Computational study of road tunnel exposure to severe wind conditions

Ventilation and fire safety design in road tunnels are one of the most complex issues that need to be carefully considered and analysed in the designing stage of any tunnel project, as well as in case of any potential upgrade of ventilation and other fire safety systems in tunnels. Placement of road tunnels in space has an important influence on fire safety, especially when considering the effect of adverse wind conditions that significantly influence ventilation characteristics. The appropriate analysis of fire and smoke control is almost impossible without the use of modern simulation tools (e.g., CFD) due to a large number of influential parameters and consequently extensive data. The impact of the strong wind is briefly presented in this paper in the case of a longitudinally ventilated road tunnel Kastelec, which is exposed to various severe wind conditions that significantly influence its fire safety. The possibility of using CFD simulations in the analysis of the tunnel placement in space in terms of negative effect of wind influence on the tunnel ventilation is clearly indicated.