Development of a Hazard Assessment-Based Method for Evaluating the Fire Safety of Passenger Trains

摘要

The fire safety of U.S. passenger train has historically been addressed through the citation of small-scale flammability and smoke emission tests and performance criteria. This approach has focused on combustible materials of rail car components such as seats, wall, and ceiling panels. As fire safety regulations for buildings move toward performance codes, there has been interest in the application of fire hazard assessment to passenger rail cars using modeling techniques. Accordingly, the U.S. Department of Transportation has funded a systematic study to correlate this assessment method with the traditional methods using fire performance characteristics of rail car materials. First, the heat release and smoke production of actual materials in use were characterized in the Cone Calorimeter. Next, real-scale assembly tests of components such as seats and interior panels constructed of these same materials were conducted in a furniture calorimeter. Finally, full-scale tests of passenger rail cars incorporating the tested components were conducted. The predictive accuracy of fire hazard modeling techniques was assessed against the assembly and full-scale test results. The model's utility in evaluating alternative fire safety improvements, such as automatic suppression or smoke venting was demonstrated.