Numerical Study of Large-Scale Fire in Makkah’s King Abdulaziz Road Tunnel

Tunnel fires are one of the most dangerous catastrophic events that endanger human life. They cause damage to infrastructure because of the limited space in the tunnel, lack of escape facilities, and difficulty that intervention forces have in reaching the fire position, especially in highly crowded areas, such as Makkah in the Hajj season. Unfortunately, performing experimental tests on tunnel fire safety is particularly challenging because of the prohibitive cost, limited possibilities, and losses that these tests can cause. Therefore, large-scale modeling, using fire dynamic simulation, is one of the best techniques used to limit these costs and losses. In the present work, a fire scenario in the Makkah’s King Abdulaziz Road tunnel was analyzed using the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The effects of the heat released per unit area, soot yield, and CO yield on the gas temperature, radiation, concentrations of the oxygen and combustion products CO and CO2, and air velocity were examined. The results showed that the radiation increased with the heat released per unit area and the soot yield affected all parameters, except the oxygen concentration and air velocity. The CO yield significantly affects CO concentration, and its influence on the other studied parameters is negligible. Moreover, based on the validation part, the results proved that FDS have limitations in tunnel fires, which impact the smoke layer calculation at the upstream zone of the fire. Therefore, the users or researchers should carefully be concerned about these weaknesses when using FDS to simulate tunnel fires. Further comprehensive research is crucial, as tunnel fires have severe impacts on various aspects of people’s lives.