Programme ISTSS 2025

08:00 Registration

09:00 Opening Ceremony
Chair: Anders Lönnermark, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden

Opening speech
Jón Viðar Matthíasson, Fire Chief of Greater Reykjavík Fire and Rescue Service

09:30 Keynote I
Chair: Anders Lönnermark, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden

09:30 - 09:55
State of the art of Tunnel Fire Research at RISE (SP) 
Haukur Ingason and Ying Zhen Li, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden

10:00 - 10:25
Explosion hazards of vehicles with new energy carriers in tunnels and underground spaces
Jennifer Wen, University of Surrey, UK

10:30 Coffee Break

11:00 Fire Dynamics I
Chair: Ricky Carvel, University of Edinburgh, UK

11:00 - 11:15
Numerical study of the influence of wind on the smoke spread between underpasses
Matteo Pachera, Sweco, Belgium

11:20 - 11:35
An improved model of smoke layer thickness in naturally ventilated tunnel fires considering the effects of aspect ratio
Liliang Yang¹, Mingjian Yin², Chuangang Fan³, Jianda Xu⁴, Ke Wu¹ & Tianhang Zhang^1
1Research Center for Urban Fire Safety Engineering, China
²College of Energy, Environment and Safety Engineering, China
³School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, China
⁴Zhejiang Communications Investment Expressway Operation Management Co.Ltd.

11:40 - 11:55
Study on the indoor-outdoor temperature difference-induced smoke re-stratification in naturally ventilated tunnel fires
Jiangdong Li^1,2, Ke Wu^1,2, Tianhang Zhang^1,2 & Lizhong Wang^1
1Key Laboratory of Offshore Geotechnics and Material of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, China
²Research Center for Urban Fire Safety Engineering, Zhejiang University, China

12:00 - 12:15
Vehicles impact on smoke stratification
Benjamin TRUCHOT & Thierry DURUSSEL
Ineris, France

12:30 Lunch

14:00 Fixed Fire Fighting Systems
Chair: Yajue Wu, Sheffield University, UK

14:00 - 14:15
Laboratory Scale Tests Investigating Fixed Fire Fighting Systems and Emergency Ventilation Interaction for Highway Tunnels
Matt Bilson¹, Hasan Raza¹, Alexander Schmidt² & Max Lakkonen^2
1WSP, USA
²IFAB, Germany

14:20 - 14:35
Comparison of Fixed Water-Based Fire-fighting Systems for Road Tunnel Application  
M.K Cheong, L.W Lim, C Tan, A Chong, H Wijaya, M Thong, K.W Leong
Land Transport Authority of Singapore, Singapore

14:40 - 14:55
Key findings from fire testing of water-based fixed fire fighting systems in a medium scale tunnel
Ying Zhen Li, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Sweden

15:10 Coffee Break

15:40 Alternative Fuel Vehicles
Chair: Jennifer Wen, University of Surrey, UK

15:40 - 15:55
Preventing and managing NEC incidents in tunnels: Safety concepts
Christophe Willmann¹, Pascal Blanc, Laurence Champin, Jean Marc Couvert, Yves Fleurial, David Giuliani, Daniel Lamarche, Christophe Lemierre, Olivier Peronne, Christophe Banos¹ & Antoine Mos^1
1CETU, France

16:00 - 16:15
Explosion consequences in a tunnel: Experimental evaluation of hydrogen leaks
Benjamin TRUCHOT¹ & Jerome DAUBECH^1,2
1Ineris, France
²Sorbonne Universités, France

16:20 - 16:35
In-Tunnel LIB Cargo Fire Emergency and Impacts on Tunnel Operational Capability
Adam Wood, Miguel Angel Fuentes & Sohail Alizadeh
Mott MacDonald, UK 

17:00 Poster Session & Cocktail Reception
Chair: Jonatan Gehandler, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

08:00 Registration

08:30 Keynote II & Evacuation I
Chair: Ying Zhen Li (Chair), RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

08:30 - 08:55
Evacuation and human behaviours in tunnel fires
Håkan Frantzich, Lund University, Sweden.

