Addendum 3 – Transit Corridor Safeguarding

Concept of Tunnel Ventilation System

Revision A

November 2008
Department of Transport
PO Box 20
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates

Surface Transport
Master Plan
Addendum 3 - Transit
Corridor Safeguarding
Concept of Tunnel
Ventilation System

November 2008

Mott MacDonald
PO Box 47094
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
Tel: 971 2 6262 966
Fax: 971 2 6269 192

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Executive Summary

This document provides a preliminary assessment of the space requirements for the tunnel ventilation
system at the underground stations of the proposed Abu Dhabi Underground Transportation System
(UTS).

The control air temperatures at concourse and platform levels of the stations are defined to be 30°C
and 28ºC. The control air temperature in the platform trackway and the running tunnels is set to 35°C.
The required cooling load at the stations is estimated to be 5.0 MW, through preliminary analysis of
heat loads for the afternoon peak operations on the design summer day.

The proposed ventilation system for Abu Dhabi UTS includes two modes of operations; open-loop and
the closed-loop ventilation. Open-loop ventilation is the single-pass use of outside air for the
ventilation of the stations and running tunnels. In the closed-loop cycle most of the air is returned from
the ventilated spaces to the air-handling units to be re-cooled. This mode applies during hot day
operations when the closed-loop cycle reduces the total cooling load.

The required cooling of the public areas of the stations is provided by the dedicated air-handling units.
The platform trackway and the running tunnels are ventilated and cooled through two cycles. In the
first cycle the under-platform and over-track extract ducts are used. The second cycle is required for
the supplementary cooling of the running tunnels, achieved either by fan coil units or chilled water
pipes along the running tunnels. The decision on the preferred cooling mode for the supplementary
cooling will be made in the later design stages.

The tunnel ventilation system for smoke extract incorporates Saccardo nozzles. The ventilation system
is driven by the fans installed in a plant room, and the airflow is injected to one or both tunnels by
means of nozzles.

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List of Contents Page

1 Introduction 1

2 Functional Requirements 2

3 Ventilation and Cooling Strategy 4

3.1 Ventilation and cooling of public areas of the stations 4
3.2 Ventilation and cooling of platform trackway and running tunnels 4
3.3 Modes of operation 4

4 Ventilation and Cooling Equipment 7

4.1 Ventilation and cooling of public areas of the stations 7
4.2 Ventilation and cooling of platform trackway and running tunnels 7

5 Smoke Control Strategy 8

5.1 Design data 8
5.2 Tunnel Ventilation System 8

6 Tunnel Ventilation Equipment 9

7 Additional comments 10

Figures
Figure 3.1: Open loop ventilation – Cool day 5
Figure 3.2: Closed loop ventilation – Hot day 6

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1 Introduction

The tunnel ventilation systems in the underground sections of the Abu Dhabi Metro and the Regional
Rail services, hereafter referred to collectively as the Underground Transportation System (UTS), are
required to provide:

a) Conditions in the public areas of the underground stations and in the running tunnels that support
the comfort of the passengers and personnel during normal operations.

b) Conditions in a congested running tunnel that support the comfort of the passengers and personnel
on the stalled train.

c) The control and capture of smoke, in the event of an incident in either a running tunnel or at an
underground station, and the provision of tenable conditions for the evacuation of passengers and
personnel.

The purpose of this report is to provide a preliminary assessment of the space requirements for the
tunnel ventilation system at the underground stations of the proposed Abu Dhabi UTS. This report
includes:

• A description of the functional requirements of the tunnel ventilation systems,

• Ventilation and cooling strategy,

• Smoke control strategy,

• Indicative selection of equipment.

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2 Functional Requirements

The following design parameters are considered in the preliminary assessment of the cooling
requirements at the underground stations.

General:

• The design summer day conditions for Abu Dhabi are taken from the ASHRAE Fundamentals
Handbook (2005) as 42.5°C db and 23% relative humidity.

• The suggested temperature criteria for the public areas at the stations and for the running
tunnels are as follows:

o Concourse: 30°C db

o Platform: 28°C db

The dry-bulb temperatures at the concourse and platform levels are set by short-term comfort
levels. There should be a temperature gradient from the service entrances to the platform to
provide a gradual introduction to the lower temperatures and to avoid thermal shock.

The control air temperature in the platform trackway and the running tunnels is set to 35°C to
support the normal operation of the onboard equipment, principally the air-conditioning units.

• Full height Platform Screen Doors (PSDs) are installed at every station. The public areas at the
platform level and the trackway are separated by the PSDs, providing a partial aerodynamic
and thermodynamic separation of the public areas from the running tunnels.

