Improving road tunnel resilience by dynamic risk analysis

Due to the accidental events occurred in Mont Blanc, Tauern and St. Gotthard tunnels, the European political response and the engineering technique, safety in tunnels has become a central and complex issue involving: users’ behavior, infrastructure characteristics (construction typology, escape routes, portals), and operational characteristics, such as type and functioning of the equipment installed, including safety measures (fire prevention, ventilation, lighting). The complexity of an underground structure – environment, planning and construction, safety design, operation and management procedures – and the fast technological advancement have led to the concept of the “tunnel system”. Technological innovations have led to the tunnel concept evolution from civil works to technological infrastructure, where the installed technology overcomes the geometric-functional limits, increasing its operating capacity. The Smart Tunnel idea comes from the achievement of Industry 4.0, in which there is a strong industrial automation that integrates the most innovative technologies in order to improve the operating and safety conditions and increase the equipment productivity and quality. Smart Tunnel allows optimal tunnel management during operation and in emergency situations thanks to the installation of traditional and technological sensors and the real-time assessment of tunnels’ safety level, as a function of climatic conditions, traffic data and equipment state, in accordance with the European and Italian law. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the fundamental principles of SCADRA (Supervisory Control Acquisition and Dynamic Risk Analysis) system, developed and implemented thanks to EURAM methodology and software, which assessed the risk of over 600 Italian road tunnel tubes.