Tunnels | Fire and life safety

Tunnel
fire and
life safety
Designing with people in mind
2 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety

Tunnel
visionaries
Turning a tunnel into a safe,
functioning transport route
can take a lot of sophisticated
and costly technology.
But should the future of fire
and life safety lie less in
ever-smarter, more-powerful
equipment and more in
exploring synergies between
tunnel systems to provide a
cost-effective, holistic solution
that meets the specific needs
and requirements of a tunnel?
Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 3
Interrogating and using data on risk, hazards, changing
traffic patterns, and vehicle engine types – even
human behavior — could allow us to tailor solutions
for each tunnel. This is now a realistic alternative to
the conventional approach of automatically selecting
a highly expensive, worst-case scenario smoke control
and/or fire suppression system for every tunnel.
Valuable opportunities to optimize designs exist right
from the beginning. Our fire and life safety engineers
connect with colleagues working in areas such as
acoustics (minimizing the noise impact of our ventilation
systems) and architecture (so we can seamlessly
integrate safety systems into structures, or even use
architectural features to assist smoke control).
Tunnels built today must perform for decades to come.
That involves innovating to create the truly state-of-the-art,
sustainable tunnels of tomorrow. Current systems tend
to be very costly and disruptive to install and maintain.
Sustainability means we must look for better solutions.
Whatever this work is called — fire engineering
and tunnel M&E systems (UK), tunnel systems
(Australia), or fire and life safety (US) — it’s an
essential part of ensuring safety underground.
Considering the future of tunnel fire and life safety
offers much food for thought. And with our corporate
vision of opening opportunities with connected
thinking, we can certainly offer a rich diet of ideas.
4 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety

Remove, When fire takes hold, what’s

restrict,
your priority? Extinguish the
fire or clear the smoke? If your
house was on fire, putting it

or both? out would take precedence.

But tunnels are different.

Underground, smoke rather than heat is the potential

killer, but there’s a close relationship between the
two. Heat determines how smoke behaves. It drives
smoke, and that drive can be strong. It makes the
smoke move quickly — so fast, in fact, that you may
not be able to outrun it. That’s why tunnel fire and life
safety design usually prioritizes smoke control.

That’s particularly the case in rail tunnels, especially

for networks that use electric trains, where no fuel
is present. And modern trains are built to be fire-
resistant, so there’s less reason for sprinkler systems.

But road tunnels — which carry vehicles and

trucks transporting flammable materials — need
a different approach. In a rail tunnel the primary
concern is ventilation. In a road tunnel, ventilation
is still crucial, but so is fire suppression.

So, how are smoke control and fire suppression carried

out? The usual answer is large fans and lots of water.
But the design requires considerable expertise.

