The Application of Vertically-

Mounted Jet Fans in Ventilation

Shafts for a Rail Overbuild

Richard Ray, Mark Gilbey and Praveen Kumar

PB Americas, Inc.
Railroad Tunnel Ventilation
Requirements
Normal Operations:
Removal of Heat
Dilution
of Combustion Products from
Diesel Locomotives
Train Fire Emergency:
Provide
Tenable Evacuation Path for
Evacuating Passengers per NFPA 130
 Piston Effect
Longitudinal Ventilation
(Normal)

Ventilation Shafts

Portal Portal

Direction of Train Travel

Push-Pull Longitudinal
Ventilation (Emergency)

Supply Fans

Exhaust
Fans

Direction of Passenger Egress

Reversible Axial Fans for
Push-Pull System
Isometric View of
Overbuild
Building A

Building North
I Portal

Length = 914.4 m (3,000 ft)

Width = 9.75 to 15.24 m (32 to 50 ft)
Building Height = 5.56 to 8.53 m (18.25 to 28 ft
O

South Portal
Building I Overbuild
 Overbuild
Natural/Mechanical
Ventilation: Buildings A
Damper
E Dampe
r

Shaft Fan Extraction Duct Shaft Fan

Fans

Portal Stopped Train Portal

Overbuild Ventilation System
Buildings F O
Jet
Fans Vertically-Mounted on
Shaft Walls Near Base of Shaft
Dampers at Top of Shaft Eliminated
Jet
Fans Run for Fire Emergencies
and High NO2
 Jet Fan Performance

Momentum Exchange Between Faster

Moving Jet of Air Discharged from Fan
and Surrounding Airstream
Onlya Portion of the Total Flow Passes
through Jet Fan
Remainder Passes Around Fan and is
Accelerated by the Jet
Work Best with Low Resistance, Low
Velocity Tunnel or Shaft
Saccardo Nozzle

High Velocity Nozzle

Induced Airflow
Through Tunnel
Vehicular Tunnel Jet Fan
Installation
 Design Considerations:
Building I Jet Fans
TargetAirflow Total of 236 m3/s (500,000
cfm) for the Two Shafts
Determine Required Jet Fan Thrust
Calculate
Shaft and Plenum System
Resistance and Resulting Pressure Drop
Offset
by Pressure Rise Due to Shaft
Stack Effect (Estimated Smoke
Temperature = 107C [225F])
Preliminary Building I Shaft
and Plenum Geometry
Shaft Areas: 4.5 m (14.8 ft) by 3.05 m (10 ft)
Shaft Heights: 24.8 m (81.2 ft )
Single
Approach to Shaft from Plenum
w/Turning Vanes at Bottom of Shafts
Series
of 1.5 m (5.0 ft) by 1.5 m (5.0 ft )
Openings in Top of Crash Wall to Plenum
Plenum Height 1.6 m (5.1 ft) to 2.1 m (6.9
ft)
Plan View of Building I
North Shaft and Plenum

Calculated Overall
Pressure Drop =
0.184 kPa
(0.738 in. w.g.)
 Stack Effect

Pstack = g h=0.062 kPa (0.25 in. w.g.)

Where:
P= Stack effect pressure rise (kPa [in. w.g.])
= Difference between ambient temperature and the
average smoke temperature air density (kg/m3
[lb/ft3])
g = Acceleration due to gravity (m/s2 [ft/s2])
h = Vertical height of shaft (m [ft])
 Ptunnnel / shaft Pstack std
Thrust Ashaft
smoke

Jet Fan Thrust

Ptunnnel / shaft Pstack std

Thrust Ashaft
smoke
Where, Thrust in N (lb) is calculated from:

= Jet fan effectiveness

shaft = Shaft cross sectional area (m2 [ft2])
smoke= Smoke density (kg/m3 [lb/ft3])
std = Air density at which fan was rated (kg/m3
[lb/ft3])
 Jet Fan Effectiveness ( )

Ability
of Fan to Transfer Momentum
to Surrounding Airstream
= 1.0 for Fans Located in Center
of Shaft and Away from Shaft Walls
For
Fans Close to Corners, Walls and
Other Fans, Could Be as Low as
0.77
 Correction Coefficient for
Shaft Velocity
Tunnel Air Velocity Offloads
the Fan Compared to Still Air
Conditions (Woods)
JetFan Velocity of 36.3 m/s
(7,140 fpm); Shaft Velocity of
11.6 m/s (2,280 fpm)
Coefficientof 0.68 x of
= Overall Correction of 0.52
 Jet Fan Selection

Overall Coefficient of 0.65 Used

Total Thrust Required per Shaft
= 3,514 N (790 lb)
Three 0.9-m (2.96-ft) Dia. Jet
Fans per Shaft Assumed for
Initial CFD Runs
Thrust = 3,079 N (687 lb) to
Match Fans in Other Shafts
 Results of Initial CFD
Analysis
Total
Airflow for Two Shafts of 310.4 m 3/s
(668,000 cfm)
SmokeLayers Still Unacceptably Low in
Some Segments of the Evacuation Path
ShaftsIncreased to 5.84 m (19.2 ft) by 3.05
m (10 ft) for Next Iteration
4thJet Fan Added Total Thrust of 4,095 N
(916 lb) Per Shaft
Revised Building I Shaft
and Plenum Configuration

South North
Shaft Shaft

Plenu
m

Crash
Walls
Revised Fan/Shaft
Performance
Air Velocity
(fpm) South Shaft North Shaft
184.53 m3/s 164.24 m3/s
(391,000 cfm)
(348,000
cfm)
Section View of Air Velocity
Vectors Through Shafts
Air Velocity
(fpm)

Air Velocity
(fpm)
Air Velocity Contours at Fan
Discharge and Top of Shafts
Air Velocity
(fpm)
North
Shaft

South
Shaft
 Calculations vs. CFD
Analysis
Stack Effect Less than Calculated Due to
Dilution from Make-Up Air
Calculations Repeated Using CFD Output
Shaft Smoke Temperature of 58C (136F)
Make-up Air Pressure Drop of 0.027 kPa (0.110
in. w.g.)
Overall Correction Coefficient of 0.625 Calculated
With ShaftCoefficient from Table
of0.71,yieldsof 0.88 instead of 0.77
 Conclusions

JetFans Can Be Used to Induce High Airflow

Quantities Through Shafts in Tunnel
Ventilation Systems
Jet Fan Thrust Estimates Should Account for
Efficiency () and Shaft Velocity Correction
Factor
JetFan Efficiency () Not as Adversely
Impacted by Shaft Length and Proximity to
Walls/Corners as Predicted