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Technical Advisory Committee

Dr. Rune Brandt, Chairman of the Board of Directors, HBI Haerter AG, Switzerland
Chairman

Dr Rune Brandt heads the renowned and internationally reputed consultancy HBI Haerter. Since 1963, the tunnel ventilation and the safety concept of more than 1000 tunnels worldwide have been designed by HBI Haerter that has offices in Switzerland, Germany and Australia. Moreover, pollutions dispersion modelling and risk assessment is part of the core services. HBI Haerter follows projects during their entire evolution from first ideas over preliminary and detailed design to tendering, comissioning, site supervision and operation.

Dr Rune Brandt is active in several PIARC tunnel working groups. Moreover, he serves on scientific committees in various countries. He holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge University (UK), is Eur Ing and has a M.Sc. from the Technical University of Denmark.

Prof. Arnold Dix, ALARP, Australia
Deputy Chairman

Professor Dix is president of ITA.  He is a specialist legal/technical adviser in all aspects of tunnel risk. Investigating real disasters as the governments investigator, formulating project contracts, resolving disputes and adjudicating conflicts.

 A barrister of 30+ year’s experience  and scientist – visiting Prof Engineering, CEO Alarp group of companies, Executive Vice President ITA, committees of NFPA 130 & 502, member International Tunnel Insurance Group and former PIARC committee and WG member.

UK & Local Committee Members

Prof. Alan Vardy, University of Dundee, UK

Author and supplier of the tunnel airflow software ThermoTun (rail), inventor and lead developer of tunnel control software MPVC (road)

Advisor in tunnel aerodynamics, ventilation and control

Research interests:

  • Transient flows in networks
  • Micro pressure wave assessment and suppression
  • Pipeline condition monitoring
  • Micro-scale modelling of turbulent wall boundary layers
  • Practical numerical analysis
  • Related interests:
  • Safe tunnel operation
  • Responsible uses of the world’s resources
  • Irresponsible uses of the world’s wine
Gary Clark,  Atkins, UK

Gary is a Chartered Engineer and Technical Director for Atkins in the discipline of Tunnel Ventilation. He has over 25 years’ experience in tunnel systems safety consultancy, design, research and development with particular strengths in tunnel safety risk analysis and ventilation design for complex road, rail and metro tunnel projects. As Safety Officer for seven UK tunnels, he has particular interest and experience in tunnel operations, and building the link between design, installation and operation for the optimisation of tunnel operational safety.

Mohammad Tabarra, ARUP, UK

Mohammad is Arup’s global lead on tunnel ventilation business, advising clients contractors and operators on industrial ventilation projects, as well as solar energy masterplans.  With 40 years of consulting and management experience, he specialises in tunnel and metro ventilation, aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and solar energy. He has led the design and technical management of many of Arup’s successful tunnel and metro projects and has lectured extensively to future engineers.  Mohammad is a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and member of ASHRAE TC5.9, reviewing and contributing to several papers. He works closely with clients, applying R&D and linking academics to contractors to deliver sustainable tunnel and metro solutions to help shape a greener world.

Dr. Fathi Tarada, Mosen Ltd., UK

Dr Fathi Tarada is the founder and managing director of Mosen Ltd, an engineering consultancy. He is qualified in engineering, management and law and is a leading expert in fire safety engineering, tunnel ventilation and Computational Fluid Dynamics. Fathi is the inventor of the MoJet® ventilation system, a patented energy-efficient device that has been installed in tunnels worldwide. He represents the United Kingdom at the Technical Committee on Road Tunnel Operations for the World Road Association (PIARC), and was awarded a medal for Construction Health & Safety by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Fathi’s educational qualifications include:

  • Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Applied Sciences, majoring in mechanical engineering (with First Class Honours), University of Sussex, 1984.
  • Doctorate of Philosophy in mechanical engineering, University of Sussex, 1987
  • Master of Business Administration (with Distinction), Open University, 2000
  • Bachelor of Laws, Open University, 2014
Dr. Pierre Carlotti, ARTELIA, France

Pierre graduated from Ecole Polytechnique (Paris); PhD University of Cambridge; Has worked on fire safety and ventilation in road and rail tunnel for 20 years. Former head of Laboratoire Central de la Préfecture de Police, where he worked, among other subjects, on post fire investigation and fire risk in Paris train and metro network. Currently works on Grand Paris Express, Toulouse Metro line C, and several other projects, while carrying on research on fire science.

Kate Hunt, WSP, UK

Kate leads WSP’s Tunnel Systems team in the UK. She has substantial experience in the engineering design and analysis of ventilation systems for road, rail/metro and cable tunnels and a deep appreciation of fire life safety systems and the wider tunnel M&E installations for these applications. Kate’s substantial breadth of experience in tunnel systems and operations allows her to develop robust operating strategies and bring a holistic approach to tunnel systems design on many projects. Kate is also a UK Committee Member of PIARC’s Tunnels committee.