Removing the smoke
Shorter tunnels with traffic management often use
longitudinal, or push-pull, ventilation. Jet fans in the
tunnel, or axial fans in ventilation shafts, pull smoke
along the tunnel and vent it outside. If the fans don’t
work hard enough, the smoke will start backlayering
and head against the direction of airflow.
“In Hong Kong,” as commercial manager and
mechanical engineer Steve Parrish points out, “semi-
transverse systems are typical.” Here, a duct fitted
with dampers runs the length of the tunnel. Axial fans
housed in external ventilation buildings supply fresh
air along the duct during normal operations. In the
event of a fire, the fans are reversed and the dampers
in the duct nearest the fire open, allowing the fans
to remove the smoke from the tunnel roadway.
“Hong Kong always has traffic congestion,” says Steve.
“If we had a push-pull system, traffic downstream of a fire
would get caught in the smoke. In less-busy tunnels,
vehicles downstream of a fire can just drive away;
but that’s not an option in a traffic jam.”
Distributed smoke extraction, using a full-length duct
and dampers, is widely used in Australia. “In Victoria,
it’s typically a project requirement as emergency services
need smoke-free access to an incident from both
directions,” Brisbane-based principal tunnel systems
Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 5
engineer Peter Gehrke tells us. “But in New South Wales,
projects require only one direction of approach be kept
smoke-free, so longitudinal systems can be used.”
Longitudinal systems are cheaper to install, allowing
more capacity to be added and fires of up to 100
megawatts — think a heavy truck fire — to be tackled.
Semi-transverse and transverse systems can typically
manage fires up to 30 megawatts, so are often
combined with deluge/mist fire suppression systems.
Restricting the fire
How about dealing with the fire itself? Tunnels can be
protected using passive fire protection, which is a legal
requirement in the US and included in all tunnel designs
there. And water-based fire suppression can be installed
to restrain fire growth until the firefighters arrive.
“Deluge systems are fitted as standard in Australian
road tunnels, where they’ve been used for many
years,” says Peter.
In other countries, adoption of water-based fire
suppression has been more cautious. “Suppression
limits peak fire size, so ventilation fans don’t have to be
so big,” says Steve. “But water destratifies smoke, which
can make an emergency situation more dangerous by
reducing visibility. That’s because destratified smoke
curls and billows around the tunnel space rather
than being drawn out at the crown of the tunnel.”
What about the future?
Ultimately, there’s no fixed formula when it comes to
deciding if low smoke control, fire suppression, or both
are used. But will it be done differently in the future?
Intelligently analyzing the true risk of a fire — will help
make more cost-effective, sustainable recommendations
on the extent and capacity of the systems to be fitted.
When we look holistically at risk, and learn more about
data and probability, we aim to quantify risk far better.
6 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety
Push the
envelope to
design for
the real risk
Fact: tunnels are the safest parts
of our road networks. Junctions,
undivided highways, and
intersections all experience far
more incidents. And while road
tunnels are usually full of safety
equipment, it’s rarely needed.
When tunnel fires happen, they can have tragic
consequences. We may understand their rarity,
but most of us still want to feel that the tunnel
we’re using is as safe as possible. We can’t avoid
asking, “What if it happens tomorrow?”
So why not always design for ultimate safety?
Get smart
Designing tunnel systems for the largest conceivable
fire is very expensive. Big fans are expensive and have
large energy demands. To design for the absolute worst-
case event is not consistent with sustainability goals:
it uses a lot of concrete and steel, and a lot of energy
over the life of the tunnel. You could save millions in
construction and operational costs if you design for
a 2-megawatt fire rather than a 20-megawatt one.
“We need to get smarter,” says Iain Bowman, deputy
practice leader for fire and life safety. “Instead of
automatically opting for a one-size-fits-all, worst-case
scenario design, it makes sense to see tunnels and
their users as a hybrid system. Current control systems
are often based on tunnel length, but we should be

thinking holistically about what kind of traffic will
pass through a tunnel, and at what density, as that
has implications for potential fire loading, evacuation
times, emergency services access, and overall risk.
We need a tool that allows us to establish the true
extent of what’s needed in any given tunnel.”
A gap to fill
Clearly, lives must not be put at risk simply to save
money. But short, low-use tunnels just may not need
to have everything included in the design to achieve
the desired level of safety. Careful analysis of the
real risk of a large fire could show that installing a fire
suppression system is excessive, and may demonstrate
that the tunnel can meet safety requirements even
without designing for the largest potential fire.
“We need to become more sophisticated in the way
we employ quantification of risk,” says Iain. “But that’s
not the situation right now. We know what should be
done but there’s still a gap between our knowledge
and best practice, and best practice has to catch up.”
Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 7
Ultimately, it’s client requirements and public perception
that drive the decision. Our duty is to give clients a
clear analysis of the risk, including the balance between
different fire suppression and smoke extraction systems.
Overspending is all too possible if risk isn’t robustly
analyzed or an inflexible approach to design is adopted.
Pushing forward
As severe tunnel fires are rare, there’s a growing
sense in the fire and life safety sector that we need
to get smarter in our approach, which means more
data analysis and less check-the-box thinking.
Ironically, the risk tools Iain would like to see
developed are still some way off — partly because
fatal tunnel fires are, fortunately, so uncommon.
This means available data is scarce.
“But the risk-informed approach is the future,” says
Iain. “It’s rewarding to be pushing the science forward.
What we’re doing goes way beyond traditional hazard
analysis into data, statistics, and educating clients and
stakeholders about the realities of dealing with risk.”
8 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety

