Smoke Tests in an Underground Subway Station

초록

The design of underground subway stations for fire safety and passengers' evacuation is very important because it may lead to some fatal damages in both human and property resources in case of fire in subway systems as we have witnessed from the Daegu subway fire disaster in Korea in 2003. When a fire breaks out in an underground station of the subway as the representative of public transportation, massive volumes of toxic gases may be generated due to incomplete combustion conditions. Damage due to fire may be minimized through the early detection, control, and extinguishing of fire. Most underground subway stations in Korea are designed to have separate floors for concourse and platform, most of which are placed on a deeper floor than the concourse. A fire breaking out in the platform is more dangerous because it is on a relatively deeper floor. Moreover, evacuation takes longer time. In this study, tests were carried out to investigate the smoke movement in the platform of a subway station currently in service in Pusan, the second largest city in Korea. As a popular layout in platforms in Korea, the one of the