Tunnels & Metros

Safety in road tunnels

2000-63 Directive

It describes the measures to be taken for sanitary ventilation and smoke exhaust in a tunnel. It recommends a heat resistance test for the smoke dampers, following an accurate protocol:

The splitters and silencers are not specifically called in the directive, but since they are located close to the fans in transversal and semi transversal ventilation, it can be considered that they have to be 200°C for 2hours resistant, or 400°C for 2hours resistant if they are located close to the smoke exhaust dampers.

http://www.vie-publique.fr/documents-vp/circulaire_25-08-2000-1.pdf

The CETU (Center of Tunnel Studies)

In 2003 they edited a ventilation file explaining the different strategies of transversal or longitudinal smoke exhaust processes. It also gives many specifications regarding the sizing of dampers or the calculation of the optimal air flow depending on the situation (sanitary or smoke exhaust ventilation)

http://www.cetu.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/DP_ventilation_cle557d66-3.pdf

Safety in train tunnels

Technical ministerial instruction n°98-300

It describes the measures to be taken for safety in road rails tunnels. A smoke exhaust strategy is mandatory in tunnels located in an urban area and dedicated to public transport as well as in tunnels over 5 000 m long where the transport of hazardous materials is allowed.

http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/spip.php?page=article&id_article=3249

European and international regulations

European Directive 2004/54/CE

It describes the measures to be taken regarding the cooperation between the different security centers of  a trans-European tunnel. It also explains the necessity of installing massive extraction dampers in bidirectional trans-European tunnels over 3 000 m long.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:167:0039:0091:FR:PDF

World Road association

The WRA is an organization that publishes and gathers different elements regarding fire safety in tunnel throughout the world, be it on heat regulation, pressure regulation or leakage rates. Its activity is close to the CETU’s and their files also contain data on sizing and calculation.

http://tunnels.piarc.org/fr/equipements-et-systemes/ventilation.htm

BS476-20

The 20th article of the British Standard applies to fire and smoke dampers. The protocol is composed of:

An integrity test  with a closed damper following the ISO 834 curve (curve T°/time)
An fire tightness test :  –     No flames shall go through the damper during the test

A rod of more than 6 mm in translation of more than 250 mm through the damper shall not go through it
A 21 mm rod shall not go through the center of the damper

UL555S

The UL555S (Underwritters Laboratories) specifically describes the necessary test on a smoke damper so that it can be used in the USA or in any other country that uses this regulation. Its requirements cover smoke dampers used in Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC). The tests are always operated on 3 dampers (max height/max width, min height/max width, max height/min width).

The tests on the smoke dampers bears on different criteria:

Operability: 100 000 operating cycles from opened to closed via all the intermediate positions of the blades.
Heat resistance : beginning at a temperature of 121C° with a rise of 56°C every 30minutes in closed position
The leakage rate is measured by applying heavy water pressure (from 1.1kPa to 3.1Pa) on the damper. It is then evaluated from class 1 to 3 depending on the results.

Acoustic regulation

Neighboring noise, 2006-1099 directive, August, 31 2006

It describes the regulations that tunnel’s equipments are subject to when they are near an inhabited area. The maximum values for emerging sounds are 5dBA by day and 3dBA by night.

http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000000459023&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id