Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72

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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tust

Prediction of backlayering length and critical velocity in metro tunnel

fires
Miao-cheng Weng a,b,c, Xin-ling Lu a, Fang Liu a,b,c,⇑, Xiang-peng Shi a, Long-xing Yu a
a
Faculty of Urban Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China
b
Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400045, PR China
c
National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings, Chongqing 400045, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper proposes two prediction models for backlayering length and critical velocity in metro tunnel
Received 21 December 2013 fires, in which the characteristic hydraulic diameter of the tunnel H  was introduced to describe geomet-
Received in revised form 28 October 2014 rical characteristic of the tunnel section. The dimensional analysis method was adopted to deduce the
Accepted 30 December 2014
dimensional expressions of backlayering length and critical velocity. In addition, CFD simulations were
Available online 21 January 2015
conducted in nine tunnels with different cross sectional shapes by code of FDS 5.5. Meanwhile, a 1/10
scale model tunnel was built to provide a verification by carrying out small scale experiments. The exper-
Keywords:
iment result shows a good agreement to the predicted values from the CFD simulation results. Then two
Tunnel fire
CFD simulation
prediction models of backlayering length and critical velocity were obtained from the dimensional
Small-scale model experiment expressions and the CFD simulation results. Moreover, the comparison of the prediction for the backlay-
Critical velocity ering length indicates that the prediction model by Li et al. is lower than the CFD prediction model. And
Backlayering length the critical velocity of the Wu & Barkar model are also underestimated.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction length of the reversed smoke front along the upstream direction
to the fire source when the ventilation velocity is lower than the
Several tunnel fire accidents have occurred in the past decades, critical velocity.
such as the Mont Blanc tunnel fire (1999) in France–Italy (Abraham Thomas (1968) proposed an equation to predict the critical
and Dérobert, 2003), Tauern tunnel fire (1999) in Austria Leitner, velocity based on the theory of Froude number.
2001, Kaprun tunnel fire (2000) in Austria Meyer, 2003, Gotthard  1=3
Tunnel fire (2001) in Switzerland, Daegu metro fire (2003) in South gQ 0
Vc ¼ k ð1Þ
Korea (Hong, 2004), Viamala tunnel fire (2006) in Switzerland, and q0 C p T f
Burnley tunnel fire (2007) in Austria Beard, 2009; Han and Lee, where Vc is the critical ventilation velocity (m/s), Q0 is convective
2009. heat release rate per unit width of the tunnel (W/m), g is the accel-
Of the hundreds of people dead in these tunnel fires, 85% of eration of gravity (m/s2), q0 is the ambient air density (kg/m3), Cp is
them were killed by the fire smoke. Hence, if fire smoke is under the specific heat capacity of air (J/(kg K)), k is a constant and Tf is the
control in tunnel fires, it can help people to evacuate to a safe area temperature of hot layer (K). The value of k was determined from
and reduce casualties. As a consequence, the longitudinal ventila- suitable experiments.
tion design has been a focus issue in tunnel safety engineering. Hinkley (1970) used the same theory as Thomas to derive a for-
Moreover, the critical velocity and the backlayering length in the mula for calculating the velocity of hot gases travelling along the
tunnel fires are the two important parameters in longitudinal ven- roof of a shopping mall. Based on Hinkleys theory, Heselden
tilation design, and have been investigated by many researchers (1978) derived another formula for calculating the critical ventila-
(Roh et al., 2007; Li et al., 2010). tion velocity in tunnel fire.
The critical velocity is the minimum longitudinal ventilation
" #1=3
velocity to prevent reverse flow of smoke from the fire to the gQT f
upstream direction in the tunnel. The backlayering length is the V c ¼ CK ð2Þ
C p q0 T 20 W

⇑ Corresponding author at: Faculty of Urban Construction and Environmental where Q is heat release rate (W), T0 is the ambient temperature (K),
Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China. Tf is the temperature of hot layer (K), and W is the tunnel width (m).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2014.12.010
0886-7798/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72 65

