e-newsletter 3 edition, april 2011 - transfeu · 2.4 development of numerical simulation tools for...

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E-newsletter 3rd edition, April 2011

2.3 Fire safety engineering methodology for surface transport – (WP04)- Leader:

Bombardier

3rd E-newsletter Spring 2011

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Table of content

1. TRANSFEU word from the coordinator _____________________________________ 3

2. Project progress report since August 2010 __________________________________ 4

2.1 Fire test for toxicity of fire effluents (WP02) – Leader - LSFIRE ______________________ 4

2.2 Development of conventional pragmatic classifications system for the toxicity of fire

effluents released from products on trains (WP03) – Leader: Exova ____________________ 5

2.3 Fire safety engineering methodology for surface transport – (WP04)- Leader:

Bombardier _________________________________________________________________ 8

2.4 Development of numerical simulation tools for fire performance, evacuation of people

and decision tool for the train design - WP05 – Leader: LNE _________________________ 11

2.5 Development of assessment criteria of toxic effects on people due to the combustion of

products in train - WP06 - Leader – LNE __________________________________________ 12

2.6 Exploitation, Dissemination and Contribution to standards (WP07) Leader - UNIFE ____ 13

Where to find us ________________________________________________________ 14

National Workshops ____________________________________________________ 14

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1. TRANSFEU word from the coordinator

Dear readers, We are happy to present the progress of the project “TRANSFEU” supported through the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. The project, which started in April 2009, achieved very important results so far. Most notably:

• Fire test for toxicity of fire effluents where a very repeatable and reproducible test method has been developed and 60 products have been tested according to this test method and other bench scale tests in order to produce a data base for Fire safety Engineering;

• Conventional pragmatic classification system for the toxicity of fire effluents released from products on trains where an assortment of mathematical models has been developed. A classification system will be proposed in the third quarter 2011;

• Fire safety engineering methodology for surface transport where the fire safety

objective, fire risk analysis and design fire scenarios have been finalised;

• Development of numerical simulation tools for fire performance, evacuation of people and decision tool for the train design which permit the determination of an important process for the use of simulation tools and the way to validate them for trains;

• Development of assessment criteria of toxic effects on people due to the

combustion of products in trains where the definition and the harmonisation of the test protocol between the testing labs for full and real scale tests has been determined. The full scale test will be finished the beginning of May. The real scale tests on coaches will be realized in May on a single deck coach and in September on a double deck coach.

We are optimistic about the results of this research project and the possibility to develop innovative tools for a holistic fire safety based approach for the design of trains. The following newsletter presents the progresses of our research work since the second half of 2010.

Alain SAINRAT TRANSFEU Coordinator

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2. Project progress report since August 2010

2.1 Fire test for toxicity of fire effluents (WP02) – Leader - LSFIRE

Over the past 6 months, WP02 has achieved the objectives set and a big

amount of work has been carried out. The text of the standard has been completed and distributed to the laboratories involved in the work package, with all the necessary information required for the acquisition and installation of multiple parts of the filtering system, gas extraction and analysis. All laboratories received the three reference liquids and three products for reproducibility tests, and all laboratories except one (except one which is currently experiencing some delays in the calibration of the certified gas) received the visit of one of the three reference laboratories for testing the effectiveness of the system. WP02 expects to finish the data collection from all eight laboratories before the end of May 2011 in order to submit, by the end of June, the results on Reproducibility and repeatability of the standard. The testing relating the gases’ production of 60 products selected by task 2.2.1 is now completed. SP is currently finishing their entry in the database, already partly made available to WP3 in April 2011, for the development of conventional classification system for toxicity of the fire effluents released from products on trains. The acquisition of the additional information required and the calorimetry data were also sent to SP. These 60 products, provided from the beginning, were added to 11 wires cables between power and data transmission cables, tested both with ISO 5659-2 + FTIR and IEC 60332-3-10/ EN 50399. WP02 is currently studying the comparison between the data obtained with the two systems in order to optimize the cost and the number of tests. The statistical analysis on the reliability of the method will start when the results of the interlaboratory test will be known.

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2.2 Development of conventional pragmatic classific ations system for the toxicity of fire effluents released from products on trains (WP03) – Leader: Exova

One of the objectives of WP03 in the TRANSFEU project is to develop a classification system for the toxicity of fire effluents from products on railway vehicles, which will be based upon modifications of the conventional prescriptive approach initially devised in CEN/TS 45545 Part 2. This system will be used to propose requirements to the newly constituted CEN/TC256 & CENELEC/TC9X Joint Working Group (JWG) for inclusion in EN 45545 Part 2 during 2011.