Helping future
commuters
keep their cool

In a time of largely man-made
climatic upheaval, are we
doing enough to build energy-
efficient tunnels that will still be
in use 80 years from now?
Futureproofing metros
Older metro networks are
already uncomfortably
hot. As populations grow
and train control systems
become more sophisticated,
trains will run at closer
intervals. More trains will
raise tunnel temperatures
even further. How hot will
it get in future decades?
As the lead ventilation
design engineer on
London’s Elizabeth Line
(aka Crossrail), mechanical
engineer David Eckford
has thought more than
most about how we can
help keep future tunnels
cool and comfortable.
“Where we can, we’re using
energy-saving passive
ventilation measures, such
as draft relief shafts,” says
David. “These provide
connections between the
tunnels and atmosphere,
allowing train-induced
airflows to push warm
tunnel air out ahead of
the trains and draw in
cooler air behind.”
We’ve also evaluated
techniques to harness
the benefits of naturally
cool groundwater — as at
London Underground’s
Victoria Station — to
provide cooling to air
handling units serving the
Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 9
passengers, or to extract
energy from the warm walls
of the running tunnels to
provide low-grade heat, via
heat pumps, for export to
aboveground buildings.
In tropical climates, modern
city metros use platform
screen doors, which can
reduce energy consumption
by separating cooled
passenger spaces from
the warmer tunnels. But
these are now increasingly
being used in temperate
climates — including the
Elizabeth Line — and
we use our analysis
techniques to find the
optimum balance between
passive and active cooling
systems in each different
underground system.
Cool ideas need careful
thought often means simplicity.
Road tunnel ventilation
is usually designed to
cope with emissions
from internal combustion
engines. But electric and
hybrid cars are already
commonplace, and their
use will certainly increase,
so future emission levels
in road tunnels will drop.
Does this mean we could
cut energy use by moving
from forced to passive
ventilation in road tunnels?
Perhaps. But could we
also cut down on fire
suppression systems,
given the smaller size of
fires likely to occur?
“Unfortunately, it’s not that
easy,” says our practice
leader for fire and life
safety, Norris Harvey.
“A future without fossil fuels
could mean an increase in
fuel cells in cars, and these
currently contain highly
flammable hydrogen. We’re
not saying systems couldn’t
possibly be rationalized in
the future, but safety must
always remain paramount.”
Simplicity itself
The future is uncertain:
but it’s important, and
encouraging, to remember
that sustainability very
Simple solutions can be
more resilient, minimizing
the need for future
repair, replacement, and
maintenance, and saving on
embodied carbon and cost.
10 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety
Project
Lytle Tunnel rehabilitation
Client
Ohio Department of Transportation
Location
Cincinnati, Ohio
Expertise
Fire and life safety, tunnel
ventilation, lighting, fire protection,
structural, HVAC, intelligent
transport systems, roadway, traffic,
power distribution and SCADA
Revamp extends life
of key road tunnel
Opportunity
Interstate Highway 71 passes beneath downtown
Cincinnati’s Lytle Park through a cut-and-cover
tunnel. The Lytle Tunnel opened in 1970 and
hosts six lanes across three tubes. More than
70,000 vehicles pass through it each day.
The lighting and fire and life safety systems
did not meet the latest design standards and
were in urgent need of replacement.
Solution
We designed the refurbishment and placed new
equipment and services in an underground facility that
does not change the appearance of the park or the
surrounding historic district. New construction also
respected the park and coordinated with all aboveground
interfaces, such as ventilation gratings and access hatches.
The new underground ventilation building houses three
axial fans 8 feet (2.4 meters) in diameter, and includes
electrical installations for power distribution, tunnel
lighting, and SCADA systems. A sound damping system
was added to the walls of the fan chamber, and fan sound
attenuation minimizes noise impacts from the fans to
the park above and the nearby Taft Museum of Art.
Linear heat detection automatically activates the
tunnel ventilation system in the event of a fire. Carbon
monoxide sensors activate the system in the event of
high emission levels. The tunnel standpipe/fire main
was replaced and the pump station rehabilitated. A
new long-life LED tunnel lighting system replaced
the original high-pressure sodium lamps.
Outcome
Our designs have made the Lytle Tunnel safe for
future decades of use without making dramatic
changes to the tunnel itself or how it is operated.
 Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 11

