JapanGlulam products intended for structural use in buildings can be more easily sold on the Japanese mar-ket if they are JAS-certified: in many cases, certified products can fetch a higher price. The Norwegian Institute of Wood Technology (NTI) has been approved as a certification body for JAS since 2003. SP Fire Technology performs fire testing of mechanically loaded glulam beams for JAS certification.

NTI has certified about 20 European glulam producers, whose pro-cesses and products are also inspected in accordance with the Japa-nese regulations. Those companies produced about 505 000 m³ of glulam products in 2010. NTI can also approve adhesives intended for use in glulam for export to Japan.

Under the JAS system, the adhesives for use in glulam must be approved in accordance with the requirements set out in the JAS, MAFF, Notification No. 1152 standard, ‘Japanese Agricultural Stand-ard for Glued Laminated Timber’. The standard specifies three class-es, AC, where A is intended for outdoor applications, B for indoor applications with special fire resistance requirements, and C for in-door use without special fire requirements.

A special test programme has been developed by MAFF for adhe-sives not covered by the standard, or for those to be upgraded to a higher class. Adhesives intended for Class A or Class B application must be fire-tested at full scale in loaded beams. The particular loads for each beam must be calculated in accordance with the requisite strength class.

Fire testing involves testing two beams, of crosssection 300 x 150 mm (h x w). The span must be 18 times the height of the beams, i.e. 5400 mm. Two point loads are applied to the beams at their L/3 points. The beams must be exposed to fire from three sides in ac-cordance with ISO 834, thus lightweight concrete slabs are placed on the tops of the beams in order to protect them from fire exposure. The beams meet the JAS certification requirements if no failure oc-curs during the 45 minutes of fire exposure, if the charring depth is less than 35 mm and if the rate of charring is less than 0.8 mm per minute.


MALIKA [email protected]

+46 10 516 58 22

TOMMY [email protected]

+46 10 516 50 46

The ferry that is the design object in the Ekoö project.

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New superstructure using plastic composite materials.

Present steel superstructure.

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The S-LÄSS network helps Swedish industry to build lightweight ferriesSP Fire Technology is coordinating the Swedish network S-LÄSS for lightweight structures at sea. The network brings togeth-er expertise, disseminates knowledge and initiates projects. During the past year the network has held the management of several vessel projects, arranged a course on how to design ships in lightweight materials and participated on the Donsö fair.

BackgroundS-LÄSS, the Swedish network for lightweight structures at sea, was set up after a theme day on lightweight design considerations in Borås on 18th May 2010. About 50 delegates from the shipping in-dustry, research institutes and public authorities had been invited in order to discuss developments within this field in Sweden. One of the conclusions from the meeting was that there was a lack of Swedish coordination, which resulted in the formation of the SLÄSS network. Today, the network consists of 27 different organisations from the in-dustry, together with representatives from other research institutions and public authorities.

The purpose of S-LÄSS is to support its members in their work on lightweight structures through dissemination of information, courses and initiation of projects. The network monitors regulations concern-ing ship designs, while various parties within it contribute with pro-posals and background information that can be helpful when draft-ing new regulations.

Tank Light ModuleAn example of a project carried out under S-LÄSS is “Tank Light Module”, which has investigated the feasibility of constructing the superstructure of a tanker in lightweight materials instead of conven-tional steel materials. The work group produced an alternative design of a superstructure from plastic composites, together with a cost cal-


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culation of the expected payback time. Depending on oil revenues per kg, the payback time was estimated to approximately 5-7 years for a lightweight superstructure saving about 100 tonnes, or over 50 % of the weight of a steel structure. The project also performed an inves-tigation comparing lightweight internal fittings with existing designs, finding that about 30 tonnes could be saved for a cost that would be paid back within five years. The results of this investigation were pre-sented in June at that Donsö Fair, including a 3D animation, which can be viewed at http://www.smtf.se/sv/Handelstonnage/TankLight-Module/tabid/357/Default.aspx.

One benefit of plastic composites rather than metallic materials is that it is easier to produce them in specific shapes, e.g. in order to re-duce air resistance. The example shown in the film is therefore a com-posite superstructure with rounded corners, which would have been more complicated to construct in steel.

Summarising, it can be seen that the results from the project indi-cate both environmental and economic benefits through the use of lightweight materials for marine superstructures. The pictures on the left show the new design of the ship built in plastic composite super-structure and the original steel structure. The lightweight superstruc-ture has been designed by Fredrik Johansson at Tillberg Design.

The Øko-Ø-færgeAnother project within the SLÄSS network is “Øko-Ø-færge”, a pro-ject where naval architects, authorities and fire experts from Den-mark and Sweden are looking at the potential for building displace-ment passenger ferries in plastic composite. The project which is financed by the Västra Götaland Region and the Danish Maritime Fund focuses on the feasibility of replacing steel in passenger ferries by plastic composites while complying with the requirements of exist-ing regulations, governing aspects such as fire safety, and calculating the economic effects of such material replacements. Part of the pro-ject also includes a market survey of the need for building new ships, particularly in the Skagerack-Kattegatt region.

The Danish Tunö ferry (see page 8) has been chosen as the refer-ence ferry for the project, and will be redesigned from steel to plas-tic composite. The fire safety of the result will then be analysed in ac-cordance with EU directives and international regulations in order to show that the same degree of fire safety can be achieved as when ap-plying SOLAS prescriptive requirements to steel ships.

Further information about S-LÄSS can be found at: http://www.s-lass.com. For other information, please contact Tommy Hertzberg at SP Fire Technology: [email protected].


JOAKIM [email protected]

+46 10 516 53 35

IDA [email protected]

+46 10 516 68 44

One of the burntout cars in the garage. The high temperature reached in the fire has partly melted the roof of the car. The concrete of the wall in the background has spalled to the depth of the reinforcement.

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A section through the property. The fire occurred on the upper level of the garage, in the area below the apartment block.

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Assessment of a parking garage after a major fireA serious fire occurred in a parking garage in Gothenburg in March 2011, totally destroying about 20 cars. According to the fire and rescue services, firefighting was complicated by the unexpectedly high temperature developed by the fire. The fire lasted about four hours, and caused damage to the concrete structure. The Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute (CBI) and SP Fire Technology have investigated the damaged structure.

The fire had been burning for about ten minutes when the fire and rescue service received the alarm. Wearing breathing apparatus, the firefighters could enter the garage for only a few minutes as the temperature was unusually high. Firefighting had to start by cool-ing the floor: fans were positioned behind the firefighters in order to cool their backs and prevent the spread of smoke in the neighbour-ing stairwell and stores area. It is estimated that the severe fire lasted for about three and a half hours, after which it was possible to extin-guish each car one at a time. The high temperature of the fire resulted in the asphalt melting under some of the cars, necessitating having to break them loose when clearing up after the fire.

Floor structureThe parking garage, built on two levels, was constructed during the 1960s. Above the upper level there is an eightstorey apartment build-ing and a courtyard area with grass, children’s play areas etc. for the residents of the building. The parking garage was constructed by an insitu casted ribbed floor structure supported on concrete columns and steel beams. This construction is similar to that of presentday doubleT beams. The concrete has a high w/c ratio, estimated as being of strength class K25. Gypsum board was secured to nailing battens on the underside of the webs, initially protecting the beams against the fire. The fire occurred on the upper level of the garage, in the area underneath the apartment building. The actual cause of the fire has not yet been identified. After the fire, the ribbed floor structure was supported with temporary falsework in order to ensure their load-carrying capacity. The steel beams were protected by a 3040 mm thick layer of sprayed asbestos, which required extensive removal.

Assessment of the structureWhen CBI and SP Fire Technology started the assessment, the burnt-out cars had been removed and all the asbestos cleared. Visible dam-

age such as cracking, spalling and colour changes but also results from hammer sounding were documented. Measurements of the beams webs and slabs were conducted using ultrasonic measure-ment and a rebound hammer. Ultrasonic velocity in concrete depends mainly on the concrete’s elastic properties and density. Concrete ex-posed to high temperature suffers loss of compressive strength and stiffness (modulus of elasticity). Ultrasonic measurement is a time-saving way of identifying firedamaged areas, both in the field and in the laboratory. The rebound hammer can only identify areas where the concrete properties significantly are reduced. Both these methods of testing were used in the garage in order to identify damaged areas through comparison of measurements. Reference measurements were made in a part of the garage that had not been affected by the fire. The gypsum board support battens, electrical installations and a plas-tic window in this area were all intact, which indicates that the tem-perature there had been low.

It was decided, in conjunction with the structural engineer (Tellstedt i Göteborg AB), after the damage assessment, that about 60 cores should be drilled from the upper level in the floor, columns, walls, beams and ceiling structure to permit more detailed analysis. The cores were taken and their compressive strength measured: for some of them, splitting strength and carbonation depth were also measured. The results clearly show that the concrete’s mechanical properties have been severely degraded by the fire. The carbonation depth was also severely affected.

Action planThe property owner, Göteborgs stads bostadsaktiebolag (Gothenburg City Homes Ltd.) is at present working with Tellstedt i Göteborg AB on an action plan. The garage level damaged by the fire has been di-vided up into zones, in each of which the necessary repairs will be made. In connection with this, opportunity will also be taken to re-view the general level of fire protection and protection against such other mechanisms as corrosion of concrete reinforcement.


Upgraded fire protection enables MS Birger Jarl to continue in traffic.


+46 10 516 50 46

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Listed ferry keeps sailing with upgraded fire protectionAfter an upgrading of its fire protection, based on an extensive fire and risk analysis performed by SP Fire Technology and in accordance to IMO regulations, the listed passenger ferry Birger Jarl can continue in service on the Stockholm-Åland route, thus avoiding the threat of possible closure of the shipping line with its 141 employees.

The vessel

The Ånedin-Linjen/Rederi Allandia AB shipping line owns only one vessel, the Birger Jarl, built by Finnboda Varv in 1953. Originally, the 92 m long vessel carried 918 passengers and 30 cars, but today it car-ries about 350 passengers on its route between Skeppsbron in Stock-holm and Mariehamn on Åland; a route on which she has been in service on and off since she was built.

Much of the original interior of the ship is unchanged and, in 2010, she was listed as being a vessel of historic interest. The charm-ing interior of the ship means much for her character, but is also the main reason for the vessel not meeting the new fire safety require-ments that came into force on 1st October 2010. As the potential cost of replacing the existing wooden interiors by approved materials was regarded as not being economically justifiable, the entire service was threatened with closure. However, a fire and risk analysis carried out by SP Fire Technology showed that it would be possible to provide alternative fire protection that would give equivalent fire safety, but a considerably lower cost than that of total interior conversion. SP Fire Technology received the commission in autumn 2010, with the result that the vessel was approved by the National Transport Board for continued service at the end of August 2011. After carrying out the necessary work in dock during the autumn of 2011, the vessel is now back in service, thus saving the shipping line from the threat of closure. With the use of certain temporary protection measures, such as additional fire wardens, the vessel was able to continue in service throughout the period while SP was carrying out its work.