Both the value of C and K are constants, were obtained from a set of ering length in case of fire in a longitudinally ventilated tunnel. He
limited experiments in a disused rail tunnel. correlated the dimensionless backlayering length with a Froude
Kennedy (Danziger and Kennedy, 1982; Kennedy and Parsons, number. The proposed relation can be expressed as follows:
1996) derived a semi-empirically equation to calculate the critical
 l gHQ
velocity by relating the temperature rise of the hot gases from a l ¼ / ð7Þ
H q0 T f cp V 3 A
fire to the convective heat release rate from the fire.
 1=3 where V is the ventilation velocity, and l is the backlayering length.
gHQ
V c ¼ kg k ð3Þ Li et al. also proposed prediction models of the backlayering
q0 C p AT f
length in tunnel fires based on experimental result and theoretical
analysis. The proposed prediction model can be expressed as
Q
Tf ¼ þ T0 follows:
q0 C p AV c (  
 18:5 ln 0:81Q 1=3 =V  Q  6 0:15
where Vc is the critical ventilation velocity (m/s), Q is heat release l ¼ ð8Þ
rate (W), H is the tunnel height (m), q0 is the ambient air density 18:5ð0:43=V  Þ Q  > 0:15
(kg/m3), Cp is the specific heat capacity of air (J/(kg K)), Tf is the tem-
Generally, the backlayering length is not only affected by the
perature of hot layer (K), A is the cross-sectional area of the tunnel
fire HRR, but also affected by the longitudinal ventilation velocity.
(m2) and kg is a grade correction factor, to be applied for fires in
It involves many other factors, such as tunnel slope and sectional
sloping tunnels. The value of k is set to 0.61.
geometry. Among those, the fire HRR and the longitudinal ventila-
In 1993, Bettis et al. (1993, 1994) carried out full-scale model
tion velocity were the greatest impact on the backlayering length.
experiments in a tunnel to study the smoke movement. The result
The critical velocity involves many factors, such as fire scale,
indicated that the critical velocity was proportional to the one
tunnel slope, sectional geometry and so forth. Among those, the
third power of the heat release rate (HRR) under the conditions
fire scale has the greatest impact on the critical velocity. Critical
of small and mid-scale HRRs. However, it was nearly independent
velocity has been a focus of research of scholars from various
of the HRR under the conditions of large-scale HRRs. The conclu-
countries.
sion was verified by Oka and Atkinson (1995), who carried out
The critical velocity has a decisive influence on smoke backflow
small-scale model experiments in a 1/10th tunnel to study the
diffusion range. Also, fire heat release rate and the choice of turbu-
smoke movement. A prediction model of the critical velocity was
lence model in numerical simulation have greater impact.
proposed, which presented the relationship between the dimen-
In this paper, the theoretical model of the smoke backlayering
sionless HRR Q⁄ and dimensionless critical ventilation velocity V⁄.
( length is determined by the dimensional analysis method. Through
 Q  1=3 numerical simulation analysis, characteristics of smoke flow inside
kv Q  6 0:12
V ¼ 0:12 ð4Þ the tunnel are studied in different longitudinal ventilation velocity
kv Q  > 0:12
under different conditions. Then, a prediction model is proposed
where Q  ¼ Q
V ¼ Vc
. for flow backlayering length and critical velocity, and a similar
qa C p T a g 1=2 H5=2 ðgHÞ1=2
model is adopted to test the prediction model.
After that, Atkinson and Wu (1996) proposed a corrected pre-
diction model of the critical velocity based on the prediction model 2. Dimensional analysis
by Oka & Atkinson to account the tunnel slope. The studies were
conducted in a small-scale model tunnel with slope. As a conse- 2.1. Backlayering length
quence, the slope of the tunnel was considered as a modification
factor in the corrected prediction model. Wu and Bakar (2000) car- The tunnel height is one of the important parameters of the
ried out a series of experimental tests in five model tunnels to smoke flow, but the tunnel height does not sufficiently reflect
investigate the effect of tunnel geometry on the critical velocity, the impact of the geometric characteristics of the tunnel to smoke
where the model tunnels had the same heights but different flow. The experimental results carried out by Wu and Bakar (2000)
widths. Likewise, a prediction model between the dimensionless clearly demonstrate that for a tunnel having the same height, the
HRR Q⁄ and dimensionless critical ventilation velocity V⁄ was pro- critical velocity varies with the tunnel width. The tunnel height
posed. But the tunnel height H was replaced by the hydraulic diam- is not suitable as the characteristic length. Therefore a new charac-
 which was defined as the ratio of 4 times the tunnel cross-
eter H, teristic length should be sought. In the work of Ris (1970), the
sectional area to the tunnel perimeter. characteristic length was taken as the mean hydraulic diameter
(  Q  1=3 of the duct. It was considered that the dynamic flow of air inside
0:4 Q   0:20
V ¼ 0:20 ð5Þ the duct was more a function of the mean hydraulic diameter of
0:4 Q  > 0:20 the duct (which also included the effect of duct width), rather than
where Q  ¼ Q Vc
. V ¼ depending solely on the height of the duct. So the present work
1=2
 5=2
qa C p T a g 1=2 H
ðgH Þ proposed to use the characteristic hydraulic diameter of the tunnel,
Li et al. (2010) proposed prediction models of the critical veloc-  to replace the tunnel height, H, as the characteristic length in the
H,
ity in tunnel fires based on experimental results and theoretical dimensionless analysis. The hydraulic diameter of the tunnel, H,  is
analysis. defined as the ratio of 4 times the cross-sectional area to the tunnel
( wetted perimeter.
1=3
 0:81ðQ  Þ Q   0:15 Previous research has shown that the governing parameters for
V ¼ ð6Þ
0:43 Q  > 0:15 the backlayering length in a longitudinally ventilated tunnel are
the heat release rate, longitudinal ventilation velocity, the charac-
where Q  ¼ Q
V ¼ Vc
.
qa C p T a g 1=2 H5=2 ðgHÞ1=2 teristic hydraulic diameter of the tunnel, air density, ambient tem-
The critical velocity in tunnel fires was studied by full-scale perature, thermal capacity of air and gravitational acceleration. The
model experiments and small-scale model experiments, as well relevant physical quantities and their symbols and dimensions are
as studied by computer simulation (Woodburn and Britter, shown in Table 1. Consequently, the backlayering length can be
1996a,b).Thomas gave a simple theoretical analysis of the backlay- expressed as:
66 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72

