Smoke abatement in tunnels is an important design consideration, yet very difficult to test. One such test exists with the Memorial Tunnel fire. FLUENT was used to simulate the development and spread of smoke, and the results were compared to the experimental data. The simulated results were in good agreement with the observed spread rate in the actual tunnel.

Simulation of a fire in the Memorial Tunnel in West Virginia

This simulation shows how smoke develops and spreads over time, and how effective the ventilation system in the tunnel is at removing it. Various ventilation scenarios can be tried out without the expense of physical modeling.