The Application of 3D Visual Simulation Technology to Highway and Tunnel Emergency Training and Management

摘要

The 1999 fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel led the French authorities to speed up the process - already planned - of improving the safety of tunnels and roads. The new regulations defined specific measures to ensure user safety and emergency services and led to new requirements regarding the training of operators. Indeed, in this highly regulated environment, operations staff are under increasing pressure. That is why they should receive appropriate training not only during their initial learning, but also later, to ensure the continuous improvement of skills and behavior particularly in crisis situations. To be effective, these programs need to immerse operators in situations similar to those they might encounter in real life: management of a serious incident, communication with stakeholders, and application of complex procedures. For this industry, BMIA has developed an innovative system known as G'Val, a unique solution of 3D real-time traffic simulation on the roads and in tunnels, directly controlled by an original Traffic Control Device, based on the UC-win/Road software from Forum8. This simulator is used to train control center operators, to validate new operating rules and features, or to evaluate new traffic software. The simulator allows personnel to be trained in a simulated environment that exactly reproduces the real environment: CCTV monitoring, HMI and ADI alarms, complete control over road equipment, driving of emergency vehicles and communication with stakeholders. Predefined scenarios can be played, and real situations (accidents, beaconing), or rarer incidents (fire and smoke in a tunnel) replayed. With this simulation operator knowledge of existing procedures can be checked and implementation of new procedures tested. The ability to network multiple simulators permits training of operators in complex situations and assessment of their reactions and behavior under stress.