New lease of life for

historic rail tunnel

Solution
We designed a
temporary ventilation
system for the tunnel
and provided our client
with the commissioning
test procedure.
Opportunity Outcome
An axial fan was added to
Underneath Montreal’s The temporary ventilation
the existing ventilation shaft,
Mount Royal, the hill that system was operational
which supplies enough
gave the city its name, runs at the opening of the
air to safely allow use of
a century-old rail tunnel. Mascouche line, which
dual-mode locomotives
The 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) now carries around 5,000
throughout the tunnel. The
Mount Royal tunnel links passengers every weekday.
fan can be incorporated
Central Station to the This figure is predicted to
into the permanent
suburbs of Deux-Montagnes grow to 11,000 by 2019.
ventilation system solution.
and Mascouche. Every day,
its two rail lines transport
Using Mott Tunnels — our
around 35,000 people.
in-house tunnel fire and
smoke modeling software
The tunnel was designed
— we assessed how the
for electric trains and,
permanent ventilation
beyond a single passive
design would cope under Project
ventilation shaft, it was
normal and degraded Mount Royal Tunnel ventilation
constructed without active
modes, such as a fan being
ventilation or fire and Client
out of service. Modeling
smoke control systems. Agence Métropolitaine
the potential outcomes of de Transport (AMT)
But the Mascouche line,
a fire while the system is
opened in 2014, carries
degraded allows tunnel Location
dual-mode locomotives,
operators to make better Montreal, Quebec
requiring additional
operational decisions:
ventilation clear diesel Expertise
from keeping the tunnel
fumes from the tunnel. Ventilation engineering
open but running fewer
trains to closing it if the
risk is deemed too great.
12 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety

Clearing the route for extra capacity

Opportunity
The 18.6-mile (30-kilometer) Chesapeake Bay Bridge-
Tunnel in Virginia includes two tunnels: the Thimble Shoal
Tunnel and Chesapeake Tunnel. But these tunnels create
bottlenecks, forcing four lanes on the causeway into two.

So, the existing Thimble Shoal tunnel is being given a

partner — a parallel bored tunnel. This new tunnel will
be 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long, 40 feet (12.2 meters) in
diameter, and up to 131 feet (40 meters) under water. When
completed, the new tunnel will provide two lanes of traffic,
doubling capacity. Since more than 4 million vehicles use
the crossing every year, robust fire and life safety is critical.

Project
Thimble Shoal parallel tunnel

Location
Virginia

Client
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

Expertise
Civil, geotechnical, coastal,
highway, tunnel, mechanical,
fire and life safety, electrical,
and architectural engineering
 Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 13

Solution
The parallel tunnel includes an egress corridor along
its entire length, a deluge system, jet fans, and fire
standpipe/fire main. Traffic control, tunnel lighting,
closed-circuit television, linear heat detection, call
boxes, and fire extinguishers are also available along
the length of the tunnel. All systems report back to
the tunnel control room via a SCADA system.