During the past 6 months, the gas effluent measurements from the first 30 products tested in the ISO 5659-2 smoke chamber and analysed continuously using FTIR spectrometry in the WP02 fire laboratories have been studied. By considering the escape requirements for 4 operation categories of European trains, modelling for these products has concentrated on the derivation of Conventional Index of Toxicity (CIT) versus time from the start of the fire. By determining the time to CIT = 1 for a range of products installed in single and double-deck coaches, it is possible to estimate the Available Safe Escape Time (ASET) for passengers and crew in the event of a fire on board. The TRANSFEU classification system is now being built around the concept that the ASET for passengers and crew shall be more than the Required Safe Escape Time (RSET) as specified in regulatory Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs). Guidelines for the use of 1 – zone models applying to various types and locations of train products have been published in delivered TRANSFEU WP03 reports. The principle in these calculations is to derive CIT with time using the simple equation:

CIT = [Precursor Term] x [Summation Term]

The Precursor Term is a scaling factor that relates the geometry of the small-scale smoke chamber to the geometry of a real-scale coach. It takes into account the effluent dispersal volumes, ventilation and exposed areas of the products tested on the small-scale compared to those of full-scale products in real coach locations.

The Summation Term for railway products is broadly defined in CEN/TS 45545-2 Annex C.16 and uses NIOSH reference values for 8 common fire gases. This approach is being critically assessed and compared with the widely accepted guidance in ISO 13571 for the estimation of time available for escape using fire data on the life-threatening components in fire effluents.

WP03 has started to consider whether calculations of FED (the fractional effective dose of asphyxiant gases) and FEC (the fractional effective concentration of irritant gases) can

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be utilized in deriving a more scientifically valid way to classify fire effluents from railway products. Comparisons between the CIT and FED/FEC procedures for assessing ASET will be done later in the project.

Calculations of CIT versus time have been made in Task 3.3.

Examples of CIT/time curves for various products and locations are shown below.

Figure 1: Product IN1-3 (PF GRP Wall Lining) in Double Deck Coach - Graphs of CIT versus Time for 0.1m2 and 0.7m2 exposed area of product

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

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0.8

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

Time (seconds)

CIT

Test 50a - 0.1m2

Test 50c - 0.1m2

Test 50e - 0.1m2

Test 50a - 0.7m2

Test 50c - 0.7m2

Test 50e - 0.7m2

Type 2 fire

Type 1 fire

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0

0.2

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0.8

1

1.2

0 120 240 360 480 600 720 840 960 1080 1200

IT

-

)

Time (seconds)

Figure 3 : Product E4A-1 Arc resistant insulation material, (Glassfibre reinforced, filled polyester)

Q=0, V=150

Q=0, V=190

Q=0.42, V=150 Q=0.42, V=190 CIT

Figure2: Product F1A-1-1 (Seat upholstery) in Single Deck and Double Deck Coaches – Graphs of CIT versus Time for 0.1m2 exposed area of product

0

0.1

0.2

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1

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

Time (seconds)

CIT

Test 25a, single deck Test 25b, single deck Test 25c, single deck

Test 25a, double deck Test 25b, double deck Test 25c, double deck

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2.3 Fire safety engineering methodology for surfa ce transport – (WP04)- Leader: Bombardier

The following scenarios will be taken into account for real scale test and for the classification of the toxic fumes in the task identification of fire safety objective and associated criteria of performance and acceptance: Scenario 1A - Commuter Train operation category 1 acc. EN 45545-1

- Single deck open passenger area with 6 doors (3 each side) - No evacuation to adjacent vehicle

Scenario 1B - Mainline train operation category 2 according EN 45545-1 and Cat A

TSI SRT. - Single deck open passenger area with 4 doors (2 each sides) - No evacuation to adjacent vehicle.

Scenario 2A - Mainline train operation category 2 according EN 45545-1 and Cat A

TSI SRT. - Double deck open passenger area with 4 doors (2 each sides) - With gangways for evacuation to adjacent vehicle.

Scenario 2B - Mainline train operation category 3 according EN 45545-1 and Cat B

TSI SRT. - Double deck open passenger area with 4 doors (2 each sides) - With gangways for evacuation to adjacent vehicle.

The airflow in the passenger vehicle according these scenarios is very important for the consideration of the allowed evacuation time for passenger in case of a fire. For scenarios 1 A, 2A: According the standard EN 14750-1, the following airspeed shall be taken into account in the passenger area with ventilation:

- With the maximum of internal temperature of 27°C and an average of external temperature of 27 ° C the standard ask for an air speed of 0.8 m/s

For scenarios 1B, 2B: According the standard EN 13129-1, the following airspeed shall be taken into account in the passenger area with HVAC:

- With the maximum of internal temperature of 22°C and an average of external temperature of 27°C, the standard ask for an air speed of 0,25 m/s.

