Project / Rail & safety

Locomotive fire detectors: transient flow and thermal assessment

Normal operation and defined fire scenarios were modeled to assess temperature histories at detector locations.

CFD temperature and flow field inside a locomotive powerpack
Rail · CFD simulation · Thermal analysis
Industry
Rail
Services
CFD simulation · Thermal analysis

Engineering question

The study examined whether the proposed detector locations registered a temperature rise across different operating and fire scenarios.

Model & approach

  • Steady models for vehicle movement and standstill
  • Several transient fire scenarios represented as separate load cases
  • Time-dependent temperature evaluation at detector locations

Boundary conditions

  • Steady reference states and transient fire scenarios
  • EN 50553 as the project requirements framework
  • Flow velocity evaluated as an additional influencing quantity

Results of the assessment

  • Several detector locations responded to the temperature rise in the assessed scenarios.
  • High local velocities remained confined to the immediate fan region.
  • The steady cases established the normal-operation thermal baseline.

Engineering consequence

The assessment supported evaluation of the detector arrangement for the modeled scenarios.

Context

The assessment describes the temperature response at detector locations in the modeled fire scenarios.

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