Table 1
Physical variables influencing backlayering length.

No. Physical quantity Symbol Dimension No. Physical quantity Symbol Dimension
1 Backlayering length L L 5 Air specific heat capacity Cp L2T2H1
2 Heat release rate Q ML2T3 6 Air density qa ML3
3 Ambient temperature Ta H 7 Tunnel hydraulic diameter 
H L
4 Gravitational acceleration g LT2 8 Longitudinal ventilation velocity V LT1

Fig. 1. (a) Meshes in simulation case C. (b) Meshes in simulation cases D.

  2 !3 3
 Q ; V; T a ; q ; g; C p ¼ 0
f L; H; ð9Þ  
a L 4 Q V 5 Q
¼ f ¼ f ð10Þ
According to the relevant criteria of similarity theory 
H qa C p T a g 1=2 H 5=2 g H 1=2 V 3
(Barenblatt, 1996), the dimensionless Eq. (9) can be replaced by
the following equation: where Q  ¼ q Q
 5=2 V ¼ V
.
a Cp T a g
1=2 H  1=2
ðg HÞ
!
L Q 
C p T a gH
f  ; ; 2 ; 2 ¼0 2.2. Longitudinal critical velocity

H qa H V
2 3
V V

Referred to Li et al. (2010), the dimensionless equations can be In a similar way, the governing parameters for longitudinal crit-
simplified as below: ical velocity are the heat release rate, the characteristic hydraulic
 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72 67

