Assessing and Improving the Resilience of Highway and Rail Tunnels to Blast and Fire

Researchers at Lehigh University are proposing the development of a new framework for evaluating the vulnerability of tunnel infrastructure to blast and fire hazards. The resulting assessments will be used to prioritize and tailor mitigation strategies, systems, and placement to maximize risk reduction with available resources. The project team has previously developed several fast running analysis techniques for analyzing the effects of blast and fire on large structural systems – these methodologies will be leveraged to evaluate the effects of blast and fire on large tunnels or inventories of tunnels via large batches of simulations using randomly selected inputs. Blast and fire will be evaluated both as separate hazards as well as cascading hazards (e.g. a fire following an intentional explosive detonation, or the deflagration of a fuel tanker due to an initial small fire) where appropriate. This effort is computationally focused, and funds dedicated to this project will be used primarily for student support.

• Record URL:
  https://zenodo.org/communities/utc-uti/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $211625
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747118

• Sponsor Organizations:

  University Transportation Center for Underground Transportation Infrastructure

  Colorado School of Mines
  Golden, CO  United States  80401

  Lehigh University

  ATLSS Engineering Research Center
  IMBT Laboratory
  Bethlehem, PA  United States  18015-4729

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Lehigh University

  ATLSS Engineering Research Center
  IMBT Laboratory
  Bethlehem, PA  United States  18015-4729

  Colorado School of Mines

  1500 Illinois St
  Golden, CO  United States  80401
• Performing Organizations:

  Lehigh University

  ATLSS Engineering Research Center
  IMBT Laboratory
  Bethlehem, PA  United States  18015-4729
• Principal Investigators:

  Quiel, Spencer

  Naito, Clay

• Start Date: 20161201
• Expected Completion Date: 20191130
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Disaster resilience; Explosions; Fire; Risk assessment; Simulation; Tunnels
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01660184
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University Transportation Center for Underground Transportation Infrastructure
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747118
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 16 2018 4:35PM