Capturing CO2 Emissions in the George C. Wallace Tunnel: A Case Study

This paper describes the design of a ventilation system to be paired with a carbon capture system. The ventilation system utilizes the geometry of the George C. Wallace tunnel, located in the City of Mobile, Alabama, USA to capture and redirect emissions to a direct air capture (DAC) device to sequester 25% of the total CO2 mass generated from inside the tunnel. The total CO2 mass rate for the westbound traffic between the week-day hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. has been estimated between 2,300 to 3,000 lbs./hr. By sequestering these emissions, the overall surrounding air quality was shown to be improved to a level that mirrors that from the pre-US industrial era of 270 ppm.

Smoke movement in a tunnel of a running metro train on fire

Research on the distribution of smoke in tunnels is significant for the fire emergency rescue after an operating metro train catches fire. A dynamic grid technique was adopted to research the law of smoke flow diffusion inside the tunnel when the bottom of a metro train was on fire and to compare the effect of longitudinal ventilation modes on the smoke motion when the burning train stopped. Research results show that the slipstream curves around the train obtained by numerical simulation are consistent with experimental data. When the train decelerates, the smoke flow first extends to the tail of the train. With the decrease of the train's speed, the smoke flow diffuses to the head of the train. After the train stops, the slipstream around the train formed in the process of train operation plays a leading role in the smoke diffusion in the tunnel. The smoke flow quickly diffuses to the domain in front of the train. After forward mechanical ventilation is provided, the smoke flow inside the tunnel continues to diffuse downstream. When reverse mechanical ventilation operates, the smoke in front of the train flows back rapidly and diffuses to the rear of the train.

Analysis of Smoke Distribution in the Subway Station with Various Main Tunnel Ventilations

Fire-driven flow analysis in the underground subway station has been performed with various main tunnel ventilations. Shin-gum-ho station （depth： 46 m） in Seoul is selected as a simulation model. The ventilation mode is assumed to be emergency state. Various main tunnel ventilations are applied to operate in a proper way for helping of smoke exhaustion in platform. The entire station is covered for simulation. Ventilation diffusers are modeled as 95 square shapes of 0.6 m × 0.6 m in the lobby and as 222 square shapes of 0.6 m × 0.6 m and four rectangular shapes of 1.2 m × 0.8 m in the platform. The total of 7.5 million grids is generated and whole domain is divided to 22 blocks for MPI （massage passing interface） efficiency of calculation. LES （large eddy simulation） is applied to solve the momentum equation. Smagorinsky model （Cs = 0.2） is used as SGS （subgrid scale） model. The distribution of CO （carbon monoxide） is calculated for various capacity of main tunnel ventilation and compared with each other.

Objective-level resilience assessment of circular roadway tunnels with reinforced concrete liners for vehicle fire hazards

A framework is presented to quantify the objective-level resilience of reinforced concrete liners of circular tunnels when exposed to enclosed vehicle fire hazards.By assessing the loss of functionality due to fire-induced damage,the framework enables a decision-basis evaluation of the efficiency of various fire mitigation methods for spe-cific tunnel conditions.In this study,the fire-induced damage of concrete tunnel liners due to strength loss and spalling is stochastically simulated and classified based on typical post-fire repair procedures and damage evalu-ation.The resilience assessment is conducted using Monte Carlo Simulation in combination with a fast-running tool for calculating the thermal impact from vehicle fires on the inside surface of the tunnel liner(developed by the authors in previous work).The proposed approach accounts for uncertainties associated with both the vehicle fire(particularly the combustion energy)and the tunnel conditions(i.e.,geometry,dimensions,and the presence of longitudinal ventilation and/or fixed fire-fighting systems(FFFS)).A parametric case study is used to quantitatively demonstrate the effectiveness of FFFS for reducing post-fire losses of tunnel functionality.Other parameters such as tunnel dimensions,traffic restrictions for vehicles with heavy fire hazard risk,and installation or upgrade of the tunnel ventilation system show somewhat less effectiveness for reducing fire-induced damage.

Numerical investigation on temperature–humidity field under mechanical ventilation in the construction period of hot-humid tunnel along the Sichuan–Tibet Railway

High temperature–humidity environment is one of the severe challenges in constructing Sichuan–Tibet railway tunnels.For enhancing construction efficiency and guaranteeing tunnel worker safety,addressing the high temperature–humidity environment has irreplaceable significance.This study innovatively investigated the distribution law and evolution process of the thermal–humidity coupling field dur-ing tunnel construction.Besides,the corresponding ventilation measures were proposed based on the evaluation heat index(HI).If the initial temperature of the surrounding rock is constant,the distance between the ventilation duct outlet and the tunnel working face should not be greater than 30 m.Otherwise,the cooling performance of ventilation will be significantly weakened;If this temperature ranges in 65–85℃,the recommended ventilation velocity is 10–25 m/s,and the ventilation distance should not exceed 20 m.The con-clusions in this study are beneficial to better understand the high temperature–humidity environment in tunnel construction and can be a guideline for practical engineering application.

Calculation of CO Behavior in the Platform for Deeply Underground Subway Station with Different Fire Strengths

Effect of different fire strengths on the smoke distribution in the subway station is investigated. Shin-Gum-Ho station （line #5） in Seoui is selected as a case study for variation of CO （carbon monoxide） distribution caused by the fire in the platform. The ventilation in the station is set to be an air supply mod in the lobby and an air exhaustion mod in the platform. One-side main tunnel ventilation （7,000 m3/min） is applied to operate in the tunnel. The fire is assumed to break out in the middle of train parked in the platform tunnel. Two kinds of fire strength are used. One is 10 MW and the other is 20 MW. Ventilation diffusers in the station are modeled as 317 square shapes ＆ four rectangular shapes in the lobby and platform. The total of 7.5 million grids is generated and whole domain is divided to 22 blocks for parallel computation. Large eddy simulation method is applied to solve the momentum equation. The behavior of CO is calculated according to different fire strengths and compared with each other.