SOLAS risk analysisThe possibility of applying alternative fire protection features on ships arose as a result of the introduction of a functionbased rule in

SOLAS, the regulations that cover fire protection at sea. The new reg-ulation (Regulation 17 – “Alternative Design and arrangements”) has been applied to a considerable extent since it was published in 2002, although generally for the purposes of facilitating minor departures from the regulatory requirements. SP’s analysis embraced the entire ship, and is therefore one of the more complex applications of the rule that have hitherto been employed. This is not least significant for the work at present being done on the use of new lightweight materi-als in ships (see, for example, Brandposten Nos. 39, 40 and 42, and also Page 8 in this issue).

Prescriptive regulations can sometimes constitute an obstacle to the economic and ecological competitiveness of shipping with other forms of transport. However, the shipping regulations are tending to include more functionbased approaches, which impose entirely new requirements on ship designers, and also on public authorities re-sponsible for approving the designs.

Although Regulation 17 opens the way to alternative designs and arrangements for fire safety, it is also necessary for the approval au-thorities to be able to assess whether fire and risk analyses have been carried out in accordance with the regulations. Conceptually, there is a substantial difference between assessing the performance of a de-sign prepared in accordance with detailed prescription regulations and one prepared on the basis of calculated risk estimates.

In Sweden, the National authorities has provided positive support for ship owners to exploit the new rule, in such ways as through ac-tive participation in research projects concentrating on applications for Regulation 17 that SP has been carrying out since 2003. The au-thorities’s expertise in this area has been a prerequisite for the success-ful work on Birger Jarl.


Debate

Kai Ödeen, professor emSvedalavägen 16121 52 Johanneshov, SwedenTel: +46 8 767 23 24Mobile: +46 708 50 82 16E-mail: [email protected]

KAI ÖDÉ[email protected]

+46 8 767 23 24

Kai Ödeen, Professor emeritus, KTH

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Some reflections on Hans-Eric Zetterström’s contribution in Brandposten No. 44, 2011 ‘New building regulations will result in more major fires’

Finding the balance between the risk of death or injury to persons and the risks of economic loss is far from simple, and involves most of the parties concerned in firerelated aspects. I do, of course, share Hans-Eric Zetterström’s unease concerning the trend of fire damage, and think it valuable that this discussion has been raised. The reply, from those responsible at the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, casts light on part of the problem, which is far from new. As I have been in a position closely to follow developments for several decades, I would like to contribute to the discussion.

An important party in the field of fire protection is naturally the public authority that determines the regulations. If we look back to the 1975 edition of the Building Regulations, we see that the section on fire protection started with a brief and tothepoint description of the purposes of the fire protection regulations. These were to:

- prevent the occurrence of fire,- ensure safe evacuation,- prevent the spread of fire, and- assist extinguishing of the fire.

In due course, this was complemented by an overall formulation concerning the safety of fire and rescue personnel. Strictly, with the strong health and safety legislation that we have in Sweden, this ad-dition should not really be needed, but actual tragic outcomes of fires meant that it was felt that the requirements should be spelt out par-ticularly clearly. The way in which this additional material was ex-pressed was the result of indepth analysis and thorough discussion of the principles under the eagle eye of Agne Mårtenson, then the per-son responsible for fire safety at the National Board of Physical Plan-ning and Building. I had the honour of being involved in these discus-sions and, looking back, can only regret that we did not give greater emphasis to the work in print.

The aims set out above are arranged in a very deliberate priority order. This was emphasised by a formulation that stated that, under certain conditions, minor departures from the rules could be permit-ted at local level, but not from the first two requirements. The tar-get objectives provided a formal structure for the various detailed re-quirements, which might otherwise be seen as quite complicated.

Specifying requirements such as these is nowadays a task for the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, and finds expres-sion in the Board’s Building Regulations, but as far as I understand the underlying basic reasoning is still valid. I have recently read the proposals for new Building Regulations that are now in process of being formally notified to the European Commission, and feel that they have largely lost the structure described above.

Somewhat (or greatly?) simplified, the proposed Building Regula-tions are ‘only’ concerned with the safety of persons, with matters re-lating to economic risk devolving upon the individual who, in turn, generally passes over all or some of this responsibility to his insur-ance company. There seems to be a grey zone, which covers aspects such as neighbouring properties or economic loss of such magnitude that it significantly affects public functions and services. The Board has investigated the legal position of this approach, summarising the result as “The Board can publish regulations concerning protection of property. If, from statistics, empirical investigations, public conse-quences etc., it becomes apparent that there is a need for such regula-

tions, greater consideration should be given in the Building Regula-tions to protection of property, as opposed to the present regulations that are concerned more with safety of persons.”

The presentday regulations also include protection of the environ-ment among their coverage, but it is unclear as to what priority this should be given in the proposed structure.

It can be seen that the economic consequences of fires are largely handed over to the insurance industry. Insurance companies assess the risks in different types of buildings and then set their premiums to reflect the risk of damage and the cost of such damage. I have noted with interest that the insurance companies have resurrected the Build-ing Classification Committee from its Sleeping Beauty sleep of more than two decades in order to provide a common technical basis for setting premiums for different types of building designs. It is worth pointing out that the safety of persons is not a parameter in this pro-cess. If it was so, it would mean that the insurance companies would be forced to set a price on individual lives and, by extension, to bal-ance this against the prices of lives of others and the cost of damage to property. It is easy to see that this would inevitably lead to unman-ageable choices on ethical and moral levels. As I see it, the responsi-bility for making such choices should rest entirely with the political system, i.e. ultimately with the Government and Parliament.

Summarising, we can say that the primary purpose of regulations issued by public authorities should be to assure reasonable and non-negotiable safety for human life and health, with the insurance ele-ment concentrated solely on dealing with the economic consequences of fire.

One result of the described system is that while a building could be very well designed and constructed in accordance with public author-ity requirements, it could nevertheless be insurable only at very high cost. I am perhaps somewhat surprised by the fact that, in his article, Hans-Eric Zetterström totally bypasses any discussion of insurance premiums, but I look forward to continuation of the discussion.


The presentation of those involved in the fullscale tests in the METRO and BARBARA research projects, at the workshop on 9th-10th November 2011.


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Experience from full-scale fire tests in underground structures SP has held a workshop for the exchange of experience from full-scale fire tests within the framework of the BARBARA and METRO projects. A range of new lessons and knowledge was presented.

BARBARATwo full-scale tests, involving testing of a drilling rig and a loader un-der controlled conditions, were performed in a mine in Sala in May 2011. The tests were part of the BARBARA research project, fi-nanced by the KK Foundation and under the management of Univer-sity of Mälardalen in conjunction with several other parties, including SP. The purpose of the tests was to quantify the heat release rate from burning vehicles and equipment of these types, and to see for how long such a fire can last. These factors are important in determining the design fire load and the exposure resistance time of refuge cham-bers. In addition to the University of Mälardalen and SP, the other parties involved were the Sala-Heby fire and rescue service, which was responsible for safety at the site, the Höga Kusten-Ådalen fire and rescue service, which provided the mobile fan which was used to control ventilation, Björka Mineral, who owned the mine, and At-las Copco and LKAB who provided vehicles for the project. The tests were documented by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), which will present the results in the MSB programme ’90 Seconds’. After the tests, a meeting was arranged at which preliminary results were presented. Exchange of experience and discussions of the les-sons from the tests were an important part of the programme.

METROIn parallel with the BARBARA project, planning of the full-scale tests in the Brunsberg tunnel outside Arvika was in full swing (see the more detailed article on METRO on Page 17). The tests were carried out in September 2011. Three fire tests were carried out on commut-er train carriages, one of which had been internally refitted to repre-sent a more modern Type C20 metro carriage, in a 276 m long dis-

used railway tunnel. The final test was of an explosion in an original Type XI commuter carriage. In addition to the organisations involved with BARBARA, these tests also involved personnel from the Arvika and Greater Stockholm fire and rescue services. In addition, person-nel from Lund University, Earth Consultants, the Swedish Fortifica-tions Agency, InfraNord, Composite Media, MSB, Consilium, Opax and the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) were involved in various ways. It was therefore decided to arrange a joint workshop, bringing together delegates from both series of tests. The delegates described the performance of the tests, why they were held, and the preliminary results. A discussion of what the various participants had learnt from the tests, and of how they could be put to wider use, was also held.

Results to be presented at ISTSS 2012The workshop was very successful. SP would like to thank all those involved in these important research projects for their generous and valuable contributions. In all probability, the results from the two projects can be expected to arouse substantial international inter-est. The first official results will be presented at SP’s ISTSS 2012 tun-nel conference in New York on 14th-16th March 2012 (see the pro-gramme on pages 24-27).


SP Fuel Storage Safety – a new competence platform ANDERS LÖNNERMARK

[email protected]+46 10 516 56 91

Storage of wood pellets.

Silo fire in Härnösand, 2004.

Sorted and fragmented industrial waste-

HENRY [email protected]

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1st July 2011 a new SP competence platform was started: Fuel Storage Safety (FSS). The objective of the platform, which is now starting to take shape, is to acquire and build upon knowledge in the field of safe storage of biofuels and waste.

Climate change, together with increased awareness of overutilisation of the earth’s resources, is putting pressure on politicians, industry and the public to work towards a lowresource society model based on renewable energy and maximum reuse and recovery of resources. A worldwide increase in the demand for energy, coupled with wide-spread dependence on imported oil that is seen as a political and eco-nomic risk factor, have also increased the demand for changes in the energy system. As far as energy sources are concerned, this means a transfer from fossil fuels to various forms of renewable energy sourc-es, together with a substantial increase in the use of various forms of bio-energy. Recovery and recycling are also important elements in optimising society’s overall use of resources. This requires extensive sorting of waste in order for it to be utilised, either as a raw mate-rial resource or for energy production. It has been prohibited in Swe-den since 2002 to send unsorted combustible material for disposal in landfill. In 2005, this ban was extended to cover all forms of organic waste, although with certain exceptions. These developments have re-sulted, in recent years, in the establishment of production systems for various types of biofuels, supported by temporary storage and logis-tics systems for the management and processing of waste to be recy-cled or burnt.

Increased handling and storage present new fire risksHandling of these materials involves very large quantities, mainly of various types of solid materials. The storage is often in the form of large heaps of materials which, depending on their nature, may be ei-ther outdoors or indoors. In some cases, storage is entirely in bulk form, while in others the material may be packaged (e.g. in bales) and stacked in high stacks. Some dry materials, such as wood pellets or wood powder, can also be stored in very large volumes in silos. In it-self, storage in large heaps is nothing new but, in order to be used as high-energy fuels, new requirements on storage methods apply. In addition, there is a need for additional storage sites in the form tem-porary storage or fuel storage at large consumers. The storage often need to be sited close to, or at a reasonable distance from, builtup ar-eas, e.g. when used by an industrial site or a CHP plant. Other fac-tors that need to be considered are the properties of the stored mate-rial, the size of the heaps or silos, combinations of baling and storage, and other aspects relating to fire risks.