Table 2 to simulate tunnel fires (Trelles and Mawhinney, 2010). Therefore

The detail information of the meshes. FDS was adopted as the CFD code in this study.
Tunnel Domain Number of the meshes Mesh size (m)
X Y Z 4X 4Y 4Z 3.1. Meshes
A L 150 15 24 0.30 0.32 0.30
M 400 30 48 0.15 0.16 0.15 During the FDS simulations, it was assumed that the length of
R 150 15 24 0.30 0.32 0.30 the tunnels was 150 m in all the simulation cases. In order to opti-
B L 150 15 20 0.30 0.32 0.32
mize the meshes efficiency in FDS simulations, the whole tunnel
M 400 30 40 0.15 0.16 0.16
R 150 15 20 0.30 0.32 0.32
domain was divided into three continuous domains, the domain
C L 20 100 20 0.30 0.30 0.30 close to the inlet is defined as Right Domain, the domain close to
M 40 600 40 0.15 0.15 0.15 the outlet is defined as Left Domain, and the domain with fire
R 20 100 20 0.30 0.30 0.30 source is defined as Middle Domain, the lengths for the three
D L 150 15 18 0.30 0.32 0.30
domains are 30 m, 30 m and 90 m. Because the parameters varia-
M 400 30 36 0.15 0.16 0.15
R 150 15 18 0.30 0.32 0.30 tion of smoke fire near the fire source is strong, the meshes in
E L 150 15 16 0.30 0.32 0.30 the Middle Domain are refined, the meshes in the other two
M 400 30 32 0.15 0.16 0.15 domains are generalized (Weng et al., 2014).
R 150 15 16 0.30 0.32 0.30 The FDS user’s guide suggests that a non-dimensional expres-
F L 150 15 15 0.30 0.32 0.28
M 400 30 30 0.15 0.16 0.14
sion D⁄/dx can be used to measure how well the fire induced flow
R 150 15 15 0.30 0.32 0.28 field could be resolved, where D⁄ is a characteristic fire diameter
G L 150 24 18 0.30 0.29 0.30 (m) and dx is the nominal size of a mesh cell (m). The quantity
M 34 400 48 36 0.15 0.15 0.15 D⁄/dx can be thought of as the number of computational cells span-
R 150 24 18 0.30 0.29 0.30
ning the characteristic diameter of the fire, and the value of D⁄/dx is
H L 100 50 30 0.45 0.40 0.40
M 300 100 60 0.20 0.20 0.20 ranged from 4 to 16 (McGrattan and Forney, 2008). So the mesh
R 100 50 30 0.45 0.40 0.40 sizes for all simulation cases in this paper have been determined
I L 100 50 30 0.45 0.40 0.36 by this rule.
M 300 100 60 0.20 0.20 0.18
R 100 50 30 0.45 0.40 0.36
 2=5
Q
D ¼ ð12Þ
qa C p T a g 1=2
diameter of the tunnel, air density, ambient temperature, thermal The mesh sizes for all simulation cases in this study were deter-
capacity of air and gravitational acceleration. According the defini- mined by this rule. In addition, the meshes on the interface of the
tion of the critical velocity, it is the minimum longitudinal ventila- three domains were also conformed to the requirement in FDS
tion velocity to prevent reverse flow of smoke from the fire to the user’s guide. Fig. 1(a) and (b) shows the detail information of
upstream direction in the tunnel. This means that when the back- meshes in simulation cases C and D. In this study, X, Y and Z repre-
layering length is equal to 0, the corresponding longitudinal veloc- sented the lateral, longitudinal and vertical direction respectively.
ity is exactly equal to the critical velocity. The numbers and sizes of the meshes in all simulation cases are
Eq. (10) can be expressed as below: shown in Table 2.
!
Q 3.2. Boundary conditions
f ¼0
V 3
c
The material of the tunnel surface including walls, ceilings and
floors was assumed as the concrete. Each tunnel had two opening
V c ¼ f ðQ 1=3 Þ ð11Þ portals. One of the opening portals was set as ‘‘SUPPLY’’ in FDS sim-
ulation case, and the longitudinal ventilation velocity was assigned
at the opening portal. Another opening portal was set as ‘‘OPEN’’.
3. CFD simulations The longitudinal ventilation velocity in all simulation cases are
shown in Table 3.
CFD modeling of fires in the tunnel can be done using different The fire source was set as ‘‘BURNER’’ in FDS. According to the
kinds of models from 1D models to advanced 3D models (Merci, study on the heat release rate in the metro tunnel fire, the maxi-
2008). The turbulence models include the Reynolds-Averaged mum heat release rate of the metro tunnel fire is 5 MW. With
Navier–Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) Van the development of technology, the metro tunnels are made of
Maele and Merci, 2008. The CFD tools include packages such as Flu- non-combustible materials and fire resistant materials, then heat
ent, CFX, Phoenics, FDS, etc., and FDS has already been widely used release rate will be further reduced. In order to consider the risk

Table 3
CFD simulation cases.

Case HRR (MW) Tunnel Longitudinal ventilation velocity (m/s) Case HRR (MW) Tunnel Longitudinal ventilation velocity (m/s)
1 A 10 A
2 B 11 B
3 C 12 C
4 D 1.40, 1.60, 1.80, 2.00, 2.20 13 D 1.90, 2.20, 2.50, 2.65, 2.80
5 5 E 14 7.5 E
6 F 15 F
7 G 16 G
8 H 17 H
9 I 18 I
68 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72

Fig. 2. Sectional shapes of the tunnels (Scale in mm).

