KOINOR – Improvement of Fire Safety and Upgrading of Underground Transport Tunnels

Credit/Quelle: ASFINAG, DB Netz AG, STUVA

1 Age structure of tunnels on main roads in Germany as of 31/12/2016 [2]

Credit/Quelle: ASFINAG, DB Netz AG, STUVA

2 Age structure of rail tunnels in Germany [2]

Credit/Quelle: ASFINAG, DB Netz AG, STUVA

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

3 KOINOR project overview – distribution of the work packages

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

4 Structure of the developed requirement profile for the KOINOR repair system: Based on the construction condition, a decision is made between repair or structural upgrade. Different boundary conditions (blue) are considered and individually assessed for each mode of transport (green) and their respective requirements are taken into account in the development of the requirements system

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

5 Results of the requirements for the repair measures in KOINOR

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

6 Possible starting materials for the production of geopolymers (cf. [6])

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

7 Various fire curves used nationally and internationally

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

Credit/Quelle: MC Bauchemie

8 Example illustration of the glowing metal block on the substrate

Credit/Quelle: MC Bauchemie

9 a) Contact area of the glowing plate in the preliminary test using a repair render; b) contact area of the glowing plate in the preliminary test using a geopolymer concrete

Credit/Quelle: MC Bauchemie

Credit/Quelle: RUB

10 Linn high-therm muffle furnace (Chair of materials technology, Ruhr University, Bochum) and temperature-time curve according to the EBA guideline “Requirements for fire and catastrophe protection for the construction and operation of rail tunnels”

Credit/Quelle: RUB

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

11 Test samples of recipes 3 and 8 after high-temperature exposure

Credit/Quelle: TLB, RUB

The stock of existing tunnels in Germany is obsolete and legislators have revised the guidelines, in some cases several times. If the obsolescence of a tunnel now demands repair or a structural upgrade, then the new requirements become applicable. This can sometimes lead to considerably more stringent requirements for operational safety, durability, resilience or constructional fire protection. As part of the KOINOR research project, concepts and processes are being developed for the improvement of fire protection and upgrading of underground transport tunnels. A central point of the development is a sustainable construction material with high fire resistance for application to existing tunnels, which should also offer a solution for other typical weathering mechanisms.

1 Introduction
1.1 Background

Existing tunnels for road, rail and metro modes of transport are exposed to heavy stress during their period of use, which can lead to damage to the tunnel substance. Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 show the age distribution of existing road and rail tunnels in Germany. The first road tunnels were already built at the start of the 1970s, and the first rail tunnels as far back as 1850. From the available data, the conclusion can be drawn that rail tunnels currently have an average service life of 100 years and the oldest road tunnels are about 50 years old. Most tunnels must...