Test & Inspections
EXPERTISE
Ventilation measurements
Ventilation is one of the most critical system in road and railway tunnels. The ventilation might be longitudinal, transversal or semi-transversal depending on the characteristics of the tunnel. Ventilation is also installed inside emergency exits and service rooms. All tunnels are equipped with anemometers in order to provide information to the tunnel control room and serve as an input to SCADA system, regarding the air velocity and air flow direction inside the tunnel. Proper adjustments should be made in the measured values by anemometers, in order to reflect the average air velocity in the tunnel’s cross section.
Our company conducts ventilation measurements with accredited equipment following appropriate methodologies, in order to verify the ventilation system of the tunnel against its design purpose and calculate the necessary correction factors to be applied in the air velocity measurements provided by anemometers. The acquired data are recorded and evaluated by our ventilation experts. Ventilation measurements involves mainly air velocity, differential pressure, temperature and relative humidity.
We conduct tests for measuring:
- ventilation performance
- fire resistance
- thermal & mechanical properties
Smoke tests and Emergency exercises
Tunnel managers conduct several smoke tests before and during the operation of road and railway tunnels. These tests provide valuable conclusions on the proper functionality of critical systems and equipment of the tunnel. Most tunnels are equipped with longitudinal and transversal ventilation (including shafts), in order to ensure the safe evacuation of its users in case of emergency. Smoke tests are a practical way to identify in situ whether the ventilation of the tunnel fulfils successfully its design purpose. During smoke tests, we use artificial smoke in order to simulate smoke production in case of small fires, layer stratification of the smoke and the back-layering effect. The produced smoke may be at ambient temperature or in elevated temperature according to the smoke test purpose. Smoke tests are of significant importance because they help to identify hazardous situations with the minimum cost.
Our company organises and participates in large-scale road and rail tunnel emergency exercises with its experienced personnel and specialised equipment. Tunnel managers conduct emergency exercises in order to train all involved parties and provide feedback to the Emergency Response Plans. With the contribution of our field experience and professional equipment, the chosen scenario of the emergency exercise becomes more realistic and adds value both to the trainer and the trainee.
Thermal and Mechanical properties
Our company focus its research on the thermal and fire resistance as well as the behaviour of the construction materials and protection materials. On this purpose we have gained great experience on the assessment and investigation of the thermal and mechanical properties of several materials. By investigating the results of several measurements, it is easy to understand the condition of a material or a structure after a fire, declaring whether the whole structure should be remanufactured or make minor changes and improvements. These properties include thermal conductivity, thermal expansion through dilatometry, porosity, specific heat, mechanical properties before and after the fire, as well the investigation of the effect on the mechanical properties of the material by measuring the compressive strength under thermal loading (e. RILEM 129 ,200), thermal shock, etc. We are involved in the core drilling for the specimens and in collaboration with high level research institutes, we examine and investigate each material according to the project requirements.
