Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, May, 1900: Vol. 57, May, 1900 to October, 1900
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
=Ventilation of Tunnels.=--The question of the ventilation of tunnels
forms the subject of a series of articles, by M. Raymond Godfernaux,
published recently in _Le Génie Civil_. The principal sources of
definite information, upon which the discussion of M. Godfernaux is
based, are the reports of the committee on ventilation of tunnels of
the Metropolitan Railway of London, and of the commission appointed
by the Italian Minister of Public Works to investigate the tunnels of
the railways of the department of the Adriatic. Although the vitiation
of the air in a tunnel may proceed from three sources--i. e., the
lighting, the respiration of the passengers, and the combustion of
the fuel in the engines--yet the two former sources are insignificant
compared with the latter, which alone need be considered. The principal
products of combustion which are injurious are carbonic acid, carbonic
oxide, and sulphurous acid. Of these it is found that the proportion of
carbonic oxide should not exceed 0.01 per cent, which corresponds to
0.13 per cent of carbonic acid in excess of the normal proportion of
0.03 per cent and to 0.00027 per cent of sulphurous acid. In practice
it is found that if the total proportion of carbonic acid be limited
to 0.15 per cent the proportions of the other gases will be well
within the comfort and danger limits. This is much lower than is often
attained in crowded auditoriums, where the proportion of carbonic acid
sometimes reaches 0.4 to 0.5 per cent, but in such cases there is no
carbonic oxide produced, while in the case of tunnels traversed by
steam locomotives we may assume that the carbonic oxide will be about
1 to 13 of the carbonic acid, and the sulphurous acid about 1 to 440.
Assuming a given limit of deterioration of the air, it would be easy
to devise a system of ventilation if it were possible to treat the
tunnel as if it were a closed room or controllable space. In practice,
however, the conditions are peculiar. The space to be ventilated is
a long, narrow passage, usually open only at the ends, and traversed
periodically often almost continuously, by trains in one or both
directions, these trains emitting the objectionable gases and also
disturbing the air currents best adapted to proper ventilation. How
best to reconcile these conflicting conditions forms the problem under
consideration. Where there are but few trains it has been proposed
to close the ends of the tunnel by doors, and provide a fan exhaust
or pressure system, but this method is obviously limited in its
applications. The practical conditions which must be considered are
those in which frequent trains in opposite directions pass through the
tunnel, and these conditions M. Godfernaux has analyzed graphically
in a very interesting manner. Assuming a double-track tunnel eight
hundred metres (a metre contains 39.37 inches) in length, with an
exhausting ventilator placed in the middle and with trains of a given
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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