The tunnel ventilation system features seven banks of

jet fans in the tunnel portals, five grouped near the exit
portal and two near the entrance portal. This arrangement
reduces costs by reducing power and control cable runs.
It also maximizes the distance between operating jet fans
and the fire, improving fan performance and effectiveness.

A single pipe provides water to both the deluge system

and the tunnel fire department connections. A low-profile
deluge valve cabinet allows reductions in tunnel cross-
section while providing ease of access for maintenance.

Outcome
Our rigorously tested ventilation design was
adopted, construction of the new tunnel started in
2017, and it’s due to open in 2022. The extra traffic
lanes will make the crossing faster and safer.
14 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety

Linking programs to
build a better connector

Opportunity Outcome
The Regional Connector is the latest addition to the Our sophisticated digital
Los Angeles rail network. When it opens in 2021, this modeling offered visual
light rail line will link the city’s Gold Line to the Blue assurance to our client
Line and the Expo Line via 2 miles (3 kilometers) that our fire and life safety
of twin bore tunnel and three new stations. design was effective. Our
industry-first linking of BIM,
As the project’s lead designer, we inherited a concept pedestrian modeling, and
design that we thought could be greatly improved. CFD showed that smaller
stations would not present
Solution a fire risk and that our
Making the ventilation systems at the stations more design allowed people
efficient allowed us to optimize the project footprint while on the train to get to a
remaining confident it would be safe in the event of a fire. smoke-free point of safety.
Project
Regional Connector
Transit Corridor
Location
Los Angeles, California
Client
Regional Connector Constructors
(RCC) — Skanska / Taylor Bros JV
Expertise
Bid phase, final design, and design
support during construction

This was especially the case at the Alameda Wye We acted as BIM
crossover, which has a unique geometric arrangement. ambassadors throughout
We weren’t sure how smoke would behave there, the project, establishing
especially as multiple trains will pass through the BIM workflows and holding
junction with the potential for bottlenecks. regular BIM coordination
meetings with the client and
We coupled our computational fluid dynamics (CFD) contractor. The Regional
programs with our in-house passenger behavior Connector will enable
modeling software STEPS to assess how long it passengers to travel from
would take passengers to reach a place of safety. Pasadena to Long Beach or
By importing Building Information Modeling (BIM) from Santa Monica to East
models of the station and tunnels — created using Los Angeles without having
Revit — into a CFD program, we got results fast. to change trains, saving up
to 20 minutes on journey
times. Around 88,000
people a day are expected
to use it when it opens.

Safety goals drive
station design
Opportunity
As part of the first phase
of Doha Metro — Qatar’s
first metro network —
we’re providing full
design services for two
major stations: Education
City and Msheireb, 49
feet (15 meters) and
98 feet (30 meters)
underground respectively.
Phase one will be tested
to its limits when Qatar
hosts the 2022 FIFA World
Cup. Education City will
Project
Doha major stations
be connected to a World
Cup stadium, so it will be
Location extremely busy. Msheireb is
Qatar a core interchange station
where three sub-surface
Client lines meet. Both stations
Qatar Rail
will include multiple retail
Expertise units, bringing the possibility
Underground station fire of a larger fire risk.
engineering design
Qatari standards require
active fire suppression
and smoke control in all
public buildings, so fire
and life safety was crucial
Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 15
to station design. And
Qatar Rail wanted the
station architecture to
reflect the local heritage.
Solution
Building Information
Modeling (BIM) was used
to model every aspect of
the stations. We designed
higher-capacity smoke
extraction for retail areas
and added shutters,
curtains, and barriers to
control the spread of smoke
and fire. Water sprinklers
will be placed in public
areas and gaseous fire
suppression installed in
plant and electrical rooms
to satisfy client and local
civil defense requirements.
Both stations feature a
vaulted ceiling design,
inspired by traditional
Bedouin tents. Extensive
CFD analysis of smoke
movement was undertaken
to show this would
have no negative effect
on smoke control.
Our analysis of the flow
of people in and out of
the stadium at Education
City showed how fire
safety involves people
management as well as
engineering. Both stations
will have dedicated,
pressurized escape routes
designed so that able-
bodied passengers and
people with disabilities
can quickly reach a point
of safety during a fire, then
move safely outside.
Outcome
Both stations received
approval from Qatari
Civil Defence for their
fire safety design. Our
work on these stations
contributed to our local
team winning the Future
Cities 2016 BIM Award.
16 I Mott MacDonald I Tunnel fire and life safety
 Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 17