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WP04 has also developed a relative fire risk analysis and design fire scenarios for Railway vehicles. The main goal of TRANSFEU is to develop a holistic approach for a fire safety-performance based-design methodology able to support efficiently European surface transport standardisation. One of the objectives of WP04 is to make a fire risk analysis and qualify the design fire scenarios that have been chosen based on the opinion of experts within all possible scenarios. In this task, LNE, BW, Bombardier, LSFIRE, VTT, SP, IK, RATP and ALSTOM shall identify relevant design fire scenarios for different kinds of vehicles, and choose fire scenarios, which have to be taken into account for the subsequent steps. Relevant design fire scenarios will be identified through the following 3 steps:

• Step1: Risk analysis

It is based on the following investigations: o Analysis of accidental fires with regard to ignition sources – type,

intensity and location.

o Identification of fire hazards (different procedures will be used to identify the hazards; HAZOP, PHA, FMEA etc).

• Step2: Design fire scenarios

Based on this risk analysis and in the context of this project, the design fire scenarios will take into account: Vehicle geometry (train, ship and bus), ventilation, passive fire protection (reaction to fire performance of materials and products, fire resistance of structures, escape routes), active fire prevention (detection, smoke extraction, extinguishing). For the train the design fire scenarios will refer to operational categories according to CEN/TS 45545-1 [1].

• Step3: Design fire

The description of the design fire is very important in the design fire scenario. Different design fires will be considered according to the vehicle type and relevant fire scenarios. For the trains CEN/TS 45545 [1], the design fire will be taken into account but also other designs such as luggage fires, developed fire for fire resistance, or a coach in fire. These fires will be modelled and validated by measurement of the heat release rate or temperature versus time on luggage, ignition source for resistance to fire or coach. Steps 1 and 2 have already been published in one study. A new methodology of relative fire risk analysis has been developed in order to justify the position of few design fire scenarios in the global matrix. This new methodology uses tools of risk analysis like HAZOP method or Event tree, which will be explained in

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section II. Probabilities and type of event trees are only applicable in the case of TRANSFEU project. The relative fire risk analysis has shown that these pre-selected design fire scenarios are among the most hazardous for passengers of the railway transportation system. These design fire scenarios are going now to be further examined through a fire safety engineering study. In this study, engineers have to pay attention, when they are going to model fire and evacuation in WP5 TANSFEU project, to the most influent events like the ventilation system, strategy of stopping of train and active fire protection related events. The relative fire risk analysis is the first step of fire safety engineering methodology which will be developed in forthcoming works in TRANSFEU project (WP4).

The methodology: Several methods exist to carry out a risk analysis, such as:

• HAZOP (Hazard and operability studies) ROYER.M.- HAZOP : Une méthode d’analyse des risques – Principe et Mise en œuvre - Techniques de l’Ingénieur – 2009/07

• PRA (Preliminary Risk Analysis) MORTUREUX Y.- Analyse préliminaire des risques - Techniques de l’Ingénieur - 2002/09

• FT (Failures Trees) IDDIR O.- Principes d’évaluation de la probabilité de défaillance des Mesures de Maîtrise des Risques (MMR) - Techniques de l’Ingénieur – 2009/07

• Deterministic and probalistic Risk Analysis [5] KIRCHSTEIGER C.- On the use of probabilistic and deterministic methods in risk analysis - Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 12 399–419 - 1999

All of them use different ways to present risk analysis and to deal with it. The first three methods apply to plants or process industry. Their theory is adaptable for this study but the two latter

methods are applicable without any modification. Part of the first method (HAZOP) is used to complete the two latter. These methods are based on a relative risk analysis method [5]. This

study uses these methods, see figure II-2:

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2.4 Development of numerical simulation tools for f ire performance, evacuation of people and decision tool for the train design - WP05 – Leader: LNE The multi-scale modelling approach, figure 1, developed in TRANFEU project, is based on the comparison of several experimental fire characteristics with numerical fire data give from a numerical tools named Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) scale by scale. The principle is to ‘validate’ for each scale from matter scale to real scale the ignition fire and the fire spread. There are 6 different studied scales, figure 2:

• The matter scale (few mg of product) • The material scale (few 100 g of material) • The semi-finished scale (lower than 1kg of material) • The finished scale (about 10 kg of material) • The full/compartment scale (real scale of train compartment with several materials) • The real scale ( tests performed in a real vehicle with several materials)

