09 Jun 2010
Spain’s 'Multidimensional City' research and development project, begun in 2005, has completed after major Arup involvement.
La Ciudad Multidimensional (Multidimensional City) is a research and development project sponsored by Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Most of the largest infrastructure companies in the country are part of this programme. Its main aim is to research how underground facilities can be used more extensively in cities in the future.
Arup’s fire consulting team has taken part in this initiative from the start, with a focus on investigating safety for tunnels. Tunnels are playing an increasing role in the development of cities and communication routes.
The Arup team in Madrid has experience in real-scale fire testing and computational fluid dynamics software for the fire safety design of tunnels.
The Project started in 2005 and has recently come to an end. There have been innovative results in seven areas of research, from materials for tunnels to security and communications systems, including building processes and calculation methods for sub-soil works.
As part of the security sub-project, Arup has developed new models for fire in tunnels, prediction of smoke movement and modelling of evacuation times. These developments represent an innovative advance for the tunnels security sector in Spain.
This R&D programme has received funds from the Spanish Ministry of Science and also FEDER funds from the European Community (FEDER stands for Regional Development European Funds).
More information about the project can be found (in Spanish) at www.laciudadmultidimensional.es.
Share: