Systems Research Forum

Expanded Scope of Supply from Equipment to System Level in Tunnel Ventilation

Hkan Bard, Vxj University

Introduction
Background There is within the industrial market a clear trend toward technically more complex products and systems. This leads to a need for more developed specialist competences at equipment level as well as systems/functions level. A competitive development at equipment level will largely be related to a good understanding of the processes and systems around the product. A deep know-how of the base technologies at equipment level in many cases suits itself well to be applied and further developed at systems design level. By the combined application of key technologies at equipment and system levels there would be a good potential for expanding the scope of supply to the market, while simultaneously making it feasible to build the required critical mass in competence at R&D level. The aspect of market structure with the traditional roles of equipment suppliers, contractors, system designers, and procurement methods would need to be reconsidered, and possibly inuenced, when selecting strategy in the potential development from equipment to systemlevel scope of supply, and the related value added in the supply chain. Current Trends in Tunnel Ventilation Vehicular tunnels constitute an essential part of the global vehicular infra- and urban-structure projects and is simultaneously a market segment of signicant growth. To meet the increasingly stringent air quality criteria under normal trafc conditions, as well as passenger safety demands under emergency conditions, mechanical tunnel ventilation systems would be required for all tunnels longer than 200-300 m. The tunnel ventilation segment accordingly form an important, and also technically demanding, market for industrial fan manufacturers and associated equipment suppliers. The currently designed larger tunnel ventilation systems become increasingly complex, and optional strategies for developing, specifying and procuring these systems are considered by end-users, speciers, and producers. Also many older systems are scheduled for upgrading programs to meet the current environmental criteria and safety demands. The potential evolution of industrial fan
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manufacturers from equipment supply level into system/ subsystem design and accountability within the tunnel ventilation segment would lend itself to the conceptual approach of systems engineering (SE). Objective The current case study describes the complex nature of modern vehicular tunnel ventilation systems and gives a specic example related to a high-speed rail tunnel ventilation contract. The objective is to demonstrate how an SE approach can be used to provide a functional analysis and risk assessment while mitigating costs and assigning responsibilities in the design process of the system.

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The Tunnel Ventilation Process

Tunnel Categories The enclosed vehicular facilities segment incorporates three tunnel categories: Road Metro Rail Tunnel Ventilation Scenarios There are typically three basic ventilation scenarios: Normal and Congested Trafc: Air quality and passenger safety criteria within the tunnel environment, combined with external environmental aspects, are given by increasingly stringent norms, standards, and legislation for air quality (NOx, CO, visibility, temperature, humidity) and noise levels (dBA). Maintenance: Criteria according to above. Emergency: There is an increasingly strong emphasis on smoke control, visibility, temperature control, and evacuation strategies. Recent fatal incidents in older tunnels have further accentuated this. The reliability and functionality of the tunnel as a trafc system depend on a number of critical interfaces between several different tunnel systems but also on interfaces between subsystems and components within a given system. Reviewing and optimizing areas of responsibility for the different suppliers at component level, subsystem level, and

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system level becomes an important task in the development of a reliable and cost effective system. Potential benets and risks from the integration of system design accountability with qualied equipment suppliers need to be considered, e.g., in the perspective of critical mass. Tunnel Installation Categories The number of installed systems in a vehicular tunnel will vary, depending on the size and type of tunnel, but can typically be found within the following groups: Tunnel ventilation Trafc controls Lighting Plant controls Power distribution Communication Technical room ventilation Drainage Fire-ghting Systems Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA)

imposed more specic demands on tunnel fans and related equipment. The application know-how became a more pronounced prerequisite for an effective and adapted product development. Some fundamentally important technologies in fan engineering lend themselves to expansion into tunnel ventilation system design. Fan manufacturers who identied tunnel ventilation as a separate business segment developed substantial competences in tunnel applications and the related ventilation system design, mainly for the following reasons: 1. 2. To better understand the specic requirements and design criteria related to tunnel fans To further improve the communication with speciers and clients, and to also offer system design capabilities (as a competitive advantage To expand the business volume in order to build critical mass in R&D and engineering

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For stakeholders like owners and users, the specic performances of the individual components, subsystems, or even systems would be of minor interest. The primary objective would rather be at the following level: The tunnel installations shall in coordination provide an effective trafc system and a safe tunnel environment for passengers and staff under normal modes of operation, maintenance conditions, and emergency conditions. The word effective could in this context be translated into cost effective due to the increased focus on life-cycle cost, reecting on specications and the selection of system solutions and individual groups of equipment. Tunnel Ventilation: The conceptual and detailed tunnel ventilation system designs would traditionally in most cases be performed by consulting engineers on behalf of the end-user or civil contractor(s). From a number of conceptually developed options one solution would be selected for further development at a detailed design level, typically by the same design team. This also would involve the development of equipment specications for fans, dampers, silencers, controls, drives, power supply, etc. The tunnel ventilation system would in this structure be procured with vendors at product/equipment level with practically no system design accountability going beyond the consultant. Ventilation Equipment Supply: Conventional or only slightly modied industrial fans were originally used for tunnel ventilation purposes. The more demanding tunnel ventilation applications, however, over time gradually
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This development caused some overlapping with the traditional tunnel ventilation consultant areas. The system orientation accordingly appeared to create a good base for product development, and also potentially a system design capability advantage. This became valuable to clients at the earlier stages of tunnel projects, when conceptual solutions are under evaluation and the client, and the clients consultant, often needs the combined input of system parameters and product features. The combined product/system know-how in the end should add to the overall quality and performance of the system. There would, for the fan supplier, appear to be good reasons, both from a system performance and a market point of view, to expand the scope of supply from equipment to system level, essentially based on expanded existing technologies. The overall tunnel ventilation system performance in terms of air quality under normal and congested modes of operation, as well as under emergency operation, depends on system-wide, as well as local-system-related parameters, and also on the performance of the installed equipment. A widened scope of supply would give sufcient volume to develop the expertise in areas where both products and systems would benet. Contractually, however, the scope of supply for the fan maker would in most cases be restricted to fans and related equipment only. Accordingly, there would be no premium beyond product value because procurement and specication are dened at product base level with no system design accountability. The added value by the system-oriented equipment supplier would need to be materialized in a system-based specication and related procurement. It is, however, also clear that certain areas of expertise in tunnel ventilation systems should remain with specialized consultants.

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A system-based procurement of the more advanced tunnel ventilation systems would therefore demand project-based alliances between equipment suppliers and consultants. This is due to issues on critical mass in specic technology areas and to cover the interfaces with other installation packages. Tunnel Ventilation Technology Certain segments within the fan technology platforms (like acoustics, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, and structural mechanics) lend themselves to be expanded and applied to tunnel ventilation system design. These expanded branches of fan technology do, however, not necessarily have to cover all aspects of tunnel ventilation (joint venture or subcontractor). The expanded and adapted technology platform constitutes the tool to offer system design capabilities with an integrated product/system know-how. It also gives the opportunity to provide input to projects at the earlier stages of tunnel projects, long before equipment-based issues become of interest. It also forms a strong base for product development adapted to the specic demands of tunnel systems. A prerequisite for expanding fan technology into systems is that there is an existing strong fan technology base in the company. The scope of supply would expand from products to functions, which raises the question of core competences, the sourcing of technologies internally and externally, the issue of networking, and risk management. The denition of responsibilities in terms of inside/outside scope of supply becomes crucial. The question of dening key capabilities and technologies within the company when building new alliances with, e.g., technical institutes, companies, and consultants, becomes high in priority. It is, however, important to realize that even if the system/function orientation raises the issue of moving segments of the existing tunnel ventilation market from the traditional equipment supply into a function/system scope of supply by the fan maker, it must be remembered that an important share of all tunnel projects is likely to still remain product based in the project specications. Technical excellence at product level still would be the base for the business. Tunnel Ventilation Specications and Orders The contract to build the tunnel would be placed by the owner with a civil contractor(s). The installations (including tunnel ventilation) would be specied by the end-users consultant for procurement and would be part of the civil contract(s), or be separately purchased by the end-user. The specication of the tunnel ventilation system would either be: a functional specication with system design responsibility, or a detailed equipment/product specication with no system design responsibility.
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1. Installation Contract Under Civil Contractor: The civil contractor would typically split his contract in two: 1. Civil works 2. Installation works, including tunnel ventilation Item 2 would be purchased from an installation contractor (electro mechanical contractor) with the focus to do one of two things: 1. Purchase equipment from different suppliers at the low cost end, with no system design responsibility from the equipment supplier, or 2. Purchase function and detailed system design responsibility from the equipment supplier Item 1 has traditionally been dominating. In this scenario the tunnel ventilation supplier would bid a number of different installation contractors with nonidentical specications. 2. Tunnel Ventilation Contract Under End-User: As per above, the specication would either be a functional specication with system design responsibility, or detailed equipment specication with no system design responsibility. In this case there is only one bid to be made: to the enduser. Although this scenario deals directly with the enduser, in reality it becomes difcult to apply a fully functional specication for the tunnel ventilation procurement. Some system-related principles need to be dened previously at conceptual design stage because they have an impact on the civil tunnel structures. Therefore, typically, the starting point would be a conceptual solution dened by the owners consultant. There still are, regardless of the contractor or end-user, a number of system-related issues within the conceptual installation that benet from being linked to the equipment supplier, thereby eliminating borderlines between system and equipment accountability (e.g., air ow/pressure drops to develop the required environmental and emergency conditions, installation effects on equipment performance, acoustic properties, and LCC). The equipment supplier would integrate under one responsibility, within a network of internal and external resources with dened technical and nancial responsibilities, the system-wide functions with the functions of the local systems and the related equipment.

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Case Study: High-Speed Rail Tunnel

Tunnel Data The Ltschberg Basislinie high-speed rail tunnel system in Switzerland is a current example where a functional specication was used for the procurement, dening a full system function and equipment accountability for

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the supplier (contractor), based on the conceptual design provided by the client in the specication. All system functions should accordingly be met within the constraints dened by the geometries and ventilation concepts given in the specication. The main tunnel parameters are as follows: Tunnel Length: 36 km (twin tunnel 14 km, single tunnel 22 km, with a later option for an extension into a full 36 km twin tunnel). Trains: Spanning the range from high-speed trains (250 km/h) to freight trains (80 km/h), imposing a large span of train movement induced pressure transients in the tunnel, and with a potential for a large impact on the aerodynamic and structural performance of the tunnel ventilation system. Tunnel Operational Modes: Normal train operation mode, tunnel maintenance mode, emergency mode (e.g., congestion, re, evacuation of passengers). The clients conceptual design provides for three ventilation stations equipped with main axial fans, controllable dampers, controllable/ manual doors and ventilation orices. Jet fans will be offered as an option at one of the tunnel portals. The decision on jet fans will be taken after a detailed study within the design program (Computational Fluid Dynamics [CFD]). A number of the main axial fans are specied to be high-temperature fans (400C for two hours of smoke extraction under emergency), with controllable performance based on optional blade pitch control or variable fan speed. The nal decision would be based on further detailed analysis and testing. Tunnel Ventilation: Main Objectives 1. Normal Train Operation Mode The main objectives are to accomplish the following: Prevent pollutants from exceeding predetermined levels Safely dilute and remove any methane ingress Keep temperature within predened limits Keep humidity within predened limits. 2. Tunnel Maintenance Mode The main objective is to maintain specied values for temperature, humidity, methane, diesel fumes, and dust in all sections of the running tunnels. 3. Emergency Mode The main objective is to provide smoke-free egress route(s) for evacuees. Methodology It is, for functional specications in general, fundamentally important that all assumptions and boundary conditions are identied, dened and well understood. This evidently
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applies to the potential contractor regarding, for instance, contractual obligations, limitations, and risks but equally as much to the obligations and risks for the client and user implied by the selected conceptual design once the site acceptance tests have been successfully performed. An open-minded pre-contractual communication on these matters between the two parties would form the basis of an overall risk evaluation and appeared, in this case, to be a prerequisite for preparing and presenting a bid. In a longer perspective it is also a prerequisite for a successful project. When preparing the bid for this complex tunnel ventilation system, the rst step was to critically review the clients proposed design concept in terms of potential trafc scenarios, means of tunnel maintenance, emergency scenarios, applied/assumed basic boundary conditions (geological conditions, train data, maintenance procedures), interfering contracts etc. This was in order to dene clear borderlines for the tunnel ventilation contract, based on which the functional accountability could be dened and agreed to. This was deemed to be necessary from a contractor standpoint to avoid risk exposure related to unlimited consequential damage. The prerequisite for the bid was that it be based on technical data and scenarios as dened in the clients conceptual specication. It would accordingly be necessary to base the proposal on the assumption that the clients reference ventilation would perform satisfactorily for all modes of operation and meteorological conditions. This was to be validated in a detailed tunnel ventilation system review by the supplier, however, only after the signing of the full contract. An extensive technical document therefore was prepared where all system features were described and quantied based on the clients conceptual design. Comments and questions on this design concept were given and limitations identied, so as to clarify a number of issues of type boundary conditions, etc., and to dene the contractual borders in terms of accountabilities for contractor and client/user. Fundamental deciencies in the conceptual design would be requested to form the basis for additional investigations falling outside the scope of the proposal (extension/limitation of contract/scope of work). The potential contractor might, when rst presenting this approach, appear to the client as taking a highly protective and defensive approach. However, after a thorough review, this approach turned out to be a valuable tool in the clients understanding of the system functions and overall risk exposure while at the same time giving a good basis to his evaluation of different competing contractors approaches to the functional specication. A number of parameters and data were identied where an intermediate freeze at the commencement of the preliminary detailed design would be required. Therefore, immediately after receiving an instruction to proceed with

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the design work, a data requirements document would be produced. This would include, but not be limited to the following: Tunnel geometry Tunnel lining temperatures Distribution and nature of equipment within the tunnel together with likely heat generation Water ingress and wetted surface areas Tunnel surface roughness (including type of trackwork, linings, walkways, etc.) Methane ingress Train details (including geometry, performance, etc.) Heat transfer to the train structure Diesel vehicle details (including emissions, usage, etc.) Train operations (including speed proles, frequency, headways, etc.) Maintenance operations (including duration and location of activities, pollutant generating procedures used, etc.) Emergency procedures (including egress and access arrangements, evacuation times, etc.) Miscellaneous details (including door leakage parameters, air lock operation and leakage parameters, etc.) Each identied item of information would be accompanied by details of the source, responsible authority and any pertinent comments regarding the condence with which it might be used. This document would be continually updated until the commencement of the nal detailed design. The specication also advised that a test tunnel would be available at the time of contract. Immediately after contract three main tests would be performed, serving as a basis for the design work: Aerodynamic Climatic/heat transfer Smoke spread At the preliminary design stage a computer model of the system was to be developed to investigate the ventilation of the underground system during normal, maintenance and emergency operations. At the nal detail design stage the computer model would be revisited to incorporate the latest interface information and further develop the analysis in critical areas. Responsibilities The proposal was structured to include the full detailed tunnel ventilation design and supply based on the conceptual design made by the client. The system-wide analysis and the local ventilation system analysis were planned within the fan manufacturers
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scope of supply based on a consortium or sub-supplier arrangement with a qualied institute or consultant agency. Through close cooperation, already at bidding stage the system design responsibilities were analyzed and dened. The risk review and design accountability were reviewed with the client at bidding stage. This dened the limitations of the system and related installed equipment and identied potential tradeoffs to be made (for instance, related to train operations and service/maintenance).

Implications
The development of tunnel ventilation systems follows the main steps applied in SE: 1. Requirements analysis based on objectives and stakeholders 2. Functional denition based on requirements 3. Physical denition/optional system architectures based on functions with potential tradeoffs 4. Denition of system model 5. Design validation The system functions are to be translated into requirements for subsystems,components,subcomponents, and parts. There is an important area where competences by system design specialists and component design specialists overlap. By imposing a functions-based specication and a conceptual design as a frameworkand by inviting contractors with component/equipment design specialists to interpret, comment, and propose options and tradeoffsthe overall system design will benet, accountabilities will become clear, and the overall risk and risk accountabilities will be better understood and reduced. The integrated product/system accountability type of contract gives more room for a creative functional analysis and a qualied risk evaluation related to system functions combined with equipment performance than the traditional type of strictly separated product/ system contracts.

References
Karlsson, Anders. 2005. Coping with legacy, complexity and change of paradigmA case study. Proceedings CSER 2005, March 23-25, Hoboken, New Jersey. Kossiakoff, Alexander, and William N. Sweet. 2003. Systems engineering, principles and practice. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Sheard A.G. 2005. Emergency ventilation for vehicular, rail and metro tunnels. Paper presented for Congress on Safety Innovation Criteria Inside Tunnels, in Gijon Spain.

Biography
Hkan Bard, born in 1946 in Sweden, holds a M.Sc. in mechanical engineering (1971) and a Ph.D. in turbo machines (1980) from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. From 1971 to 2003 Bard held different positions at the Flkt/ABB Flkt/ FlktWoods companies, such as Technical Director of industrial fans and Vice President of tunnel ventilation. In 2003 he joined Vxj University, School of Technology and Design. At present, within a cooperation agreement between Stevens Institute of Technology and Vxj University, he introduces systems engineering at the Masters level in the mechanical engineering program while also developing the cooperation on a research basis between the university and the heavy vehicles industry within the southeast region of Sweden.

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