Performance-Based Analysis in Evaluation of Safety in Car Parks under Electric Vehicle Fire Conditions

Abstract

Even though electric vehicles (EV) were invented over a century ago, their popularity has grown significantly within the last 10 years due to the development of Li-ion battery technology. This evolution created an increase in the fire risk and hazards associated with this type of high-energy battery. This review focuses on lessons learned from electric vehicle fires and fire risk mitigation measures for passenger road vehicles partially or fully powered by Li-ion batteries. The paper presents EV fire risks, as well as historical car fires, published large-scale fire tests, and some proposed fire protection strategies in the aspect of electromobility safety for the future. Technical solutions for EV fire hazard mitigation are discussed, and methods of performance-based analysis and simulations for fire safety in car park evaluation are demonstrated. The Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) was used for the CFD simulations for the prediction of smoke dispersion and temperature distribution during an EV fire. The presented case study demonstrates how fire simulations could predict conditions for the safe evacuation of people and Fire Brigade intervention conditions in the case of an EV fire in a car park.

Structural Performance of Outdoor Mechanical Garages under Combustion Conditions

“…To investigate the basic laws governing fire spread and mechanical structure response, a pool fire was employed in this study to simulate the initial stage of a vehicle fire. Despite differences in heat release rate profiles [33][34][35], the pool fire retains a certain degree of representativeness during its early stages.…”

“…Additionally, gasoline is easily accessible, and simulating automobile fires using gasoline also exhibits high experimental reproducibility. However, it is worth mentioning that the simulation of new energy vehicle battery fires [35] is closely related to gas diffusion and combustion characteristics, which significantly differs from traditional fuel pool fire simulations. Therefore, the study of fuel fires is primarily focused on in this paper.…”

“…where Q represents HRR in Figure 7 [41], which belongs to the ultrafast fire in this paper; A represents the projected combustion area; m ′′ represents the mass loss rate per unit area of the large fuel pool (>5 m 2 ), taken as 0.055 kg•m −2 •s −1 ; χ represents the combustion efficiency, taken as 70% for gasoline; and ∆H c represents the heat of combustion for gasoline. The use of the t 2 fire in the FDS simulation is widely practiced in fire science research, especially when simulating specific scenarios like car fires [35]. Non-steady-state fires can be represented as t 2 fires, and during the initial growth stage of a fire, the HRR approximately follows a t 2 relationship with time [41,42].…”

The Mechanical Response of Structural Elements in Enclosed Structures during Electric Vehicle Fires: A Computational Study

“…This assumption can be deemed acceptable only if post-flashover assessments are Despite the rapid advancement of this technology, there are several significant drawbacks to consider. These include thermal instability, aging mechanisms, and the additional cost associated with implementing protective measures [21]. LIBs necessitate the implementation of a safety mechanism to effectively restrict voltage and internal pressure, thereby resulting in an augmented weight and constrained performance.…”

Firefighters’ Clothing Contamination in Fires of Electric Vehicle Batteries and Photovoltaic Modules—Literature Review and Pilot Tests Results

“…Two obvious examples are the growing number of photovoltaic (PV) installations in buildings [1] as well as car batteries used as electrical power for propulsion [2,3]. With such growth, it has been noticed that a significant number of fires have resulted from the failure of PV installations [4], as well as fires involving electric vehicles [5,6]. In such incidents, firefighters are exposed to smoke containing highly toxic, flammable, corrosive, and irritant substances [7,8].…”