Table 4
Similar relationships between model and full scale.

Parameter Similarity relation

Geometry (m) xm =xf ¼ Lm =Lf ¼ kL
Temperature (K) Tm ¼ T f
Concentration (mol) Cm ¼ Cf
Velocity (m/s) v m =v f 1=2
¼ ðLm =Lf Þ1=2 ¼ kL
Volume flow (m3/s) V m =V f ¼ ðLm =Lf Þ5=2 ¼ kL
5=2

Fig. 4. A photo from test 4 during the experiment.

temperature inside and outside was 20 °C, the pressure was

101325.0 Pa, and the smoke concentration was 0 at the initial time.
The simulation time was 900 s. The LES was adopted as the turbu-
lence model in all the simulation cases.

3.3. Simulation cases

Fig. 3. A photo of the 1:10 model-scale tunnel.
of metro tunnel fire, 5 MW and 7.5 MW were adopted as the typi-
cal fire heat release rate in this study.
During the FDS simulations, it was assumed that the length of
the tunnels was 150 m in all the simulation cases, the ambient
The nine typical tunnels with different sectional coefficients
which were selected for this study were also analyzed by FDS sim-
ulation. The details about sectional shapes of tunnels are shown in
Fig. 2. All the tunnels are unidirectional tubes with 1 track except
tunnels H and I which are bidirectional tubes with 2 tracks. In addi-
tion, tunnels A, B, C, D, E and F have the same widths but different
heights, while tunnels D and G have the same heights but different
 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72 69

Fig. 5. Arrangement of thermocouples in the model tunnel (scale in mm).

4. Small-scale model experiments

(a) 4.1. Scaling theory

The Froude scaling model has been considered in this paper

(Ingason, 2007; Ingason and Li, 2010), and scaling correlations
between the model scale and the full scale are shown in Table 4.
(L is the length scale, index M is related to the model scale and
index F to the full scale).

4.2. Description of the model tunnel

The tunnel model presented here was built in scale 1:10, as

shown in Fig. 3, which means that the size of the tunnel was scaled
geometrically according to this ratio. The tunnel itself was 15 m in
length, 0.48 m in width and 0.54 m in height (f = 0.89), and the full
scale tunnel was from tunnel D in Fig. 2. The model tunnel was
constructed using non-combustible materials. The floor and ceiling
were built by magnesium board while the two vertical walls were
(b)
covered by fire resistant window glaze. A photo during the exper-
iment is shown in Fig. 4, and the layout of model tunnel is shown in
Figs. 5 and 6.
One end of model tunnel was defined as the entrance of the tun-
nel, which was attached with an electric axial fan which can be
used to provide longitudinal ventilation. The other end was defined
as the exit of the tunnel, which was directly opened to the outside.
The electric axial fan had a 0.75 KW motor yielding a maximum
capacity of 1200 m3/h (at 2900 rpm and 210 Pa). The rotational
speed, and thereby the capacity, could be controlled using an elec-
trical device coupled to the motor. A 1 m long rectangular galva-
nized steel sheet box with the dimensions 0.5 wide and 0.6 m
high, was mounted between the fan and the tunnel entrance to
create a uniform flow at the entrance of the tunnel. Longitudinal
ventilation velocities of 0.1–0.81 m/s were used in the experi-
ments. Probes of hot-wire anemometer were used to measure
Fig. 6. Sensors arrangement on cross section. (a) Arrangement of hot-wire the air velocity, then the probes were connected to a data logging
anemometers on cross section. (b) Arrangement of thermocouples on cross section. system. The probes were installed on section 1, which is shown in
Fig. 5, and the arrangement on section 1 is shown in Fig. 6(a). In the
same way, K type sheathed thermocouples were used to measure
the temperature, then thermocouples were also connected to a
Table 5
data logging system. Most of the thermocouples were placed under
Sizes of the oil pan and the HRR. the ceiling with a height of 0.52 m at intervals of 0.02 m. In addi-
tion, 8 thermocouple trees were installed symmetrically to the fire
Sizes of the oil HRR HRR in full Sizes of the oil HRR HRR in full
source along upstream and downstream direction in the tunnel,
pan (cm ⁄ cm) (KW) model pan (cm ⁄ cm) (KW) model
(MW) (MW) and the distances of thermocouple trees from the fire source are
1 m, 2 m, 4 m and 6 m respectively. The arrangement along the
8⁄8 1.59 0.5 15 ⁄ 15 8.97 2.84
10 ⁄ 10 3.19 1.01 15 ⁄ 20 12.38 3.92 tunnel direction is shown in Fig. 5 and on cross-section is shown
12 ⁄ 12 4.78 1.51 in Fig. 6(b).
95% pure industrial methanol was used as the fuel of the fire
source during the experiments, and fire HRR was calculated
through the mass loss rate of fuel. The mass loss rate of fuel can
widths. Moreover, all the sectional shapes of tunnels are rectangles be estimated by the fuel weight record system, which was
except tunnel C which is a horseshoe. designed by the authors’ research group. The record system can
The simulation cases are shown in Table 3. measure fuel weight changes through time, so the mass loss rate
70 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72

