Simulation of People Evacuation in the Event of a Road Tunnel Fire

This paper presents basic findings obtained by means of a simulation model for representing an evacuation process from a curved bi-directional Italian road tunnel in the event of a fire. Simulations were carried out by using the STEPS people evacuation model associated with a CFD model simulating the fire. It was found that the evacuation time is primarily influenced by the walking time and to a less extent by the pre-movement time in all scenarios studied. The presence of an alarm system reduced the evacuation time for most the tunnel users, allowing them to reach the tunnel exit in safety.