Train HHR Project Information

Assumptions
The following assumptions are made:

 For the purpose of focusing on the fire size of the train itself, luggage brought aboard by
passengers is not considered in the calculation;
 Only one type of insulation material is considered for each of the areas such as walls, floors and
ceilings; however, it is possible for the user to add other combustible materials;
 Fire starts at the first seating node with an ignition source of a negligible size;
 The carriage is divided into nodes to facilitate the calculation and represent fire spreading
(rather than assuming everything in the whole carriage burns at the same time), and all the
combustibles in the same node start burning at the same time once the ignition threshold is
reached in the node; after obtaining all the critical heat fluxes of all the materials, the lowest
critical heat flux in the node, except for that of the window shield(curtain), is taken as the
ignition criteria of the node;
 Ignition delay time is not considered;
 Heat build-up (due to being within an enclosed environment) and smoke radiation is not
considered within the method (or its impact upon ignition times for each node).
 It is assumed that both doors at the two ends of the carriage are wide open
 and the windows in the seating area shatter early due to uneven temperature rise over the
glazing.

The carriage is horizontally divided into nodes in such a way:

 In the seating area, nodes are basically centered around each row of seats, and the number of
nodes equals that number of rows of seats, i.e., an imaginary line at the middle of two adjacent
rows of seats defines the boundary of the two nodes, as is illustrated by the red dotted line
 below. As for the first and the last seating nodes, the walls between the seating area and the
front/end lobbies are taken as the other side of the node boundary.
 Front Lobby and End Lobby are divided into two nodes each, according to the compartment
layout

Materials
Assuming combustible materials for PTB vehicle resemble those of the Edmonton LRV’s interior

Combustible Lining/Material Location on Car

High Pressure Laminate (HPL) Panels Walls, Ceilings, Coves

Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) Panels Portal Frames plus Sand Box Pillars

Nora (vulcanized rubber) with Phenolic/Foam Floor

Substrate

Velvet Fabric Covered Plastic Seats

Polyfilm Window Anti-Graffiti Screens, Wind Screens

Worksheet Component name Material Substrate Thickness

Section

Curtain Side window Material K Vandal Film + glass Vandal film 0.15 mm + 5 mm + 10.5
+ argon + glass mm + 5 mm
Curtain Side door window Material K Vandal Film + single 0.15 mm + 5 mm
pane glass
 Curtain Windscreen Material K Vandal Film + single 0.15 mm + 5 mm +0.15
pane glass +Material K Vandal mm
Film
Seat Plastic seat insert with Material I - Velvet Fabric Seat Fabric + plastic As the sample
upholstery
Interior End portal covering Updated (2014-12) FRP FRP 5 mm
Wall console
Sidewall Wall panels Updated (2014-12) HPL wall HPL 6.4 mm
Floor Floor covering Material F - Nora with Rubber 2 mm + 17 mm
Substrate
Side Ceiling Articulation portal Material B - FRP AVI FRP 3 mm
Panel covers
Central Ceiling Panels - Holster Updated (2014-12) FRP FRP 5 mm
Ceiling console
Panel