Breathing easy on Europe’s

largest infrastructure project

Project
Elizabeth Line (Crossrail)

Location
UK

Client
Crossrail Ltd.
Expertise
Civil, structural, architectural,
ventilation, and mechanical and
electrical engineering, construction
planning, passenger and transport
modeling rail safety assurance
Opportunity
The $20 billion Elizabeth Line, as Crossrail will
be known publicly, runs from Reading in the west
beneath London to Shenfield in the east, with
branches to Heathrow Airport and Abbey Wood.
A major part of the route runs through 14 miles (23
kilometers) of twin-bore tunnel linking eight new stations
beneath the capital. Ventilation for the permanent tunnels
and during construction required significant space and had
program implications. Our design teams were challenged
to carry out careful analysis that could help minimize costs.

Solution
Using our extensive project knowledge and design
tools, such as our in-house ventilation analysis software
Mott Tunnels, we determined the optimum arrangement
of ventilation fans during future passenger service
operations. This required considering many different
normal and abnormal train service operating patterns.

In addition, tunnel configurations and installation activities

change rapidly during construction: we’ve provided the
rail systems contractor with a simple spreadsheet tool,
derived from our detailed ventilation analysis, that enables
them to identify the optimum ventilation configuration as
installation activities change on a daily or weekly basis.

Outcome
We helped our client to realize substantial savings in the
permanent tunnel infrastructure by demonstrating that
the Elizabeth Line could be operated safely and efficiently
with a significantly reduced number of ventilation shafts.

During construction, we enabled the contractor to install,

operate, and refine the temporary ventilation systems
as efficiently as possible, helping to maintain progress
on schedule. This collaborative teamwork helped us to
win contractor Costain’s Design Service Award in 2016.
Keeping London’s
traffic flowing
 Tunnel fire and life safety I Mott MacDonald I 19

Project
Blackwall Tunnel northbound
refurbishment

Client
Transport for London (TfL)

Location
UK

Expertise
Detailed engineering design
and site supervision

Opportunity
Last refurbished in 1990, improvements to this 0.9-
mile (1.4-kilometer), single-bore tunnel in central
London were needed to meet the latest tunnel safety
standards and to provide continued safe use. We were
appointed to develop the refurbishment design.

Solution
Our involvement with the tunnel dates back to 1891,
when David Hay, a founding member of Mott, Hay
& Anderson, was appointed as a resident engineer
for its construction. We were also designers for
previous major refurbishments in 1969 and 1990.

We developed detailed designs for this latest

refurbishment of the tunnel, ventilation shaft, and surface
buildings, plus mechanical and electric installations
covering tunnel ventilation and lighting, power distribution
and earthing, fire safety engineering, pumped drainage,
traffic control/communications/information systems, plant
monitoring and control, and ducting/cabling works.

We also provided site supervision and witnessing of factory

acceptance tests (FATs) and site acceptance tests (SATs).

Outcome
The refurbishment was completed more than a year ahead
of schedule and within budget by optimizing the design
for construction, carefully planning activities and traffic
management, and driving strong stakeholder engagement.
Opening opportunities with connected thinking.

For more information, write to

americas@mottmac.com or call 800.832.3272.

mottmac.com