• The sources of heat gains in the platform trackway and the running tunnels are defined to be:

o The heat rejected by the traction and braking equipment of the trains,

o The heat rejected by the air-conditioning units of the trains, and

o The generation of heat due to aerodynamic resistance of the trains.

• The heat gains in the public areas of the stations are nominally:

o Physiological, 160 W/person,

o Lighting and signage, 15 W/m2,

o Escalators, 12 kW/escalator, and

o Ticket machines, 10 kW.

• The distance between two adjacent stations or cooling plants, i.e. the length of the ventilation
section, is taken to be 2.0 km.

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Metro:

• The design headway of 120 seconds, and a dwell time of 30 seconds are assumed.

• The nominal acceleration and deceleration rates are 1.1m/s2.

Regional Rail:

• The design headway of 600 seconds is assumed.

• The nominal acceleration rate is 0.8m/s2 and the deceleration rate is 0.9m/s2.

Based on the design parameters identified above, the following heat loads are estimated for the
platform trackway and the running tunnels:

• 1400 kW/train from the traction, braking and aerodynamic resistance, and

• 100 kW/car from the air-conditioning units, or 800 kW/train for an 8-car train.

Preliminary analysis indicates that the heat rejected into the running tunnels and the platform tunnels
at the stations is about 5.0 MW during the afternoon peak operations on the design summer day.

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3 Ventilation and Cooling Strategy

The proposed ventilation system for Abu Dhabi UTS includes two modes of operations; the open-loop
and the closed-loop ventilation. The open-loop ventilation is the single-pass use of outside air for the
ventilation of the stations and running tunnels. It is the more economical mode of operation when the
outside air temperatures are relatively low. In the closed loop ventilation, the warm air extracted from
the public areas of the stations is returned to the air-handling units to be cooled and delivered back to
the platform and concourse. The closed-loop ventilation is preferred when the outside air temperature
and humidity are high, since it is a more economical means of achieving the required control
conditions.

3.1 Ventilation and cooling of public areas of the stations

In the cooling cycle of public areas of the stations, the warmer air is extracted at platform level and
returned to the air-handling units (AHUs) for re-cooling. The conditioned air will then be supplied to
the platform and concourse levels. Most of the cooled air will be delivered to the platforms where
most of the heat gains exist, and where the temperatures should be lowest. The required airflow rate
through the air-handling units in this cycle is about 40m3/s. The supplied airflow rate will be shared
between concourse and platform as 15 and 25m3/s. The supplied airflow will pressurise the public
areas of the station and limit the warm air being infiltrated through station entrances and trackways.

3.2 Ventilation and cooling of platform trackway and running tunnels

The platform trackway and the running tunnels are ventilated and cooled through two cycles.

In the first cycle the Under-Platform Supply (UPS) and Over-Track Extract (OTE) ducts are used. In
this cycle, conditioned air is supplied to the trackway through UPS system. The warmer air is
extracted by the OTE and is returned to the AHUs for re-cooling. This configuration is the more
effective since warmer air rises with buoyancy, resulting in better capture efficiencies at the OTE. The
required airflow rate through the UPS/OTE ducts is about 120m3/s for both tracks.

The second cycle is the supplementary cooling required for achieving the remaining fraction of the
estimated cooling load. The supplementary cooling will either be provided by the Fan Coil Units
(FCUs) installed at the stations and in the ventilation plant rooms at intermediate locations along the
running tunnels, or by chilled water pipes installed along the running tunnels The preferred cooling
method will be decided in the later design stages.

3.3 Modes of operation

The proposed open-loop and closed-loop ventilation and cooling cycles are shown in Figures 3.1 and
3.2. In the figures, a representative number of air-handling units and return air fans are used.

The ventilation cycle of the trackway is separate from the ventilation of the public areas. The single
line schematics show only the principles involved.

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OPEN-LOOP VENTILATION
COOL DAY

SUPPLY AHU’S ENTRANCES

v CONCOURSE

PLATFORM

PLATFORM TRACKWAY
SUPPLY AHU’S

RETURN AIR FANS

Figure 3.1: Open loop ventilation – Cool day

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CLOSED-LOOP VENTILATION
HOT DAY

SUPPLY AHU’S ENTRANCES

v CONCOURSE

PLATFORM

PLATFORM TRACKWAY
SUPPLY AHU’S

RETURN AIR FANS

Figure 3.2: Closed loop ventilation – Hot day

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4 Ventilation and Cooling Equipment

4.1 Ventilation and cooling of public areas of the stations

The AHUs are sized to provide a ventilation rate of about 40m3/s to the concourse and platform areas
and are installed symmetrically in plant areas at each end of the station box.