Unless this development is paralleled by relevant risk evaluation and risk reduction measures, there is a significant risk of establishing and perpetuating a system associated with major costs in the form of direct and indirect damage by fire, explosions etc.

For several years now, SP Fire Technology has been involved in re-search into, and development of, the safe storage of wood pellets and other solid biofuels, waste, and various types of liquid motor fuels. On the basis of this work we have created a competence platform for further development of the area, bringing together universities, insti-tutes of technology, other research institutes, companies, public au-thorities and other organisations. This cooperation can take the form of joint projects or the exchange of information with groups work-ing in other nearby associated areas. An example is that of fuel prop-


An ethanol tank fire at Port Kembla, Australia, 2004.

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Electric,Hybrid, and Hydrogen Vehicles

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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

FIVE – Fires In VehiclesSeptember 27 – 28, 2012 • Chicago, USA

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erties, which are naturally important in respect of combustion, but which are also extremely important in connection with the problem of spontaneous heating and combustion.

Ethanol tank firesIgnition properties, combustion properties and extinguishment are ar-eas of particular interest for liquid biofuels, as the behaviour of these fuels can differ markedly from that of common petroleum products, such as petrol or diesel oil. At present, it is primarily ethanol that is used to reduce consumption of fossil motor fuels, with its consump-tion having increased dramatically in recent years. SP is working with the Swedish Petroleum and Biofuels Institute (SPBI) to establish the international Ethanol Tank Fire Fighting (ETANKFIRE) research project, aimed at developing appropriate fire protection methods and methodologies/tactics for extinguishing ethanol tank fires. Further in-formation on ETANKFIRE is given in a separate article on Page 22.

Guidelines for firesafe storageThere are at present no good guidelines governing the storage of bio-fuels and waste in order to avoid spontaneous ignition and the spread of fire, or to facilitate the the fire fighting operation during such fires. We hope that establishment of the SP Fuel Storage Safety platform will improve knowledge within the sector and assist the development of guidelines for the safe storage of biofuels and waste.


PER [email protected]

+46 10 516 63 19

List of EXAP standards – current status

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The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s new Building Regulations (BBR 19) come into force on 1st January 2012

The section in the new Building Regulations on fire re-sistance and fire protection has been substantially re-worked, resulting in (for example) changes for typeap-proved products. The rules for classification of building elements are largely unchanged, while older classifica-tion designations of materials, claddings and surface coverings have been removed. The general guidelines for classification designations have been changed, in that they now refer only to the European SSEN 13501, Parts 1-5 classification system. Previous editions also refer to the Board’s general guidelines, 1993:2, Edi-tion 2, Guidelines for Type Approval of Fire Protection (approval guidelines), which will be removed. This is a major change, as the approval guidelines refer to older Swedish test standards, on which many type approvals are partly or wholly based.

As the rules for classification designations have not been changed, the Board regards the present safety lev-el (2011) as sufficient, and permits older classes (in ac-cordance with the type approval guidelines) to be used in non-harmonised product areas, i.e. in areas in which there are no CE-marking standards or European techni-cal guidelines (ETAG). Examples of such areas are fire doors and non-load-bearing walls.

SP will therefore offer type approval of products hav-ing older classifications within the framework of ana-lytical design methods that must be employed if the general guidelines are not followed. This procedure will be available until 1st January 2015 in order to give manufacturers sufficient time to modify their products and procedures to comply with the European system.

This transition time may be extended for certain product areas, depending on when the necessary as-sessment standards (EXAP) and product standards are published, and when any associated transition periods have expired. It is only when the EXAP standards are fully available that the European system can operate properly in practice, so that older classifications can be abandoned. The table on the right shows the present status of EXAP standards.

Classification in accordance with the European sys-tem will be required for those European classes for which there has not previously been any Swedish corre-sponding classes, e.g. Sa, Sm and EW. It is normally the test laboratory that also makes the classification report.

Summarising, type approval certificates in their pre-sent format will remain valid within the non-harmo-nised sector until 1st January 2015. After this date, with certain exceptions as described above, the European classifications will apply.

Standard designation

Area Status

15080 Loadbearing building structures

-7 Floors Unclear status

-8:2009 Beams Standard completed. Review is in progress.

-12:2011 Masonry walls Standard completed

-13 Columns Work in progress

15882 Services installations

-1:2011 Ducts Standard ready for publication

-2 Dampers Work in progress

-3:2009 Penetration seals Standard completed. Review is in progress.

-4 Linear joint seals Work in progress

? Smoke control ducts Work in progress

? Smoke control dampers Work has not yet started.

15254 Nonloadbearing walls

-1 General requirements Not started

-2:2009 Masonry and gypsum blocks Standard completed

-3 Internal walls This working party disbanded

-4:2008+A1:2011 Glazed constructions Standard completed

-5:2009 Metal sandwich panel construction Standard completed

-6 Curtain walling Work in progress

-7 Non-loadbearing ceilings - Metal sandwich panel construction

Work in progress

15269 Fire doors, shutters and openable windows

-1:2010 General requirements Standard completed

-2 Hinged and pivoted steel doorsets Document ready for circulation for comments, in accordance with UAP

-3 Hinged and pivoted timber doorsets and openable timber framed windows

Document ready for circulation for comments, in accordance with UAP

-4 Hinged and pivoted glass doorsets Work item deleted

-5 Hinged and pivoted, metal framed, glazed doorsets and openable windows

Work in progress, circulation in near future

-6 Sliding timber doorsets Work started

-7:2009 Sliding steel doorsets Standard completed

-8 Horizontally folding timber doorsets

Work item deleted

-9 Horizontally folding steel doorsets Work item deleted

-10:2011 Steel rolling shutter assemblies Standard completed

-11 Operable fabric curtains Work in progress, circulation in near future

-20:2009 Smoke control for hinged and pivoted steel, timber and metal framed glazed doorsets

Standard completed

-xx Smoke control for rolling shutters doorsets

? Fire stops Work in progress


The final stretch to the tunnel was by trolley.

Greater Stockholm’s Chief Fire Officer, Jan Wisén, speaking at the METRO workshop on 13th-14th September 2011.

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ANDERS LÖ[email protected]

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Major success for METRO work-shop in ArvikaAn international workshop which attracted over 160 delegates from 18 different countries, was held in connection with the fire tests in the Brunsberg tunnel just outside Arvika in Sweden. The delegates were able to visit the tunnel before the test, and then watch the test ‘live’ from the conference hall. The arrangement attracted considerable attention and major media interest.

It was noted, at an early stage in the overall planning of the tests, that there was considerable interest in attending and witnessing the tests. A workshop was therefore arranged in connection with the fire test of the converted carriage that had been rebuilt to represent a Class C20 metro carriage. A conference centre, about 1 km from the tunnel, made it possible to arrange direct transmission from the tun-nel in parallel with discussions on the overall field of fire and explo-sion safety in tunnels. Prior to the test, the delegates visited the tunnel – part of the way by bus, but over the final stretch by mobile trolleys, see photo below. The delegates were given a presentation of the test at the tunnel entrance, and could then go into the tunnel to see the carriage and the instrumentation in situ. The delegates then returned to the conference centre, from where they could follow the fire tests in real time on four large video screens. Although the fire started fiercely, it then calmed down for about an hour and forty minutes, when it finally spread into the driver’s cab and quickly continued to flashover. The powerful pulsations that occurred in the cab marked the visual culmination of a long and interesting day.

Many positiveThe second day saw eight presentations. One of the speakers was the Chief Fire Officer for Greater Stockholm, Jan Wisén, who described the situation of critical underground infrastructure facilities, and the challenges presented by tackling fires in them. Martin Brown from Transport of London described safety work that has been carried out

over the last few years, while Hans Brun, from Kings College, de-scribed terrorist actions in various parts of the world. SP’s Anders Lönnermark presented the preliminary results from the pre-vious day’s full-scale tests. The workshop was concluded by an in-teresting panel debate, during which the delegates were able to put questions to various experts in this area. Further information on the workshop can be found on METRO’s website: www.metroproject.se.


ROBERT [email protected]

+46 10 516 50 94

Figure 1 Eight test pieces in SP’s horizontal furnace, photographed during testing using a thermal imaging camera. The ligh-ter parts of the picture show elevated thermal penetration through the samples containing 140 kg/m³ of limestone filler, and which spalled severely.

Figure 2 Two test pieces after the fire test.

Figure 3 Presentation of the results from fire testing at different ages.

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Fire spalling of self-compacting concreteFire tests of self-compacting concrete that had been stored from six months up to five years showed that, for three out of the four mixes, the spalling tendency when exposed to fire reduced with age. However, the fourth mix, which contained the greatest proportion of limestone filler, exhibited a greater tendency to spall after four years’ storage.

A common way of manufacturing self-compacting concrete – con-crete that does not need to be vibrated – is to use limestone as a fill-er in the mix. This produces a particularly dense concrete, making it more inclined to spall when exposed to fire. The ‘Self-compacting Concrete with Good Fire Spalling Properties’ research project, which was concluded in 2009, performed 178 small and large fire tests on 52 self-compacting concrete mixes, with the aim of investigating their spalling tendencies and to investigate how spalling could be prevent-ed. The results from the project showed that self-compacting con-crete has a very high spalling tendency, but that a fireresistant self-compacting concrete can be produced by adding a small quantity of polypropylene fibres to the mix. When the work was concluded, those sample pieces that were left over were stored for use in future projects and tests. In 2010, during SP’s annual Construction Work-shop, these sample pieces were used in a public demonstration test, providing a unique opportunity to investigate spalling tendency after several years’ storage. Theory and experience from ordinary concrete say that the spalling tendency should decline as the concrete dries. The tests were carried out on compressionloaded test pieces of over-all size 1.7 x 1.2 x 0.2 m, with eight test pieces arranged in pairs in SP’s horizontal furnace, as shown in Figure 1. On conclusion of their exposure to fire, the samples were removed from the furnace (see Fig-ure 2), and the spalling depth was measured.

Figure 3 shows the spalling depths of test pieces of various ages. For the oldest pieces, a relationship can be seen between the spalling tendency and the quantity of limestone filler. The spalling tendency declines with age for three of the four mixes that were tested, while the mix containing the highest proportion of limestone filler (140 kg/m³) exhibited a greater spalling tendency after about four years’ storage. At the time of testing, the moisture ratio in this con-crete was about 3.5 %, which is somewhat higher than the values that are traditionally regarded as safe. The fact that the concrete with the highest quantity of filler has a higher spalling tendency as it ages seems to indicate that we have identified a concrete that becomes more dense more rapidly than the moisture dissipates out of it, some-thing of which Harmathy1 warned, but which nobody had been able to demonstrate with any experiments.

Not much is known about the behaviour of high-strength and self-compacting concrete, containing different quantities of densifying ad-ditives such as limestone filler and silica fume, after a longer period of storage. The tests that we have carried out indicate that there may be concrete mixes that do not behave in the same way as normal con-crete, i.e. that their risk of fire spalling increases with age.