Table 6
Experimental tests and the backlayering lengths.

Test HRR Ambient Ventilation velocity Backlayering Test HRR Ambient Ventilation velocity Backlayering
(KW) temperature (°C) (m/s) length (m) (KW) temperature (°C) (m/s) length (m)
1 1.59 10.2 0.10 7.5 14 4.78 13.5 0.50 1.41
2 1.59 9.4 0.20 3.42 15 4.78 15.2 0.60 2.51
3 1.59 8.6 0.31 2.87 16 8.97 18.2 0.44 3.12
4 1.59 10.7 0.41 1.58 17 8.97 18.5 0.56 2.54
5 1.59 11.1 0.46 0 18 8.97 18.6 0.68 2.21
6 3.19 9.7 0.20 3.03 19 8.97 18.3 0.72 1.96
7 3.19 8.9 0.30 2.64 20 8.97 18.2 0.74 1.82
8 3.19 8.2 0.40 1.75 21 12.38 19.1 0.42 3.65
9 3.19 9.4 0.48 0.46 22 12.38 18.8 0.53 3.12
10 3.19 8.6 0.53 0 23 12.38 19.2 0.68 2.16
11 4.78 12.7 0.20 4.65 24 12.38 19.3 0.79 1.73
12 4.78 13.2 0.41 2.44 25 12.38 19.1 0.809 1.68
13 4.78 14.6 0.32 3.35

_ can be calculated from the slope of the weight change

of fuel m
curve. During the experiments, five oil pans with different sizes
were adopted, and corresponding HRR were calculated from mea-
surement. The results are shown in Table 5. All the oil pans were
5 cm in depth.
4.3. Experimental tests
About 25 experiments were carried out with different HRR and
longitudinal ventilation velocity. The experimental tests are shown
in Table 6.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Experimental results and CFD simulation results
The backlayering lengths in the 25 small-scale model experi-
mental tests are shown in Table 6.

The results of dimensionless parameters HL and VQ3 from the
experimental tests are shown in Fig. 7. And the CFD simulation
results have been processed as the relationship between two

dimensionless parameters HL and Q3 are also shown in Fig. 7. The
V
L
dimensionless parameters 
H
is over a range due to the varying of
Q
. It is clearly seen that all the experimental results and CFD sim-
V 3
ulation results can be correlated into a single form. In conclusion
then, there is a good agreement between the CFD simulations
and the small-scale model experiments. The comparison between
the CFD simulations and the small-scale model experiments veri-
fied that the CFD simulations in this study could be well used to
model the fire flow behavior in the tunnels and the backlayering
length and critical velocity are qualified to study.
5.2. Prediction models for backlayering length and critical velocity
The CFD simulation results have been processed as the relation-

ship between two dimensionless parameters HL and Q3 which are
V
shown in Fig. 8. According to Fig. 8, fitted curve is conformed to
the natural logarithmic relationship with R2 = 0.9167. The predic-
tion model for the dimensionless backlayering length can be
described as follows:
 
