Fire design approach for modern vehicles with combustion or electrical engine

Abstract

Due to climate changes and environmental considerations, the current transportation changes to modern vehicles with different vehicles models and engine types. Especially vehicles with alternative types of drive like electrical vehicles are increasing. This arises the question whether modern vehicles such as electric vehicles lead to an increased fire risk as well as an increased heat release rate. In this article, a new fire design approach for modern vehicles is presented to evaluate the fire risk of electric vehicles compared to vehicles with combustion engine with respect to the fire resistance of the structural elements in open car parks. For this purpose, heat release rates of different vehicles are analysed and an approximated approach for modern vehicles is derived. The methodology can be used for performance‐based design, where the heat release rate plays a fundamental role. Furthermore, modelling approaches of the vehicle dimensions are presented, which are based on statistical data of the German Federal Motor Transport Authority. The vehicle dimensions are used to determine the fire spread time between vehicles using a parameter study. Based on the statistical data analyses and the parameter studies, this article provides a new fire design approach for modern vehicles in fire.

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