1 Harmathy T. Z. “Fire Safety Design and Concrete” Book published by Longman Group UK, 1993.

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Developing Research in Performance Based DesignWith changes in the regulatory environment resulting in further moves towards performance based design for structures in fire, SP are looking at ways to enable engineers to make use of improved understanding and new calculation methods to determine the performance of structures in fire. Not just limited to life safety, these methods and techniques should con-sider a number of performance objectives which means that more stakeholders’ opinions may need to be considered in the future.

The allowance of alternative solutions to fire safety design by nation-al standards and approvals bodies means that objectives for life safety can be met in a number of ways. This development offers a far wider spectrum of possible design solutions than was previously available. This means that design for fire safety may be chosen in a way that optimises the cost of protection while still meeting the same function-al objectives as prescribed solutions. However other criteria such as expected losses, downtime and the social impact of a fire are objec-tives of increasing interest to stakeholders in a project since alterna-tive solutions will have varying degrees of impact on these factors.

Over recent years, there has been a gradual move towards im-proved quantification of the fire hazard and the structural resistance to it. This has led to more performance oriented methodologies driv-en by changes in regulation, such as the structural Eurocodes. This is a welcome development, however although the Eurocodes do give some advice, much more is needed to guide engineers in undertaking these calculations. This is a necessity before full advantage can be de-rived from changes in the regulatory environment.

The basic elements of a performance based design framework are defined in such a way as to allow the user freedom to compose any solution to the problem, allowing also the freedom to employ new techniques and technology as they become available. The objectives must be clearly stated at the outset of the project, and any design so-lution which fulfils these objectives whilst still adhering to the perfor-mance targets of the design framework should be permitted. It should be noted that although the targets in terms of life, property and busi-ness protection may remain similar to those prescribed in prescrip-tive design codes, these targets should remain independent of the pre-scriptive building code performance goals. In summary, performance based design is based upon three main criteria:

1. Definition of the objectives of the design process2. Investigation of the alternative designs available to meet the ob-

jectives3. Reliability and risk assessment of alternatives to select the most

efficient solution

There are many justifications for the use of performance based de-sign codes as opposed to prescriptive design codes. Prescriptive codes are based upon previous experience, safety and design criteria were

prescribed individually and independently of each other. However, this leads to designs which are neither cost effective or resource effi-cient, since the inefficiency of prescriptive techniques tends to lead to an overlapping of fire safety measures. Performance based design al-lows the engineer a degree of flexibility in selecting a method for de-sign so that a structure resists a fire load. Therefore it is possible for an engineer to innovate, and to use fire safety systems, the behaviour of materials and structural arrangements to their advantage, possibly reducing cost, and ultimately optimising the design to be employed.

Where prescriptive codes specify minimum levels of fire resist-ance for structures, performance based codes detail how these levels of performance should be determined and allow sufficient scope for the Engineer to design a solution which achieves these goals. How-ever the full assessment of the effect of this requires the consideration of multiple design solutions and not a single alternative solution. Be-cause of the relatively low recurrence of extreme loading events; such as wind, blast, fire, etc.; and the costs in designing for them the con-cept of performance based design is well suited to such applications. It is also a high consequence event with considerable costs associat-ed with protection. Therefore, the use of performance based design frameworks accounting for multiple solutions is particularly attrac-tive, accounting for not only the life safety objectives but also for oth-er economic objectives.

Numerous examples exist of frameworks applying these concepts to structural earthquake engineering since this field is considerably more advanced in this respect than structural fire engineering. Im-plementing these frameworks for structures in fire is difficult and al-though some steps have been taken it is a long road to successfully use performance based design for structures in fire, but in the long run this development will lead to safer and more economic solutions regarding fire safety. To meet this challenge, SP fire technology is now pursuing research avenues which will lead to increased knowledge in risk and reliability of structures in fire, as well as developing methods for performance based design of structures.

DAVID [email protected]+46 10 516 58 61

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PER [email protected]

+46 10 516 50 83

NICK [email protected]

+46 10 516 57 56

Mass flow meter for the gas burner in the EN 50339 cable test facility. The monitor enables the progress of the fire to be followed during the test. The equipment was supplied by Fire Testing Technology Ltd.

Equipment served by the new installation:1) SBI2) Cable testing 3) Corner test

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New instruments for measuring heat release rateNew instruments for measuring heat release rates in our calorimeter equipment were installed during a week in October 2011. The test rigs concerned are those for EN 13823 (SBI), ISO 9705 (the Corner test) and EN 50399 (cable shafts). The new equipment increases our capacity and enables us to evaluate test results with the customer immediately after test-ing.

New instrumentsThe analysers for heat release rate and smoke production constitute the core of equipment in the Intermediate Scale laboratory. It is this measurement that provides the basis for calculating the fire growth rate, known as the FIGRA index. In the new equipment, one and the same instrument measures oxygen concentration, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Before the smoke gases reach the instrument, they are dried and filtered two or three times. Data is collected continu-ously by a data logger, and can be followed on line on the operator’s screen during the test. This system is used for all three test facilities in the laboratory, i.e. EN 13823 (SBI), ISO 9705 (Room Corner) and EN 50399 (cable shaft). It is also used for the furniture calorimeter used for fire tests on mattresses, furniture etc.

In addition to a new instrument rack, opportunity was also taken to install a new mass flow controller for the burner for the cable test-ing equipment, which will permit us to test using several preset burn-er power levels. The cable testing equipment includes a monitor, on which the customer can see the progress of the fire in terms of heat release rate and smoke production while the test is in progress.

In parallel with installation of new hardware, new evaluation soft-ware for the various test methods was also installed. A particular benefit of this new software is that it enables the measurements to be evaluated in direct connection with the tests. It is now possible, for example, to perform a SBI test and print out the results immediately on conclusion of the test, thus providing a first likely indication of the product’s classification.

CalibrationInstallation of the new instruments has been followed by extensive calibration on the updated equipment. This has included step cali-bration at various levels of heat release rate in the different calorim-eters, measurement of total energy release using methanol and hep-tane pool fires etc. Installing and calibrating the new equipment has provided an excellent opportunity for our new member of staff, Nick Neumann, to become familiar with the work. Nick joins us from a German fire test laboratory, and will be concerned mainly with per-forming fire tests in our calorimeters.


HENRY [email protected]

+46 10 516 51 98

ETANKFIRE moving forward

The proposal for the ETANKFIRE project (Ethanol Tank Fire Fighting) has been developed by SP Fire Technology and SPBI (Swedish Petroleum & Biofuel Institute). During 2011, work has focused on spreading knowledge about the background and aim of the ETANKFIRE project in order to find interested stakeholders. Well attended workshops were held in London in June and in Kansas City in November for possible stakeholders.

Some stakeholders have already announced their participation in the project and there are several others in the pipeline. Current plans to start the project next year involve running a large scale free burning fire test using an ethanol fuel to measure heat radiation, burning rate, etc. The work will also include a first test series on tank fire extin-guishment in laboratory scale and to start a literature review on etha-nol tank fire incidents.

BackgroundAs described in the previous two issues of Brandposten, the increased use of ethanol also creates new fire risks and challenges. Ethanol fu-els differ from common petroleum products such as gasoline in sever-al ways; the most significant difference relates to the ability to extin-guish a fully developed ethanol tank fire using traditional firefighting methods and tactics. The difficulty is that ethanol is a water misci-ble fuel and as the most common firefighting tactic is to apply foam via large scale monitors, this method of delivery can create problems. Extinguishment of a water miscible fuel requires a high quality alco-hol resistant (AR-type) foam and gentle application. However, gen-tle application is practically impossible to obtain from a large scale monitor located some distance away from an ethanol storage tank, thus making extinguishment unlikely. Another aspect is that there is an uncertainty about the burning behavior of ethanol fuels and it is believed that it might differ significantly from petroleum products. Preliminary testing shows that large ethanol fires may generate high-er levels of heat radiation compared with gasoline, thereby exposing the surroundings to more severe heat conditions in large scale fire sit-uations. Experimental data from large scale fire tests would make it possible to validate computer models and thereby improve the ability to make reliable risk assessments and design decisions for tank stor-age facilities.

ETANKFIRE will evaluate various extinguishing techniquesThe mail goal of the ETANKFIRE project is to provide a platform of knowledge ensuring proper investment in fire protection of ethanol storage facilities. Although tank fires are rare, the number of etha-nol tank fires will no doubt increase as ethanol use increases in the future. Extensive fire protection measures will be required in stor-age and handling facilities based on various national laws and regu-lations and it is therefore important to ensure that the investments made will really provide the fire protection level expected.

The technical work will be divided into five work packages. One of the first parts of the project will also be to make a thorough lit-erature review to collect information and experience from real tank fire incidents and fire test data that might be available. Experimental work on fire extinguishing methods is planned to start at laboratory scale to evaluate various conventional techniques based on the use of firefighting foam (low, medium, high expansion foam, CAFS, vari-ous application methods, etc.) and non-conventional extinguishing media/methods. The latter techniques might include liquid nitrogen, granulates or spheres made of foam glass, or other non-combustible materials to cover the fuel surface and control or even extinguish the fire. Foam glass is a technique that is already used as a passive fire protection measure against spill fires in LNG terminals, but demon-stration tests (see Brandposten no 42) have also shown a significant fire protection potential in controlling all types of liquid spill fires. One very interesting aspect of these non-conventional techniques is that they all represent a non-water based method which will reduce the contamination of the fuel during an extinguishing operation. Based on the results, the most interesting options will be selected for further tests in larger scale to confirm the results. The burning behav-ior of ethanol fuels is also an issue that will be addressed early in the project by conducting one or several large scale free-burning tests.

The production of ethanol in US for the period 1980 to 2010, showing a dramatic increase during the last decade. Similar trends can be seen in many countries.

FRANCINE [email protected]

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The breakout discussions during the ETANKFIRE workshops in Kansas City and in London provided important input to the planning of the project.

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Response from workshops and presentations of the projectThe intention is to have international participation in the ETANK-FIRE project to ensure that all questions are raised and to provide the best possibility for a fast implementation of the results.

The ETANKFIRE project plans have therefore been presented at two workshops arranged by SP, the first was held in June in London and the second in November in Kansas City to reach out to the Eu-ropean and North American stakeholders, respectively. The project plans have also been presented at a LASTFIRE seminar in France, CTIF conference in Norway and at the “6th International Conference for Fire Brigades in the High Hazard Industry” in Hungary, plus arti-cles in a number of relevant magazines.

These events have been very useful to get response from the in-dustry, regulators, fire protection community, etc. Attendance at the workshops has been high and participation of industry has been ac-tive. Clearly fire safety in storage facilities is a priority both for own-ers, producers and first responders. A common comment at these workshops has been that there is a need to better understand the


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problem and that no single organization can solve the problem alone due to the scale of research needed. Further information from these workshops, e.g. copies of the presentations, are available at the web-site listed below.