L Q
 ¼ 7:13 ln  4:36 ð13Þ
H V 3
As a result, the dimensionless critical velocity can obtained
when the dimensionless backlayering length is 0. Then the predic-
tion model for the dimensionless critical velocity can be described
as follows:
V c ¼ 0:82Q 1=3 ð14Þ
5.3. Comparison of the prediction for the backlayering length
In order to describe the comparison between the prediction for
backlayering length in the tunnel fire by CFD simulation and pro-
posed by Li et al., the results from CFD simulation and calculated
by the model proposed by Li et al. are shown in Fig. 9 at the same
time. Especially, the results of dimensionless parameters L ðL ¼ HL Þ

and Q3 in the prediction model from the CFD simulation adopted H 
V

35.0 16.0

14.0
30.0 y = 7.13ln(x) - 4.36
12.0 R² = 0.9167
25.0
10.0
20.0
8.0
15.0
Simulaon resulets 6.0
10.0
Simulation results
Small-scale model experimental results 4.0
5.0 Fitted curve
Fied curve
2.0
0.0
0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 0.0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0

Fig. 7. Comparison of dimensionless backlayering length between results from

L Q
small-scale model experiment and CFD simulation. Fig. 8. CFD simulation results between H
and V 3
.
 M.-c. Weng et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 47 (2015) 64–72 71

16.0 proposed by Li et al. and the curve of the prediction model. How-
ever, the prediction model proposed by Wu and Barker is underes-
14.0
timated compared with the experimental results and curve of the
12.0 prediction model. This is may be due to the different fuel used in
y = 7.13ln(x) - 4.36
10.0 their experiment. In their experiments, methane was used as fuel,
y = 6.167ln(x) - 3.9 so the smoke produced in their experiment is less and sensitive to
L* 8.0
the velocity.
6.0
Simulation results
4.0 6. Conclusion
Eq. (13)
2.0 Li et al.
About 25 small-scale model experiments were carried out with
0.0 different HRR and longitudinal ventilation velocity. The experi-
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
ments verified that the CFD simulations in this study could be well
used to model the fire flow behavior in the tunnels. Then two new
prediction models for the dimensionless backlayering length and
the critical velocity in metro tunnel fires are proposed separately
Fig. 9. Comparison of dimensionless backlayering length between results from CFD
simulation and Li et al. model. based on the dimensional analysis method.
The comparison of the prediction for the backlayering length
indicates that the prediction model by Li et al. is lower than the
0.50 curve of the CFD prediction model. And the critical velocity of
Small-scale model experimental results the Wu & Barkar model are underestimated.
0.45 The maximal value of the dimensionless Heat release rate Q⁄
Eq. (14)
0.40 Wu & Bakar
adopted in the small-scale model experimental tests is 0.16, so
Li et al.
the prediction model was verified and can be used within the
0.35 restriction (Q⁄ is between 0.01 and 0.16). Study on the critical ven-
Vc* 0.30 tilation velocity under the condition of the larger HRR will be
developed in the future.
0.25

0.20 Acknowledgement
0.15
This work was supported by key program foundation of
0.10 Ministry of Public Security, China Grant 2011ZDYJCQXF019,
0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60
Chongqing Graduate Student Research Innovation Project, Grant
No. CYB14031 and the 111Project, No. B13041.

Fig. 10. Comparison of dimensionless critical velocity in the results from small-
scale model experiment, CFD simulation and Li et al. model and Wu & Barkar model.
as the characteristic length. And H was adopted as the characteris-
tic length in the prediction model proposed by Li et al.
Moreover, the prediction model for the backlayering length pro-
posed by Li et al. can be expressed as the same form as the predic-
tion model from the CFD simulation:
   
L Q
L ¼ ¼ 18:5ln 0:81Q 1=3 =V  ¼ 6:167 ln  3:9
H V 3
 Executive% 2013–08-13 14:15:00.
Q 6 0:15
Most of the simulation results are overestimated than the pre-
diction model proposed by Li et al. This indicates that the predicted
backlayering length from the prediction model proposed by Li et al.
is underestimated than the prediction model from CFD simulation.
5.4. Verification of the prediction for the critical velocity
The results of dimensionless parameters V c and Q⁄1/3 from the
experimental tests are shown in Fig. 10. The curve of prediction
model for the dimensionless critical velocity in the tunnel fire is
also shown in Fig. 10. Meanwhile, the prediction model proposed
by Li et al. and Wu and Barker are also showed in Fig. 9. The com-
parison shows that the results from small-scale model experiments
are close to the curve of the prediction, which indicates that the
prediction model (Eq. (14)) is applicable for the tunnel fires. And
there is a slightly difference between the prediction model
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