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Tunnel Fire Protection > Expert articles
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  "Matrix engineered products - the ultimate solution to the multiple needs of fire protection in tunnels European tranport infrastructure."
"By dr. Octavian Anton, director of Promat International Research and technology centre nv"

 
A good construction is a safe construction and an important factor is fire safety. The Promat organisation, a component of the worldwide known construction materials Etex Group, has long experience in fire protection of different constructions,  from buildings to tunnels, airports to sports stadia. Promat offers not only a large range of products – PROgressive MATerials – but also systems, adapted concepts for the most efficient fire protection of people and goods. Confronted with a large variety of demands, evolving in parallel and together with security legislation in different countries from different continents, the company has, since its creation, introduced a specific concept in developing products, systems and services, including free advice and detailed documentation for fire protection needs.
Figure1: Matrix engineered products – controlled crystal growth technology

A new generation of high performance products was launched with multiple advantages for the protection of concrete structures, construction of escape routes, fire doors, cable systems and ventilation systems
 
Figure 2:
The outstanding performance of matrix engineered products
   
MINERAL ENGINEERING AND PRODUCTS WITH ENGINEERED MATRIX
The known, largely used development and manufacturing techniques of a product aimed at fire protection is the combination of different inorganic raw materials with a view to obtaining an incombustible product with necessary physico-mechanical characteristics. Promat’s research and technology department developed a new approach in product manufacturing. Selected mineral phases are synthesised by a controlled crystal growth technology. This ‘mineral engineering’ obtains the best performances for a given application. Not only the crystallo-chemistry is controlled, but also the morphology and the crystal assembling manner (figure 1). Thus, realising a product with a specially designed porosity, density, mechanical performances, thermal conductivity and dimensional stability in diverse humidity and temperature conditions; a product with an ‘engineered matrix’.
 
  HIGH PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS
A new generation of high performance products was launched with multiple advantages for the protection of concrete structures, construction of escape routes, fire doors, cable systems and ventilation systems. Designed to answer the most severe fire scenarios as described by the RWS fire curve, these products are not only a barrier to fire or a kind of ceramic protection, but for a certain period of time play the role of a fire brigade by cooling down in pre-designed steps the near environment of the concrete structures. Afterwards they become an efficient thermal insulator at fire temperatures up to 1400°C. The engineered matrix products can easily secure a same temperature value at the interface with the concrete, with only half of the other products’ thickness (figure 2). Although designed as panels, the engineered matrix allows to curve a board on site to cover surfaces with a diameter of curvature down to 8m (figure 4). Easy to install by clean techniques (figure 3: Toulon tunnel), the application of the engineered matrix products can be realised on existing tunnels without total neutralisation of the traffic.
 
Figure 3: Toulon tunnel protected with PROMATECT- T boards for ceilings,
escape routes, smoke extraction ducts and fire doors
 
INTENSIVE TESTING
Intensive and extensive testing for specialists’ approvals was carried out after a detailed in-house testing programme. Not only the fire protection performances were investigated, but also the behaviour in typical mechanical (like pressure/de-pressure as induced by vehicles traffic) and chemical aggressions (like highly polluted atmosphere by exhaust gases). Today, all of the company’s products are tested on different concrete elements in certified test laboratories. Their engineered matrix products were tested for fire protection performances on fresh, as well as aged, concrete. This to be sure that the fire protection will still be provided through generations of lifetime.
 
Figure 4: Maximum on site curving capabilities of the PROMATECT- T board
 
Generally, a certain cooling contribution is brought during fire at the interface between the concrete and the fire protection material by the hydration water from the cement. By ageing, part of the hydrated phases of the cement in concrete are transformed in nonhydrated phases that have no more a cooling effect. The Promat engineered matrix board can control the temperature at the interface with an aged (Frejus tunnel concrete, 20 years plus of age) as well as a fresh concrete (as applied on Toulon tunnel) e.g. fire tests executed by CTICM in Metz in France under the modified hydrocarbon curve (figure 5). Accelerated ageing tests with the fire protection product itself were done in different laboratories across Europe and demonstrated that the physical integrity and performances integrity can be certified intact for many decades. Matrix engineered products offer the possibility to construct fire safe systems, resulting in several advantages:
• Covering flat and curved surfaces
• Certainty of real fire safety
• Saving labour costs
• High durability
    Figure 5: Promat also judged the fire performance of its products on aged concrete
   

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