How to join the projectOur work is now focused on bringing in additional stakeholders to launch the project. At the present time, funding is secured from three participants (BRANDFORSK, SPBI, Lantmännen) and a number of other stakeholders have indicated a clear interest in participation. The project will be open for participation to anyone and there will be possibilities to join the project at two funding levels. Detailed rules for participation at each level are being developed and will be avail-able on the ETANKFIRE website. The intention is to launch the pro-ject during the beginning of 2012.

ETANKFIRE website: www.sp.se/sv/index/research/etankfire

The hitherto unpublished test in the Runehamar tunnel in 2003: a 6 MW diesel pool fire.


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New report on the Runehamar fire testsThe results of the well-known fire tests that SP carried out in 2003 in the Runehamar tunnel outside Åndalsnes in Norway have been put together in a new SP report. The tests provided a significant increase in knowledge of the behaviour of large fires in road tunnels, and of the effect that a fire in a heavy goods vehicle can have on the tunnel’s construction and venti-lation. They have received widespread international recognition and are used in several different contexts.

Many scientific and popular science articles on the Runehamar fire tests have been written by SP scientists and others, and published, in-cluding here in BrandPosten. These articles have, in turn, been wide-ly quoted to as references, enhancing SP’s position as an important player in this field. Information from the tests can also be found in standard documents, such as NFPA 502 and PIARC’s (World Road Association) material concerning design rating fires. The scientific ar-ticles present much of the final results in terms of heat release rates and temperatures. Other articles describe the spread of the fires, fire

growth, flame lengths, radiation and pulsations, using the results from the tests. However, no single complete report, giving all the test data, has been produced, and so we have felt it important, despite the time that has elapsed, to put all the material together in one complete test report: SP Report 2011:55.

New resultsThere were, in fact, five tests carried out in total, and not four as is generally stated. The first test was in the form of a 6 MW diesel pool fire (see photograph), in order to test the instrumentation and over-all protection from the fire. The results of this test, too, are now in-cluded in the report, confirming that the method used to calculate the heat release rates in the four major tests worked well. The four main fire tests consisted of a mockup of a heavy goods vehicle trailer, car-rying various loads in the form of wooden/plastic pallets, wooden pallets/mattresses, furniture and, finally, cardboard boxes contain-ing plastic beakers. The maximum heat release rates in the tests var-ied from 66 MW up to 202 MW, with the highest temperature being 1365 °C.

New analysis results relate first and foremost to the effects of the fire on ventilation capacity, spread of fire, thermal radiation to the surrounding structure, and thermal response of the fire protection. Analyses of backlayering and production of gases such as CO and CO

2 are included in the new report.This is important data, and will provide scientists outside SP with

a unique opportunity to access complete data from these wellknown tests.


Day 1 Wednesday 14 March 2012 08.00 Registration, Coffee and Pastries

09.00 Opening Ceremony

KEYNOTE SESSION (Chair: Haukur Ingason, SP, Sweden)

09.30 Managing security issues on the public transport systems of LondonMartin Brown, Transport of London, UK

10.00 Mitigation in Tunnel FiresRicky Carvel, Edinburgh University, UK

10.30 Coffee break

ACTIVE FIRE PROTECTION; SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS (Chair: Jack Mawhinney, Hughes Associates Inc, USA)

EXPLOSIONS (Chair: Stefan Zmigrodzki, CIMA+ Consulting Engineers, Canada)

11.00 Advantages of Electronically Controlled Sprinklers (ECS) for fire protection of tunnelsLeonid Tanklevskiy, Gefest Enterprise Group, Russia, Sergey Kopylov, Mikhail Vasilev , Varvara Zima, Russian Research Institute for Fire Protection and Alexander Snegirev, State Polytechnic University, Russia

Protective Design Guideline of TunnelsSung Choi, Parsons Brinckerhoff/Manhattan College, USA

11.20 Benefit of Sprinkler Systems in Protection of Tunnel Struc-ture from FireBobby, J. Melvin and Kenneth J. Harris, Parsons Brinckerhoff, USA

Design Loads and Methods for Prestressed Open Cut Tunnels under Severe Accidental and Malicious Threats – ExplosionsAssad Nawabi, Andreas Bach and Ingo Müllers, Schüßler-Plan Ingenie-urgesellschaft mbH, Germany and BRS-Design, Germany, Alexander Stolz, Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-In-stitut, Germany and BRS-Design, Germany, Markus Nöldgen, Cologne University of Applied Science, CUAS, Germany

11:40 Water Mist Concept - Effective Choice for Improving Safety in Road TunnelsPasi Vuolle, Marioff Corporation, Finland

Rescue Operations in Underground Mass Transport Systems at Fires and Deliberate AttacksMia Kumm and Anders Palm, Mälardalen University, Sweden

12.00 Automatic sprinkler system in tunnel firesYing Z. Li, and Haukur Ingason, SP, Sweden

Studies of Explosions Occurring in a Metro Carriage in a TunnelGero Meyer and Bo Janzon, Mälardalen University, Sweden

12.20 A study of the interactions between a water suppression system and a longitudinal ventilation system in a tunnelYoon Ko and George Hadjisophocleous, Carleton University, Canada

12.40 Lunch and Exhibits


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MARGARET [email protected]

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Finalisation of the programme for ISTSS

2012 in New York on 14th-16th March 2012

For the fifth time, SP is arranging the International Symposium on Tunnel Safety and Security. The international response has been extremely positive, with no less that 105 abstracts being submitted. This is a new record, and has made us rethink the structure of the conference and include parallel sessions.

Each abstract (one to two pages briefly describing what the article will contain) was read by our scientific committee, consisting of elev-en leading representatives of various working areas covered by the programme. The committee assessed each abstract against various criteria, and reported that the quality of the submitted proposals was very high and competition between them hard. Finally, about 70 ab-stracts were accepted for presentation at the conference in New York. Further information on the presentations and the format of the con-ference can be found in the programme, published in its entirety be-low.

For the first time, we will be running parallel sessions in order to meet the expected interest, and to enable as many authors as possible to present their papers.

We have six prominent keynote speakers who will present both the technical and human aspects of fire protection and safety. The pro-gramme covers active fire protection, safety in respect of such dangers as explosions, and protection, regulations, ventilation, risk analyses, incident management procedures, passive fire protection and human behaviour in response to (for example) evacuation. In addition to the papers to be presented during the conference, a further twenty have been accepted for poster presentation. The conference programme therefore includes a special poster session.

We hope that many of BrandPosten’s readers will attend the New York conference. Further information on the conference, and on how to register, can be found at www.istss.se.


ACTIVE FIRE PROTECTION; SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS Chair: Haukur Ingason, SP, Sweden)

SECURITY (Chair: Sung Choi, Parsons Brinckerhoff/Manhattan College, USA)

14.00 Automated fire detection and mitigation in rail tunnels designed for freight trainsFrank de Vries, Covalent Infra Technology Solutions BV, the Netherlands

Safety and security of underground infrastructure – new con-cepts for evaluating and mitigating risks of tunnelsGoetz Vollmann and Markus Thewes, Ruhr-University Bochum, Insti-tute for Tunnelling and Construction management, Germany, Frank Heimbecher, Federal Highway Research Institute, Germany

14.20 Gas analytics for the early detection of fires in road tunnelsMaximilian Wietek, Christian Berweger, Christian Lämmle, VSH, Switzerland

Influence of different tunnel ventilation systems on the disper-sion of light and heavy gases due to car accidentsMarion Meinert, Muenster University of Applied Science, Germany, Wolfram Klingsch, University of Wuppertal, Germany

15.00 CFD-based Assessment of Fixed Fire-Fighting Systems in TunnelsXavier Ponticq, CETU, France

Risk-Based Prioritization of Terrorist Threat Mitigation Measures for Highway TunnelsBruce Walton of the US Army Corps of Engineers Protective Design Center, USA

15.20 Fire in Road Tunnel in Slovenia January 2010Milan Dubravac, National Fire School, Slovenia

Identification of critical Tunnels in a Road NetworkIngo Kaundinya and Frank Heimbecher, Federal Highway Research Institute, Germany

15.40 Coffe break

DESIGN & FUNCTIONAL SAFETY (Chair: Peter Johnson, ARUP FIRE, Australia)

SAFETY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK(Chair: William G. Connell, Parsons Brinckerhoff, USA)

16.00 An integrated functional design approach for safety related tunnel processesThijs Ruland, Twan Daverveld, Bas van Duijnhoven, Jenny van Gelder, René Krouwel and Jan-Martijn Teeuw, Royal Haskoning, The Netherlands

Some of the NFPA 130 Improvements proposed for the 2014 EditionHarold L. Levitt, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (PA-NYNJ), USA, William D. Kennedy, Parsons Brinckerhoff, USA

16.20 The Stockholm Bypass – Enhanced design and interac-tion between Safety systemsBo Wahlström and Henric Modig, Faveo Projektledning AB, Sweden, Leif Eklöf and Ulf Lundström, Swedish Transport Administration Stockholm, Sweden

Safety of Dutch tunnels guaranteed by standard approach Hans A. Ruijter and Fred Bouwmeester, Rijkswaterstaat, The Nether-lands

16.40 Decision support for tunnel safetyDiderick Oerlemans, Covalent Infra Technology Solutions, Holland

Current practice of Fire design for Road & Rail Tunnels in AustriaJohannes Wageneder, GEOCONSULT Wien ZT GmbH, Austria

17.00 Problems with Tunnel Safety SystemsGary English, City of Seattle Fire Department, USA

A North-American Approach to the Refurbishing of Existing Tun-nels Based on European Specific Hazard InvestigationsHubert Dubois, CIMA+ Consulting Engineers, Canada

17.20 Cocktail Reception and Poster Session

19.00 Close Day 1

Day 2 Thursday 15 March 2012

08.00 Registration

KEYNOTE SESSION (Chair: Anders Lönnermark, SP, Sweden

08.30 Regulating Road Tunnel Fire SafetyWilliam Conell, Parson Brinkerhoff, USA

09:00 Risk Reduction for Today’s Critical InfrastructureWilliam H. Arrington, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration

09.30 Break

VENTILATION (Chair: Mia Kumm, Mälardalen University, Sweden)

RISK & COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS(Chair: Yajue Wu, Sheffield University, UK)

09:40 Some Effects on Natural Ventilation System for Subway Tunnel FiresAhmed Kashef, Institute for Research in Construction, Nation-al Research Council, Canada, Zhongyuan Yuan, Bo Lei, School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, China

A Risk-Based Assessment of Tunnel Emergency Ventilation System DesignJohn S. Devlin, Scott T. Laramee, jennifer M. Zaworski, Aon Fire Protection Engineering, USA

Continuation of day 1


10.00 External conditions have a significant impact on the air flow in tunnels using transverse ventilation for smoke extractionJonas Andersson, City of Stockholm Traffic Administration, Swe-den and Anders Lönnermark, SP, Sweden

