road tunnels may have to be redesigned if the
hydrogen econome takes off. cars fuelled by
hydrogene have been touted for
their potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. now yajue wu of the university of sheffield, uk, has built a computer simulation of a
hydrogene car crashing inside a tunnel. unlike gasoline, which pools and ignites on the ground, escaping
hydrogen would create a hight-velocity "jet flame" stretching upwards for many metres. in a paper to appear in transportation reasearch C Wu found that this 2000 degere C flame would seriously damage tunnel ceiling structures and wreck fire sensors and sprinklers. a spokesman for BMW says that in crash tests the fuel tank on its prototype hydrogen car has never been breached.