Figure 1: Example of multi-scale approach

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2.5 Development of assessment criteria of toxic eff ects on people due to the combustion of products in train - WP06 - Leader – LNE TRANSFEU WP06 deals with the validation of the conventional toxicity classification and the numerical simulation tools for the prediction of the effect of fire on people. The work is divided into five main tasks:

a. Selection of products, representative fire scenarios and real scale test (in relation with WP04). The selection of test methods and associated thermal attack will be defined in accordance with CEN TS 45545-1 Annex A Ignition model 5;

b. Tests on real products (full scale test). The tests will be performed on

wall/partition/ceiling and on seats, under large scale calorimeter hood. Measurements will focus on heat release rate and toxic gas emission;

c. Tests on a real cars (real scale test) in order to predict the time to reach

the critical effects on people. Two cars are used for these large scale tests: one metro car and one double-deck car. They will be refurbished using different materials to reproduce different HL situations. Four tests will be performed, two per car;

d. Prediction of the Available Safe Evacuation Time (ASET) according to the

critical effects on passengers and crew in specific cars based on raw data obtained by small scale tests in WP02;

e. Validation of the conventional pragmatic toxicity classification criteria

proposed in the WP03. Task a is now completed (it allowed to get a selection of 17 products for full and real scale test, the determination of the test protocol for full scale test and the selection of coach and fire scenario for real scale test), task b has started and will end at the beginning of May. Task c will start middle of May by real scale tests on coach with single deck (RATP) and in September by real scale test on coach with double deck (TRENITALIA).

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2.6 Exploitation, Dissemination and Contribution to standards (WP07) Leader - UNIFE The activity of WP07 has been intensive especially in September 2010 (INNOTRANS) and March 2011 (National Workshops). TRANSFEU had the opportunity to be disseminated on the UNIFE stand during the last Innotrans fair which took place in Berlin from 21st to 24th September 2010. In addition to the dissemination materials displayed during the week on the stand, TRANSFEU had the opportunity to have a speaker slot for a presentation and a session of Questions & Answers with the rail professionals present for the occasion. Furthermore, regarding the dissemination activities, an article on TRANSFEU was published in the EURAILMAG magazine, which delivers news and information on Europe’s railway industry, its product offerings and services. (Find below the article published)

Figure 1: article on TRANSFEU published in the EURAILMAG magazine in March 2011

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The public part of the project website can be found on the following link: www.transfeu.eu.

For a wider dissemination of the project different partners have participated in many conferences around the world. In order to follow the same style and input when giving information about the project, a general and a detailed presentation on TRANSFEU has been produced and distributed between the partners. TRANSFEU has been represented in the following Congresses and Conferences:

• Fire Protection of Rolling Stock conference, London, UK, 24-25 March 2010 - David Crowder, Sarah Colwell (BRE), Beth Dean, Peter Briggs (EW)

• Brandschutztag Schienenfahrzeuge, Germany, 20 May 2010 - Prof. Wittbecker (UoW) and Michael Halfmann (CUR)

• 7th International Rail Forum, Valencia, Spain, 25th- 27th May 2010 – CIDEMCO • IInd International Scientific Conference TRANSPORT PROBLEMS, Katowice -

Kraków, Poland, 8 – 11 June 2010 - Jolanta Radziszewska-Wolinska, CNTK • Interflam, Nottingham, UK, 5-7 July 2010 - David Crowder (BRE), Beth Dean,

Chris Hughes (EW) • Innotrans Fair – 21st -24th September 2010 – Berlin – UNIFE Stand

National Workshops TRANSFEU partners are currently preparing the organization in 2011 and 2012 of National Workshops. These events aim at disseminating the preliminary results of the research work carried out in the project and exchange best practices and ensure a good uptake of the results at National level. This will complement the final conference of the project which will focus on disseminating the final results at European level. You can find here below the dates and locations of the different workshops (more details will provided in the upcoming months):

� Italy – 27th May 2011 � France – 30th of November 2011 - Paris � Germany – to be confirmed � Spain – Fall 2011 � United Kingdom– to be confirmed � Poland - Beginning of 2012

Where to find us TRANSFEU partners are actively participating to the major European events that concern fire safety. You can find us at the following conferences:

2011, International Fire Security Congress, SCI 2011, Madrid, Spain

2011, Faserverbundwerkstoffe im

Schienenfahrzeugbau, Schopgau, May 2011, Germany

2011, IAFSS Symposium, 19-24 June 2011,

University of Maryland, USA

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DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Léa Paties – Leader of dissemination and communication

[email protected]

Office: +32 2 643 70 81

www.transfeu.eu

e-newsletter 3 edition, april 2011 - transfeu · 2.4 development of numerical simulation tools for...

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