Each AHU incorporates a cooling coil, air filter, dampers and a centrifugal fan.

The air is returned by fire rated axial fans.

4.2 Ventilation and cooling of platform trackway and running tunnels

A number of AHUs is required at each end of each station for ventilation and cooling of the platform
trackway and running tunnels.

The UPS ducts are sized based on a nominal airflow rate of 0.3m3/s per meter of the platform based
upon an effective capture rate at the OTE. For a platform length of 200m, taken for a typical Abu
Dhabi Metro station, the airflow rate through the UPS is calculated to be 60m3/s per platform, giving a
total airflow rate of 120m3/s per station.

The air is returned by fire rated axial fans.

The supplementary cooling system is required to provide about 1800 kW of cooling by FCUs or
chilled water pipes installed along the running tunnels. The required equipment will be defined when
an agreement on the cooling strategy is achieved in the later stages of the project.

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5 Smoke Control Strategy

5.1 Design data

The following design parameters are considered in the preliminary assessment of the smoke
ventilation requirements.

Metro:

• The cross-sectional area of the rolling stock: 12.0m2

• The cross-sectional area of the running tunnel: 24.1m2

• Maximum tunnel gradient: 4%

• Design fire size: 10 MW

Regional Rail:

• The cross-sectional area of the rolling stock: 12.0m2

• The cross-sectional area of the running tunnel: 38.3m2

• Maximum tunnel gradient: 2.5%

• Design fire size: 30 MW

5.2 Tunnel Ventilation System

The ventilation system should be capable of providing a smoke-free evacuation route for the
passengers in the event of fire in a running tunnel.

The metro and regional rail systems have combined stations along their route at Reem Island, Suwa
Island, and in Capital District and Airport regions. We propose to use a common ventilation system for
both metro and regional rail services at the interchange stations. This arrangement incorporates a
common smoke extract plant where the required airflow capacity driven by the fans is provided to the
incident tunnel by use of dampers.

We propose to use a system of impulse fans at each station for smoke control in the running tunnels.
The tunnel ventilation system, incorporating Saccardo nozzles, is driven by fans installed in a plant
room, and the airflow is injected to one or both tunnels by means of nozzles. The velocity of the
primary airflow at discharge from the Saccardo nozzle is about 30 m/s. A system of control dampers
enables the fans to capture smoke from the trackways and to discharge it to atmosphere.

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6 Tunnel Ventilation Equipment

The required air-handling capacities at the stations are estimated through preliminary simulations to be
about 80m3/s at the metro stations, and 120m3/s at the regional rail stations.

• We propose two fans, one duty and one standby fan, having an air-handling capacity of 80m3/s
at each end of the metro stations.

• We propose a three fan arrangement, two duty and one standby, in the regional rail stations.
The air-handling capacity of each fan is 60m3/s in this arrangement.

The proposed common ventilation system for combined stations is acceptable due to the very low
probability of simultaneous incidents in both the metro and regional rail services at the same time. In
this arrangement, we propose to install four fans of 40m3/s air-handling capacity. In addition, this
arrangement will be cost effective compared to having two separate ventilation plants serving metro
and regional rail independently.

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7 Additional comments

The proposed ventilation system for Abu Dhabi metro and regional rail services are based on the
design data given in Section 2. The following items should also be noted in the space proving studies.

• The cooling load estimation is based on a running tunnel length of 2.0 km. If a section of
running tunnel between two adjacent stations is longer than the assumed value, then an
additional plant might be required to control temperatures in the running tunnels. For a tunnel
length of about 4.0 km between two adjacent stations, we propose to install two intermediate
ventilation and cooling plants.

• The cooling load estimation in the public areas of the stations is based on a typical station
layout with concrete walls and ceiling. If there is going to be a different architectural feature in
the stations that will alter the levels of heat exchange between the public areas and the outside
air, such as glass roof, then the cooling requirement will increase.

• The draught relief shafts are closed during normal operations in summer in Abu Dhabi UTS,
since the outside air temperature is high. This assists in keeping the cooled air within the
system by limiting the exchange with outside warm air. We propose the use of ventilation
adits connecting the two running tunnels at the station headwalls for Abu Dhabi metro and
regional rail services. This would reduce the peak airflow velocities at the platforms when the
draught relief shafts are closed. The practicability of draught relief shafts, given the climatic
conditions of Abu Dhabi, will be assessed in the following design stages.

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