09:00 - 09:25
Overview of confined fire plume behavior and smoke exhausting methods by natural and mechanical ways in tunnels
Jie Ji, University of Science & Technology of China, China

09:30 - 09:45
Numerical investigation of the effects of ventilation on the tenability of egress paths in a metro tunnel fire
Ting-Hsuan Liao & Ricky Carvel
Edinburgh Fire Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, UK

09:50 - 10:05
Ventilation and Fire Life Safety upgrades to an existing rail tunnel facility considering modern requirements 
Jeffrey Bott, Jackie Chen, Kevin Ficarra, Igor Maevski, & Andrew Page
Jacobs, USA

10:20 Coffee Break

10:50 Evacuation II (Parallel Session 1 -  Room A)
Chair: Håkan Frantzich, Lund University, Sweden.

10:50 - 11:05
Disposal of Emergency Telephones in Swedish Railway Tunnels: Practical application of the CSM RA-regulation
Karl Fridolf¹ & Johan Lundin^2
1The Swedish Transport Administration, Sweden
²Brandskyddslaget AB, Sweden

11:10 - 11:25
Safety Enhancement by Introduction of Evacuation Assisting Light for Long Distance Road Tunnel Fires
Yuika Sakamoto¹, Shoichi Kume¹, Yudai Matsunaga² & Tomoki Kikumoto^3
1Hanshin Expressway Company Limited, Japan
²Hanshin Expressway R&D Company Limited, Japan
³Techno Hanshin Company Limited, Japan

11:30 - 11:45
Tunnel safety, requirements for self-rescue and evacuation - the (mis)use of traffic volume to define the level of safety
Pål Andreas Dahl, COWI AS, Norway

11:50 - 12:05
A modified approach to walking speed within smoke-filled rail tunnels
Emil Persson, Niclas Åhnberg & Santiago Nordlund Gendra
Brandskyddslaget AB, Sweden

10:50 Ventilation (Parallel Session 2 - Room B)
Chair: Igor Maevski, Jacobs, USA 

10:50 - 11:05
Cross River Rail – Innovations in Metro Tunnel Ventilation and Fire Life Safety
Nick Agnew, Michael Meissner, & Ben Tuckwell
Stacey Agnew Pty Ltd, Australia

11:30 - 11:45
Implications of Peak Heat Release Rate to Optimize Metro Tunnel Ventilation Systems
Robert Till¹, Argun Bagis² & Bruce Dandie^3
1John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY), USA
²Arup, Australia
³RRT Pty Ltd, Australia

12:20 Lunch

13:50 Fire Dynamics II (Parallel Session 1 - Room A)
Chair: Marc Jenssen, Southwest Research Institute, USA

13:50 - 14:05
Experimental study on smoke temperature and carbon monoxide diffusion of channel fires under the synergistic action of air curtain and lateral centralized smoke exhaust
Xinyang Fan, Fei Tang, Xinyu Peng, Nannan Zhu, Xiaolei Zhang, Longhua Hu 
State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, China

14:10 - 14:25
A parametric study of fire conditions in naturally ventilated road tunnels
Imad Obadi & George Hadjisophocleous
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, Canada

14:30 - 14:45
Impact of external wind with upward and downward angles on smoke layer development in tunnel fires
Tzu-Yan Tseng & Kuang-Chung Tsai^*
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

13:50 Engineering Case Studies I (Parallel Session 2 - Room B)
Chair: Rune Brandt, HBI Haerter, Switzerland

13:50 - 14:05
When is a Tunnel a Tunnel?
Salvatore Marsico, Luis Robles & Alexa Laszlo
WSP, USA

14:10 - 14:25
Reykjavik's Sæbraut Road Tunnel: Balancing Development and Safety
Böðvar Tómasson¹, Johan Lundin², Erik Hall Midholm² & Birgir Þór Guðbrandsson^1
1ÖRUGG verkfræðistofa, Iceland
²Brandskyddslaget AB, Sweden

