Numerical Simulation of the Caldecott Tunnel Fire, April 1982 | NIST

This report documents numerical simulations of the thermal environment within the Caldecott Tunnel during a gasoline spill fire in April 1982. A numerical fire model developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was used to simulate the fire. The model was validated for this application using several data sets from large-scale fire experiments, including fire experiments conducted at a decommissioned highway tunnel in West Virginia, and fire experiments performed as part of the NIST Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster. For the Caldecott Tunnel fire, the peak calculated gas temperatures within the tunnel were approximately 1100 ◦C (2000 ◦F), and peak wall surface temperatures were approximately 950 ◦C (1750 ◦F). The peak temperatures were influenced by the net effect of spalling and ablation of the concrete walls and ceiling, and determining the sensitivity of the calculations to this effect was a key objective of the study.