Affiliation:
1. London Bridge Associates Ltd., London SE1 1TY, UK
2. Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, National University of Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
Abstract
Some of the most critical transportation infrastructures are road tunnels. Underground passageways for motorists are provided through this cost-effective engineering solution, which allows for high traffic volumes. A crucial aspect of the operation of road tunnels is fire safety. Risk assessments have been established to ensure the level of safety in tunnels. As the existing quantitative risk analysis (QRA) models are inapplicable to assess the fire risk in UK road tunnels, this paper presents a novel QRA model, named LBAQRAMo, for UK road tunnels. This model consists of two main sections: quantitative frequency analysis, to estimate the frequency of fire incidents via an event tree; and quantitative consequences analysis, to model the consequences of fire incidents. LBAQRAMo covers the risk to tunnel users. The result of the risk analysis is the expected value of the societal risk of the investigated tunnel, presented via F/N curve. Another major result of this model is the estimation of the number of fatalities for each scenario based on the comparison between required safe egress time (RSET) and available safe egress time (ASET). Risk evaluation was carried out by comparison of the tunnel under study with the UK ALARP limit. The operation of the model is demonstrated by its application to the Gibraltar Airport Tunnel as a case study. Simulation of 34 different possible scenarios show that the tunnel is safe for use. The sensitivity of the model to HGV fire incident frequency and basic pre-movement times was studied as well.
Funder
Transdisciplinary Research Grant Scheme
UKM internal
Subject
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Safety Research,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Building and Construction,Forestry
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