On Risk Analysis using Bayesian Networks on Road TunnelsRune Brandt, HBI Haerter, Switzerland, Niels Peter HøjHOJ Consulting, Brunnen, Switzerland, Matthias SchubertMatrisk, Switzerland

10.20 Coffee break

VENTILATION (Chair: Richard Carvel, University of Edinburgh, UK)

RISK & COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS (Chair: Marco Cigolini, RFI, Rome, Italy)

10.40 Dynamics of natural air flow inside subway tunnelsMarkus Brüne, Andreas Pflitsch & Jonathan Spiegel, Ruhr-Universi-ty of Bochum, Germany

Assessment model for the transport of dangerous goods, through road tunnels – outset Mirjam Nelisse, TNO, The Netherlands

11.00 Multiscale Modelling of Fire Emergencies in a Transverse Francesco Colella, Adriano Sciacovelli, Vittorio Verda, Politecnico di Torino, Italy, Guillermo Rein, Ricky Carveland Romano Borchiellini, University of Edinburgh, BRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering, UK

Fire Ventilation Upgrades Can a retrofit be detrimental to Fire Life Safety Sam Hoffman, Daniel McKinney, Bruce Dandie AECOM Technical Services, Inc., USA

11.20 Design Fires in Road Tunnels & the Impact on Ventilation Systems Norman Rhodes, Kirit Kottam and David Hartman, Hatch Mott MacDonald, USA

Risk Framework – Methodology for Tunnels Jimmy Jönsson, ARUP Fire, Spain, Peter Johnson, Arup Fire, Aus-tralia

11.40 Theoretical Analysis on Longitudinal Tunnel Ventilation in Fire Emergency Qihui Zhang, A. Canfora, E. Trussoni, G. Astore , S. Xu and P. Grasso GEODATA Engineering SpA, Italy

Fixed fire fighting systems for tunnels – SOLIT Research Project Max Lakkonen, FOGTEC Fire Protection, Germany


VENTILATION(Chair: Rune Brandt, HBI Haerter, Switzerland)

RISK & COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS(Chair: Goetz Vollmann, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany))

13.30 The influence of blockages on backlayering in tunnel fires - a numerical studyRicky Carvel, David Bishop and Stephen Welch, University of Edinburgh, UK

Effectiveness analysis of a fire detection system configured as a multi-function portal aimed at protecting railway tunnelsMarco Cigolini, RFI spa, Italy

13.50 Design, simulations and implementation of ventilation sys-tem for Metro Line 9, at Barcelona city in SpainAna M. Ruiz-Jimenez and A.Matas, TD&T S.L., Spain

Risk-based evaluation of longitudinal ventilation with en-hanced safety conceptGöran Nygren, Per-Olof Jönsson and Johan Lundin, WSP, Sweden

14.10 The Dynamics of Tunnel Ventilation and Fire Development Yajue Wu, Sheffield University, UK

Assessing Fire Development Risk in Rail Vehicles and the Im-pacts on Tunnel InfrastructureJarrod Alston and Kurt Schebel, ARUP, USA

14.30 The Importance of Exit Spacing to the Choice of Tunnel Venti-lation SystemPaul Williams, Norman Disney & Young, New Zealand

Optimization of Measures Directed on the People Safety at Tunnel Fire by Means of Computational MethodsAlexey Karpov, I.R. Khasanov, N.P. Kopylov, D.V Ushakov,. All-Rus-sian Research Institute for Fire Protection, Russia

14.50 Coffee break

FIRE DYNAMICS (Chair: Arnold Dix, University of Western Sydney, Australia)

DECISION SUPPORT & OPERATION (Chair: Jens Stiegel, Frankfurt Fire Brigade, Germany)

15.20 Potential methodologies for calculating the overall heat release rate of a vehicle in a tunnel or an underground struc-ture Rickard Hansen, Mälardalen University, Sweden

Decision Support System for Emergencies in Road Tunnels Jorge A. Capote, Daniel Alvear, Orlando Abreu, Arturo Cuesta, Virginia Alonso, University of Cantabria, Spain

15.50 Large Scale Fire Tests for the “Calle 30 Project”Sonia Fernández, FFII - CEMIM, Spain, Del Rey, ETSII-Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, A. Grande, I. Espinosa, FFII - CEMIM, Spain, E. Alarcón, ETSII-Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain

Brisbane’s Busway network – Twelve years of designing and operating safe tunnelsNick Agnew, Stacey Agnew Pty Ltd, Australia, Matthew Bilson, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Australia, Ray Donato, Donato Consultancy, Australia

16.10 The experimental study on heat release rate in a full-scale train modelMao Shaohua, Shi Zhu, Yuanzhou Li, Haobo Wang , Ran Huo Uni-versity of Science and Technology of China, China

The use of traffic flow predictions to enhance tunnel safetyTomas Julner, Trafikverket, Sweden

16.30 Large-scale Commuter Train Fire Tests – Results from the METRO ProjectAnders Lönnermark, Johan Lindström, Ying Zhen Li, Haukur In-gason, SP, Sweden, Mia Kumm, Mälardalen University

Safety in Swedish railway tunnelsPer Vedin and Peter Lundman, Swedish transport administration, Sweden

16.50 Full-scale Experiments for Heat Release Rate Measurements of Railcar FiresGeorge Hadjisophocleous, Carleton University, Canada

On the Power of Simulation and the Need for Experimental ValidationMarco Bettelini and Maximilian Wietek Amberg Engineering Ltd., Switzerland

19.00 Banquet

22.00 Close Day 2

Continuation of day 2


08.00 Registration

KEYNOTE SESSION (Chair: Björn Sundström, SP, Sweden)

08.30 Fire Safety Engineering as a Tool in Tunnel DesignPeter Johnson, Arup, Australia

09.00 Human behavior in TunnelsMarieke Martens, TNO, The Netherlands

DESIGN FIRES (Chair: Martin Brown, London Transport, UK)

09.30 New concept for design fires in tunnelsHaukur Ingason, Ying Zhen Li, SP, Sweden

09.50 Tunnel fires and fire protection of tunnels with sprays of water dropletsCarsten Palle, VID Fire-Kill, Denmark

10.10 Coffee break

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR & EVACUATION (Chair: Håkan Frantzich, LTH, Sweden)

PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION (Chair: Daniel Joyeux, Efectis France, France)

10.40 Taking advantage of theories and models on human be-haviour in the fire safety design of underground transpor-tation systemsKarl Fridolf, Daniel Nilsson and Håkan Frantzich, Lund Univer-sity, Sweden

Quantification of fire damage of concrete for tunnel applicationsJoakim Albrektsson, and Mathias Flansbjer, SP, Sweden, Jan Erik Lindqvist, CBI Swedish Cement and Concrete Research Institute, Robert jansson, SP, Sweden

11.00 Ways of improvements in quantitative risk analyses by ap-plication of a linear evacuation module and interpolation strategies Christoph Forster, M. Sc. Bernhard Koh, IFL Consulting Engi-neers, Austria

Submerged Floating Tunnels, a new tunnel concept, creating new challenges in tunnel safety and security Lidvard Skorpa, Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Norway

11.20 FP7 – iNTeg-Risk - ERRA A5 Evacuation of a complex under-ground facilityMaximilian Wietek, VSH, Switzerland Jonatan Hugosson, SP, Sweden, Frank Leismann, STUVA, Germany, Fabien Fouillen, INERIS, France

Mobile Furnace for Determining Spalling Sensitivity of Exist-ing Concrete Tunnel LiningsMartin Vermeer and A. Breunese, Efectis Nederland BV, The Neth-erlands

11.40 Start Design and optimisation of VA systems in tunnelsEvert Start, Duran Audio, The Netherlands


HUMAN BEHAVIOUR & EVACUATION (Chair: Marieke Martens, TNO, The Netherlands)

PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION (Chair: Nick Agnew, Stacey Agnew Pty Ltd, Australia)

13.30 Emergency Escape and Evacuation Simulation in Rail Tun-nelsMarco Bettelini and Samuel Rigert, Amberg Engineering Ltd., Switzerland

Temperature Loads and Passive Protection in Structural TunnelsStefan Zmigrodzki, CIMA+ Consulting Engineers, Canada

13.50 Experiment for behavior estimation in the egress using electronic devices in the SAVE ME Project Stefano Marsella, Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco, Italy, Francesco Tesauri, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy , Jan Paul Leuteritz, Fraunhofer Institute, Germany, Uberto Del Prato, IES Solutions, Italy

Test methods for determining fire spalling of concreteLars Boström, Robert Jansson, SP, Sweden

14.10 French initiative to implement PIARC’s recommendations regarding HGV driver training in road tunnels Marc Tesson, Véronique Aurand and Bertrand Perrin, CETU, France

Assessing the fire resistance in existing tunnelsLeander Noordijk, Tim van der Waart & George Scholten, Efectis Nederland BV, The Netherlands, Coen van der Vliet M.Sc.ARCADIS Nederland BV, Amersfoort, The Netherlands

14.30 Technical VisitMore Details in January 2012

Day 3 Friday 16 March 2012


Conference on lightweight ship building

organized in Gothenburg

SP Fire Technology organizes together with partners, the 2nd International Conference on Light Weight Marine Structures LIWEM, in Gothenburg, Sweden, 28-29th March 2012

The 28-29th of March 2012 the conference on Light weight Ma-rine Structures, LIWEM, will be held at Park Avenue hotel in Goth-enburg. SP Fire Technology is the organizer together with our event partners STENA, Kockums, DNV, Chalmers, KTH, SWEREA-Sicomp, Swedish Marine Technology Forum, Center of Maritime Technologies (CMT) and “The Swedish network for lightweight con-structions at sea”, S-LASS. At the conference, presentations will be held by representatives from ship yards, ship operators, ship design-ers, ship outfitting, material producers, classification societies, au-thorities and researchers. The conference theme is “Commercial light-weight applications and close to market research”. Two distinguished Keynote Speakers have been invited to start-up the the days:

Mr Harry Robertsson, Technical Director at STENA, who will talk about lightweight experience and expectations and

Mr Vince Jenkins, Global Marine Risk Adviser at Lloyd’s Register, who will speak about Goal Based Standards and Lightweight Chal-lenges.

Indeed, the themes from these presentations underline very well ba-sic ideas and objectives for the LIWEM conference: to point at the potential of lightweight materials in the new world of functionally based IMO-regulations that will allow much more flexibility in ship design. At the same time, the conference will also hopefully point at what lightweight design is possible today, also within the existing pre-scriptive framework.

As part of the conference, the attendees will have the opportunity to visit both the STENA high speed aluminium catamaran “Caris-ma” and the first fully HSC certified carbon fiber composite catama-ran in the world, “Valö”, owned by Veolia/Styrsöbolaget. Experience from almost two years of operation of the latter will also be present-ed at the conference.

The LIWEM 2010 in Glasgow attracted over 80 delegates. We hope to see even more delegates in Gothenburg next year. Registra-tion for LIWEM and further information on the conference is found at www.liwem.org.

