TY - GEN
T1 - Coupled numerical simulation of fire in tunnel
AU - Pesavento, F.
AU - Pachera, M.
AU - Schrefler, B. A.
AU - Gawin, D.
AU - Witek, A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Author(s).
PY - 2018/1/5
Y1 - 2018/1/5
N2 - In this work, a coupling strategy for the analysis of a tunnel under fire is presented. This strategy consists in a "one-way" coupling between a tool considering the computational fluid dynamics and radiation with a model treating concrete as a multiphase porous material exposed to high temperature. This global approach allows for taking into account in a realistic manner the behavior of the "system tunnel", composed of the fluid and the solid domain (i.e. the concrete structures), from the fire onset, its development and propagation to the response of the structure. The thermal loads as well as the moisture exchange between the structure surface and the environment are calculated by means of computational fluid dynamics. These set of data are passed in an automatic way to the numerical tool implementing a model based on Multiphase Porous Media Mechanics. Thanks to this strategy the structural verification is no longer based on the standard fire curves commonly used in the engineering practice, but it is directly related to a realistic fire scenario. To show the capability of this strategy some numerical simulations of a fire in the Brenner Base Tunnel, under construction between Italy and Austria, is presented. The numerical simulations show the effects of a more realistic distribution of the thermal loads with respect to the ones obtained by using the standard fire curves. Moreover, it is possible to highlight how the localized thermal load generates a non-uniform pressure rise in the material, which results in an increase of the structure stress state and of the spalling risk. Spalling is likely the most dangerous collapse mechanism for a concrete structure. This coupling approach still represents a "one way" strategy, i.e. realized without considering explicitly the mass and energy exchange from the structure to the fluid through the interface. This results in an approximation, but from physical point of view the current form of the solid-fluid coupling is considered sufficiently accurate in this first phase of the research.
AB - In this work, a coupling strategy for the analysis of a tunnel under fire is presented. This strategy consists in a "one-way" coupling between a tool considering the computational fluid dynamics and radiation with a model treating concrete as a multiphase porous material exposed to high temperature. This global approach allows for taking into account in a realistic manner the behavior of the "system tunnel", composed of the fluid and the solid domain (i.e. the concrete structures), from the fire onset, its development and propagation to the response of the structure. The thermal loads as well as the moisture exchange between the structure surface and the environment are calculated by means of computational fluid dynamics. These set of data are passed in an automatic way to the numerical tool implementing a model based on Multiphase Porous Media Mechanics. Thanks to this strategy the structural verification is no longer based on the standard fire curves commonly used in the engineering practice, but it is directly related to a realistic fire scenario. To show the capability of this strategy some numerical simulations of a fire in the Brenner Base Tunnel, under construction between Italy and Austria, is presented. The numerical simulations show the effects of a more realistic distribution of the thermal loads with respect to the ones obtained by using the standard fire curves. Moreover, it is possible to highlight how the localized thermal load generates a non-uniform pressure rise in the material, which results in an increase of the structure stress state and of the spalling risk. Spalling is likely the most dangerous collapse mechanism for a concrete structure. This coupling approach still represents a "one way" strategy, i.e. realized without considering explicitly the mass and energy exchange from the structure to the fluid through the interface. This results in an approximation, but from physical point of view the current form of the solid-fluid coupling is considered sufficiently accurate in this first phase of the research.
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U2 - 10.1063/1.5019085
DO - 10.1063/1.5019085
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85041033000
T3 - AIP Conference Proceedings
BT - Computer Methods in Mechanics, CMM 2017
A2 - Burczynski, Tadeusz
A2 - Latalski, Jaroslaw
A2 - Borowa, Ewa-Blazik
A2 - Podgorski, Jerzy
A2 - Bec, Jaroslaw
A2 - Kuczma, Mieczyslaw
A2 - Warminski, Jerzy
PB - American Institute of Physics Inc.
T2 - 22nd International Conference on Computer Methods in Mechanics, CMM 2017
Y2 - 13 September 2017 through 16 September 2017
ER -