14:30 - 14:45
The Ferney Cut-and-cover: a project with several specific challenges
Raphaël Defert, Justine Vivien & Christophe Zing
WSP Ingénieurs Conseils SA, Switzerland

15:00 Coffee Break

15:30 Risk I (Parallel Session 1 - Room A)
Chair: Iain Bowman, Mott MacDonald, UK

15:30 - 15:45
Managing Disaster Risks in Underground Transportation Infrastructure - A Comprehensive Analysis of Safety Targets and Practices
Johan Lundin, Brandskyddslaget AB, Sweden

15:50 - 16:05
Using Deep Learning to Predict Traffic Dynamics in Road Tunnels
Naeem Khademi, Vinothini Aravindan, Parvathy Anil Kumar & Erlend Tøssebro
University of Stavanger, Norway

16:10 - 16:25
Use of a Risk Model to Evaluate Tunnel Safety Features
Sigurjon Ingolfsson, Peter Woodburn, Frederik Møller Paulsen & Rory Turnbull 
COWI Arup Joint Venture, Denmark

15:30 Emergency Management (Parallel Session 2 - Room B)
Chair: Ove Njå, University of Stavanger, Norway

15:30 - 15:45
Dutch road tunnel firefighting in the future: outlook from a Dutch fire fighter’s perspective
Nils Rosmuller & Arjen van Barreveld
NIPV Netherlands Institute for Public Safety, The Netherlands

15:50 - 16:05
What fire modelling resolution is needed in AI training data for smart firefighting in tunnels?
José A. Morales Mere, Nils Johansson & Enrico Ronchi
Lund University, Sweden

16:10 - 16:25
Review of Emergency Egress and Rescue Challenges in Rail Tunnels from  Emergency Rresponder’s Perspective
Gary English CEO (Seattle Fire Deputy Chief, ret.) Underground Command and Safety, USA 

19:00 Banquet

08:00 Registration

08:30 Keynote III & Risk II
Chair: Jonatan Gehandler, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

08:30 - 08:55
Engineering practice of tunnel fire safety
Igor Maevski, Jacob, USA

09:00 - 09:25
Structural safety in tunnel fires
Daniel Joyeux, Efectis Group, France

09:30 - 09:45
Learning from Disasters
Iain Bowman, Mott MacDonald, UK

09:50 - 10:05
Evolution of a risk indexing method for evaluating safety in Swedish railway tunnels
Håkan Frantzich¹ & Karl Fridolf^2
1Lund University, Sweden
²The Swedish Transport Administration, Sweden

10:20 Coffee Break

10:50 Engineering Case Studies II
Chair: Gary English, CEO, Underground Command and Safety, USA 

10:50 - 11:05
Rehabilitation of Fire Life Safety Systems for Existing Tunnels
Robert Faddoul, Yuan Li, Igor Maevski, James Fiscella & Sharanya Nair
Jacobs, USA

11:10 - 11:25
CFD Modeling of the Memorial Tunnel Fire Tests Using an Autonomous Meshing Approach and Adaptive Mesh Refinement
Mathias Vångö, Sarah Feher, Suresh Nambully, Matteo D’Elia & Rainer Rothbauer
Convergent Science GmbH, Austria

11:30 - 11:45
Examining tunnel safety features in sustainability-led design
Sigurjon Ingolfsson¹, Peter Woodburn¹, Sven Valdemar Sørensen¹, Fabiano Scarbi¹, Bryan Tamakloe² & Simone Curletto^2 
1COWI Arup Joint Venture, Denmark
²Metroselskabet, Denmark

11:50 - 12:05
Tunnel Ventilation in India: State-of-the-Art and Evolution
Ravi Shankar¹ & Marco Bettelini^2
1Amberg Engineering AG, India
²Amberg Engineering AG, Switzerland

12:20 Pannel Discussion and Symposium Closure
Chair: Ying Zhen Li, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

13:00 Lunch

14:30 End of Conference