High speed carbon fiber catamaran Valö.

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EU research project SafePellets started

The kick-off meeting took place on January 25th and 26th 2012 in Wieselburg, Austria.

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Michael Strömgren receives a SFPE award and is also awarded the SFPE Sweden scholarship of the year

BJÖRN SUNDSTRÖ[email protected]+46 10 516 50 86

Michael Strömgren has been awarded the Society of Fire Protec-tion Engineers’ ‘Hats off Award’ for his work within the society. In its citation, the SFPE said “Michael Strömgren created the SFPE Linked In group and has been its administrator for the past several years. Today, more than 2500 people are connected to this group, sharing information and ideas for Fire Protection Engineers.”

But that was only part of it. Michael has also been awarded this year’s scholarship by the Swedish Chapter (47) of the Society of Fire

Protection Engineers (BIV/SFPE Sweden), with the citation “Michael Strömgren has made a valuable contribution by work-ing proactively in the sector on the creation of the new Building Regulations, thus contributing to a more engineering orientated approach in connection with analytical design of fire protection systems and features in buildings.”

We congratulate him on these honours.

SafePellets supports the development of quality assurance and safety measures along the biomass pellets supply chain. SP Fire Technology is one of the partners of the project, which started in January 2012.

SafePellets (Safety and quality assurance measures along the pellets supply chain) is performed and funded under the Research for the Be-nefit of SMEs activity of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union. The consortium consists of SME-industry partners and research institutes coming from five EU member states, in total 15 partners. The objective of the project is the development of guidelines for quality assurance measures along the pellets supp-ly chain and solutions for safe handling and storage of pellets. In the course of the project methods for the assessment of off-gassing and self-heating shall be developed.

The project is driven by the joint interests of SME-industry as-sociations and SME-industries. The partnering associations are the European Biomass Association, the Austrian Pellets Association, the German Pellets Association, the Swedish Pellets Association and the Danish Straw Association. The participating SME-industries are Fire-fly AB (SE), Laxå Pellets AB (SE) and Pusch AG (DE). Moreover, large industries – Verdo Energy A/S (DK) and Dansk Træemballage A/S (DK) – and research partners are contributing to the project. The research partners are Bioenergy 2020+ (AT), Danish Technologi-cal Institute (DK), Deutsches BiomasseForschungsZentrum (DE), SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE).

The overall findings of SafePellets shall be implemented as quality assurance and safety measures in guidelines serving the European bio-mass pellets industry and its customers. The partners jointly contri-bute with their method know-how, their competences in the fields of analytical chemistry and fire protection and their expertise on pellets production, storage and supply chain technology. The associations together with the industry partners will evaluate the proposed guide-lines regarding their practical applicability and promote the imple-mentation of novel industrial solutions for mitigation of risks associa-ted with off-gassing and self-heating.

The project SafePellets is coordinated by Bioenergy 2020+. The du-ration of the project is three years. The budget is 4.0 Mio Euro, with 2.8 Mio Euro coming from EU funds.

The main responsibility of SP Fire Technology in the project is within the field of self-heating. SP is also responsible for the inventory

of incidents related to self-heating and/or off-gassing of wood pellets. The SP project group will be led by Anders Lönnermark and includes Henry Persson and Per Blomqvist. Further, Ida Larsson from SP Fire Technology will base her PhD work on the findings from the Safepel-let project.”

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MICHAEL FÖ[email protected]

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Measurement of time to ignition in a standardised test (ISO 5660 – the Cone Calorimeter), as used in reactiontofire tests.

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The diagram shows the heat release rate on the lefthand y-axis and Ubreakdown (the discharge voltage) and SPR on the righthand y-axis. The results show a very good correlation between the discharge voltage and ignition: in this test, ignition occurred after 42 seconds. The project is presented in its entirely in SP Report 2011:66 ‘Electrical currents and breakdown voltages as a diagnostic tool for fires’.

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Electrical discharges for flame detection

SP Fire Technology has developed a new method of flame detection, using electrical discharges between two electrodes with an applied voltage across them. The method shows promising results, with the potential to become an effective, ro-bust and cost-efficient means of detecting flames in difficult environments.

The basic principle is based on the fact that the elec-trical conductivity of a flame is much higher that of air. If the space between two electrodes, across which a voltage is applied, is filled with ordinary air, only a very weak current will flow between the electrodes. However, with a flame between the elec-trodes, the electrical current rises dramatically. The reason for the current being very low with air be-tween the electrodes, and high with a flame between them, is that air has a very low conductivity, while that of a flame is very high.

Although there are many fire detectors on the market that operate by detecting the smoke from a fire, this is not always sufficient. Flame detectors, which detect the actual flames, are generally optical, detecting flames either by responding to the increase in infrared radiation, or by video processing of vid-eo frames from a monitoring system. Both systems are expensive, and require the detectors to be rigid-ly installed in a clean area, with a good view of the protected area, as dust and smoke can degrade the performance of these types of fire detectors.

It is clear that there is a need for small and stable flame detectors suitable for operation in, for exam-ple, dusty premises or buildings with complicated layouts.

A prototype of the flame detector developed by SP Fire Technology is being tested. Relatively large electrodes have been used during the first tests, as can be seen in the photograph. However, the meth-od is also suitable for operation with much small-er electrodes, which can be installed in areas where dust, complicated layouts or reduced visibility pre-sent difficulties for traditional flame detectors.


Fire Dynamics & Fire saFety engineering Design11-13 april 2012

A 3-day course which explores fire modelling & fluid dynamics to understand and predict the outcome of unexpected fires. The programme is designed for fire safety professionals such as Architects, Fire Brigade & Building Control Officers, Engineers, Loss Adjustors.Topics include:• Smoke management systems• Evacuation modelling• Fuel types & fire sizes• Fire & structural response analysis• Design Solutions• Zone models• Fire safety management considerations

Fee: £875.00 GBP

Fire science & Fire investigation16-19 april 2012

Now in it’s 26th consecutive year, this internationally acclaimed 4-day course on fire scene investigation explores the scientific principles of fire behaviour for practical application. Topics include:• Investigation techniques• Forensic Pathology• Ignition & fire growth• Wilful fireraising• Legal aspects

The programme is designed to build on previous training for professionals such as Police & Fire Officers, Fire Safety & Security Consultants, Coroners & Proscurators Fiscal, Forensic Scientists & Loss Adjustors.

Fee: £975.00 GBP

w w w . l i f e l o n g . e d . a c . u k / f i r e

iFe membership examination 20 april 2012

Designed to be taken at the end of the Fire Science course, the exam is equivelent to the Institution of Fire Engineers Paper 8 (‘Fire Investigation’) and constitutes 25% of the entrance requirements for IFE Membership.

Fee: £160.00 GBP

The University of EdinburghSchool of EngineeringBRE Centre for Fire Safety Engineering

Office of Lifelong Learning - CPD Unit, 11 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9LW Scotlandemail. [email protected] tel. +44 (0)131 651 1189/1180 fax. +44 (0)131 651 1746

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

Smoke generation for Tunnel Emergency Drills and Testing Intrinsically bio-degradable—non toxic, controllable artificial smoke—travelling kms/miles without degradation Temperature resistant, so can be used to create thermally buoyant smoke if required Does not evaporate in fast moving airstreams created by impulse ventilation / Saccardo nozzles Highlight practical issues, obstruction of ducts, fans & damper wired incorrectly etc Test the effectiveness of pressurisation systems, cross passage ventilation, visibility sensors etc Quantifiable smoke output

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MAGNUS [email protected]

+46 10 516 56 90

Pipe dimension [mm]

Pipe distance to -3.9°C (to 0°C with brackets) [m]

Flow = 100 L/min Flow = 200 L/min Flow = 400 L/min

25 44 m (8 m) 48 m (9 m) 52 m (9 m)

32 55 m (10 m) 60 m (11m) 65 m (12 m)

50 83 m (15 m) 89 m (16 m) 96 m (17 m)

65 104 m (18 m) 110 m (20 m) 121 m (22 m )

100 153 m (27 m) 163 m (29 m) 176 m (32 m)

150 223 m (40 m) 234 m (42 m) 250 m (45 m)

Table 1 Length of pipe until the water temperature is –3.9 °C, assuming an initial temperature of +5 °C for the water and –4 °C for the pipe, with input data typical for that of a traditional sprinkler system.

Table 2 Length of pipe until the water temperature is –3.9 °C, assuming an initial temperature of +5 °C for the water and –4 °C for the pipe, with input data typical for that of a water mist system (high pressure).

Pipe dimension [mm] Pipe distance to -3.9°C (to 0°C with brackets) [m]

Flow = 8 L/min Flow = 16 L/min Flow = 24 L/min

12 18 m (3 m) 19 m (3 m) 18 m (3 m)

22 33 m (6 m) 33 m (6 m) 34 m (6 m)

28 44 m (8 m) 42 m (7 m) 42 m (8 m)

OSKAR [email protected]

+46 10 516 58 93

Freezing of flowing water in sprinkler systemsWater filling a sprinkler system during activation can freeze if the sprinkler pipes are cold. This problem has been studied in detail in a graduation project, complemented by presentation of published work on the subject.

Fire sprinkler systems installed in outdoor areas, or in uninsulated buildings having no heating systems, are at risk of freezing during the winter. This requires special technical solutions, such as dry pipe sys-tems or the admixture of antifreeze in the water.

A dry pipe system is one in which the sprinkler pipes are filled with compressed air. When one or more sprinklers is activated, the pres-sure is released, a valve opens and the water flows through the pip-ing system to the sprinklers. However, if the piping system is too cold, there is risk of the water being cooled to the point where it freezes, blocking the pipes or nozzles. In a wet pipe system, with the sprinkler pipes filled with water under pressure, an antifreeze is required in the parts of the system exposed to cold. Again, when the system is acti-vated, the water and antifreeze mixture can flow out, while the wa-ter coming in behind it (not containing antifreeze) could freeze in the pipes or nozzles.

In recent years, sprinkler systems have been installed in a number of Swedish churches, in most cases being of the water mist type. Most of the churches are unheated, thus requiring one of the solutions de-scribed above. Discussions concerning the risk of freezing in such sys-tems have concentrated attention on the risk.

Graduation project has studied the problemA graduation project carried out at the Division of Heat Transfer at the Department of Energy Sciences at Lund University by Kamil Os-kar Bialas, in conjunction with SP Fire Technology and Ultra Fog AB, has described the problem and produced a summary of information available on the subject.

The study shows that the pipes can be blocked either by dendritic or annular ice formation, or by a combination of the two. Dendritic ice formation is characteristic of ambient temperatures somewhat be-low 0°C. Supercooling of the flowing water results in sudden forma-tion of branched, treelike ice crystals (dendrites), once ice formation starts, which typically occurs at a water temperature between –7 °C and –4 °C (the approximate nucleation range for tap water). This ice slurry can block both pipes and sprinklers. Experiments have shown that, for steel pipes, the critical ambient temperature resulting in com-plete blockage is in the range –4 °C to –3 °C. Annular ice formation is typical of lower ambient temperatures, resulting in the formation of a layer of ice on the contact surface between the flowing water and the pipe wall, without any supercooling of the entire water volume. However, this layer of ice melts away continuously on the upstream side as the pipe is heated by the flowing water, not affecting the water flow considerably.

Ways of calculating the risk of blockageThe study also investigated ways to predict complete ice blockage of a piping or nozzle. However, with the present models describing freezing and blockage one is unable to reliably calculate when com-plete blockage occurs. It has not been possible to fully quantify den-dritic ice formation, mainly due to the difficulty of describing the process when the ice slurry attaches to the wall of the pipe. The cal-culations that have been made for this case have therefore concentrat-ed on determining to what distance the water is carried in the pipe before its temperature falls to the range where dendritic ice formation


Participants in the workshop at SP on 1st-2nd November 2011.


+46 10 516 51 97

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can occur, i.e. in the range –7 °C to –4 °C. The input data for these calculations is the initial temperature of the water, the initial temper-ature of the pipe (i.e. ambient temperature), the pipe inner diameter and the water flow rate.

Tables 1 and 2 show the calculated results for a conventional sprin-kler system and a water mist system (high pressure) based on pipe siz-es and water flow rates that are typical when one or more nozzles is activated. However, bearing in mind the various uncertainties, these results should be seen as indicative rather than absolute.

Purely qualitatively, and with some exceptions, the calculations show that the length of pipe until the water temperature has fallen to -3.9 °C, increases with increasing pipe size and increasing water flow. This means that the probability of dendritic ice formation during ac-tivation is greater for systems having small pipe sizes and low flow

rates. For high pressure systems (water mist) the work showed that the high pressure eliminates possibility of dendritic complete blockage of the pipe, as the water pressure overcomes the bond shear strength between ice and the steel wall. However, the nozzles in systems of this type can be vulnerable to both annular and dendritic blockage, due to the very small dimensions in the orifices. The work therefore pro-poses that dendritic blockage of high pressure systems (in the nozzles) and traditional systems (in the pipes) should be further investigated, preferably with the support of appropriate tests and experiments.

The reportThe report, ‘Freezing in Fire Sprinkler Systems During Activation at Low Temperatures’ by Kamil Oskar Bialas can be downloaded from http://www.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=19464&postid=1859158.

Workshop on fire safety in critical under-

ground infrastructure facilitiesSP Fire Technology held a workshop on fire safety in underground infrastructure facilities at SP on 1st-2nd November 2011. The main theme of the discussion was the safety of cable tunnels and energy distribution tunnels.

Invited speakers came from public authorities concerned with the area, fire consultants, fire and rescue services and research institu-tions. The objective of the workshop was to provide a starting point for discussions and the exchange of information between parties on how best to provide fire protection in these tunnels.

Working areas presented included the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP), fire protection in cable and distribution tunnels, legislation and current knowledge and aware-ness. The second day covered discussion of the role of fire and rescue services, interaction between different organisations, discussion of scenarios and review and description of various detection and sprin-kler systems.

Group discussionsA group discussion was arranged in connection with the workshop. The groups discussed matters relating to problem areas, gaps in knowledge, the need for training and joint working. One of the most important results from the joint discussions was that it is unclear how responsibility for coordination should be arranged when several par-ties, with different degrees of risks, need to work together. The fire

and rescue services need to be able to distinguish between occasions when responses are possible and when responses are effective. Fires in underground tunnels are different from more everyday fires in above-ground buildings. Tunnels are mainly difficult of access and often are protected by confidentiality. Fire and rescue personnel are large-ly dependent on the tunnelowners’ personnel, who are familiar with the objects. Fire prevention and protection work needs to be carried out by the tunnelowner, who is also responsible on the overall level. A tunnel safety group, of the type that exists in Stockholm, bringing together various parties for discussion, fills an important function. There is a relatively substantial need for information and training at all levels. Cooperation and training exercises between different par-ties are important. An example of such an activity is a scenario exer-cise, bringing together all parties involved. Important arenas for the exchange of information are presented by workshops of the type that SP has arranged, fullscale exercises and conferences.

The workshop included a demonstration of a test of the spread of fire and smoke in a cable tunnel, combined with the effects of venti-lation.


SP report no 2011:33Model-scale metro car fire testsAnders Lönnermark, Johan Lind-ström, Ying Zhen Li

Urban underground railways are an im-portant part of public infrastructure, and a fire in such a train can have serious consequences, not only for human health and safety but also for overall transport communication. It is therefore important to know how a fire in a metro carriage is likely to develop under various condi-tions.

This report describes fire tests carried out on a scale model of a met-ro carriage. The tests varied important parameters: the means of igni-tion, surface cladding materials, the fire load and presence of various openings (windows, doors and a hole in the floor). The results show that the spread of fire, and maximum heat release rate, depend on the total fire load and where it is placed, as well as on the size and posi-tion of openings. Interior side wall and ceiling cladding materials are also important in determining the initial progress of the fire. The mo-del scale tests were also important in preparing for full scale tests. Fi-nancer: Formas.

SP report no 2011:55Runehamar tunnel Fire TestsHaukur Ingason, Anders Lönner-mark och Ying Zhen Li

This report provides an overall descrip-tion of the Runehamar tunnel fire tests that were carried out in 2003. It is a complete report, that presents all the measured data in various graphs and ta-bles. An analysis of the tests, together with the description of previous work related to the tests, is presented. The re-port also describes one further test that was carried out, but which has not previously been reported. See the article on Page 23. Financer: SP.

New SP reportsSP report no 2011:66Electrical currents and breakdown voltages as a diagnostic tool for firesRaúl Ocheterena, Michael Försth och Mattias Elfsberg

This report describes the continuation of a feasibility study that investigated the possible use of ion current flows as a di-agnostic method for use in fire technol-ogy, mainly for use with pilot ignition electrodes in the ISO 5660 Cone Calo-rimeter. The favourable results from the feasibility study led on to this continuation project.

The first part of the work was devoted to measuring the current between the electrodes in the absence of a spark. Screening and eart-hing the equipment used in the feasibility study resulted in a substan-tial improvement in the signal/noise ratio. An expression for the re-lationship between the measured current and the conductivity of the electrode gap was developed and experimentally validated. Knowled-ge of the conductivity is important if the method is to be developed to provide estimates of gas parameters such as temperature, electron den-sity etc.

The second part of the work was devoted to making measurements during sparking between the electrodes, which is essential in order to be able to comply with the test standard. Two electrical circuits were designed and built: one to provide a carefully controlled spark, and one to measure the flashover voltage of the spark. The results showed that the flashover voltage provided a good representation of changes in the gas above the test body, including the period before ignition. In ad-dition, the actual ignition also produced a change in the discharge vol-tage. See article on Page 30. Financer: The Swedish Fire Research In-stitute.

One of our colleagues, Dr Ying Zhen Li, has defended his doctoral thesis at the Southwest Jiaotong University in China. In the photo to the right Dr Ying Zhen Li is standing together with the dissertation committee that evaluated his excellent research work. The title of his doctoral thesis was “Study of fire characteristics and smoke control in super long tunnels with rescue stations”, supervised by professors Bo Lei and Haukur Ingason.

From left to right: Associate Prof. Deng Zhihui, Prof. Yu Nanyang, Prof. Long Enshen, Prof. Lei Bo (supervisor), Dr Ying Zhen Li (respondent), Prof. Wang Jianyu, Prof. Liu Yingqing and Prof. Li Renxian.


+46 10 516 51 97

Disputation of Dr. Ying Zhen Li in China


Francine Amon Francine began working as a senior scien-tist in the research group at Fire Technol-ogy in July of 2011. She was previously a researcher in the Fire Research Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the US, where her work fo-cused on evaluation methodologies for fire service technology. When she is not work-ing or learning Swedish she is usually hiking, bicycling, cooking, or reading.

Malika AmenMalika has been working as a project man-ager in the Fire Dynamics section since Sep-tember 2011. She holds a degree in chemi-cal engineering, and has previously worked at Sintef in Norway within research of plas-tics and plastic composites. Her free time interests include outdoor life, swimming, watching good television series and spending time with her family and friends.

Nick NeumannNick has been employed as a project manag-er in the Fire Dynamics section since October 2011. With a degree in fire engineering from the University of Magdeburg, Nick comes to us from MFPA Leipzig GmbH, where he worked with large-scale fire tests and CFD modeling. In his free time he enjoys sports, es-pecially track and field, music and spending time with his family and friends.

Fredrik KahlFredrik has been working as a technician in the Fire Resistance section since October 2011. He comes to us from a third party logistics com-pany, where he was employed as a key custom-er manager. Previously to that, he has worked as an adventure and events arranger. His rec-reational activities include music making, adventure sports and time with family and friends.

Anna BergstrandAnna has been working as a project manager in the Fire Dynamics section since November 2011. She is a recent graduate in textile engi-neering, having presented a graduation project on fire and textiles. She likes travelling, and has lived abroad for a few years. She and her part-ner like to spend the summer in Jämtland, fishing and generally un-winding on the family estate.

New employees at Fire TechnologyEmil NorbergSince December 2011, Emil has been working as a technician in the Fire Dynamics section. He joins us from Transcom AB, where his pre-vious work has included technical support and customer service. His training has included furniture construction and acoustics technol-ogy. His free time is spent with his family and on DIY projects for his house.

Michael StrömgrenMichael has been working with SP Fire Tech-nology since January 2012. During the previ-ous four years, he has worked at the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning as a fire safety engineer, where he was the pro-ject manager for the major overhaul of the fire safety regulations in the 2012 Building Regula-tions. As an expert on the new regulations, he will be concerned with providing training, quality assurance and R&D projects in this area. His work will also include further development of fire safety engi-neering, including the field of European standardisation. His recrea-tional activities are photography, backgammon and beer brewing.

Egolf course on heat

transfer in Prague

ULF WICKSTRÖMulf.wickströ[email protected]

+46 10 516 51 94

PAVUS in the Czech Republic arranges a third Egolf cour-se on heat transfer for laboratory experts. It is devided into two sessions.

Session 1: March 13 - 14 at the fire test laboratory in Veseli nad Luznici.

Session 2: April 17 - 18 in Prague

The course is intended for engineers and experts with a basic knowledge in heat transfer who are involved in fire safety engine-ering and research, and fire testing. The course is open for Egolf members staff as well as for industry experts.

Professor Ulf Wickström of SP is teaching the course. Thorough lecture notes in the form of a draft book will be distri-buted to the participants.

Applications can be sent to Jaroslav Dufek, [email protected]. Questions about the course content could be sent to [email protected]. Questions about practical arrangements could be sent to [email protected]. The cost of the course is 2 000 Euros for Egolf members and 2 300 Euros for non-members.

SenderSP Technical Research Institute of SwedenFire TechnologyP O Box 857SE-501 15 BORÅS, Sweden

Next issueSeptember 2012

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