Ian Sweetland, Yyss Ltd., UK

Ian is a Mining Engineer who gave up digging coal, in darkness, in order to design, construct, deliver and measure the mechanical systems that blow air through the same holes. Complicated by usually being too warm, sometimes too cold, occasionally gas laden etc. and still in darkness. He “saw the light” – thanks to Arthur Scargill and the miners strike in 1984 – and moved from working in the dark to a, generally, daylight environment, and continued designing, constructing, delivering and measuring, whilst at the same time changing from “complicated networks of mine airways” and high pressures to “long tubes” and low pressure in tunnels. Currently building petrol powered fans AKA aircraft.

 

Eleftheria Aini, Hill International, Greece
Eleftheria has over 23 years of experience in Design & Interface Coordination of E/M & Railway systems, supervision and on-site assistance in Underground Railway Projects, Road Tunnels and Building Projects with emphasis on Tunnel Ventilation & Fire Safety Engineering. Worked in several design positions for large scale projects in Greece and Qatar (metro, road tunnels, airports, underground car parks).
For the last 16 years she has been working for the Athens & Thessaloniki Metro projects as well as Road Tunnel projects in Greece.
Joined VINCI CGPH in 2006 as an HVAC & Tunnel Ventilation specialist, she was promoted to Mechanical Installations Design Manager in 2008, while in 2017 she was assigned with the coordination of the technical offer preparation of the new driverless Athens Metro Line 4 consisting of 13km of tunnels, 15 new stations, a new OCC building and Maintenance facilities. MEng, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, 1997. Member of ASHRAE & Technical Chamber of Greece. 

International Committee Members

Roberto Arditi, SINA (ASTM Group), Italy

Roberto Arditi has been contributing to multidisciplinary groups for the activities of design, works direction and study in the following field of the engineering: infrastructures and equipment design, evaluation and analysis of the risk in transports, transport studies and technical/economic evaluations, evaluations of environmental impact, technical coordination of European projects studies and implementation in the framework of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). He acted as animateur of the working groups on Road and Tunnels safety of technical directors of the ASTM-SIAS group. I contributed to several Governmental, Intergovernmental and Association Commissions: e.g. Expert and Member for the Commissions of the Italian Higher Council of Public Works, member of the Italian National Board for the Forecast and Prevention of Main Risks of the Italian First Minister Office. He was member and rapporteur of national Policy commissions on road safety, road construction and environmental impacts, into group of experts of UN-ECE, Independent expert of the European Commission DG transport, etc. He was member of Aiscat Permanent Commissions, co-chair of ASECAP permanent committee nr. 3, chair of PIARC Task Force on “road security”, chair and member of the international technical Committee of PIARC on “National Road Safety Policies and Programmes” and chairman of the Italian mirror committee, co-chair of iMobility forum. He took in charge the scientific secretariat of several National and International Conferences and I developed several technical papers, books and publications. He was member of the technical or scientific committee of more than 20 international and national symposiums. He held more than 100 lectures in universities or other fora in the mentioned fields of interest.

Atsushi Ichikawa, Nippon Express Company, Japan

Atsushi Ichikawa has more than 30 years’ experience of expressway facilities planning construction, operation and maintenance in Japan. Especially, I have been in charge of tunnel ventilation and safety for more than 20 years. Especially tunnel ventilation control and water spray operation are fields of my speciality. I was a technical adviser of the consortium of Japanese general contractors for the construction of east-west highway in Algeria. I am a technical adviser of NEXCO Research Institute and an associate member of PIARC TC4.4.

MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Japan

PhD in Civil Engineering from University of Dundee

Cristian Biotto, Aurecon, Australia
Cristian is Principal Tunnel System engineer with Aurecon. He has over a decade of experience in the design of tunnel ventilation and tunnel MEI systems; in particular, he is currently MEI Design Manager for the West Gate Tunnel and he is managing the technical advisory team on the Melbourne Rail Tunnel Project, both in Melbourne, Australia. In the past, he has worked on major tunnel infrastructure such as City Rail Link in Auckland, WestConnex M5, Inland Rail, Melbourne Metro in Australia, Crossrail and London Power Tunnel in the UK. He is leading the Tunnel System Group in the Australian Tunneling Society (ATS) to share knowledge across all parties involved, from contractors to operators, from designers to vendors
Sean Cassady, HNTB Corporation, USA
Sean Cassady has more than 29 years of experience in mechanical engineering analysis and design, with the last 18 years focused on  pollutant management and fire hazard mitigation within enclosed vehicular transit and highway facilities. He is a registered professional engineer in fire protection and mechanical engineering disciplines with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington. Sean has lead teams in fire hazard mitigation system design and analysis on a variety of projects including;
• 17.5 m dia., 2.7 km long SR99 bore tunnel in Seattle
• 13.2 m dia., 3.4 km long Bosporus straight crossing tunnel in Istanbul
• Renovation/retrofit of stations and tunnels on various transit and highway projects for
capacity increase, flood mitigation or infrastructure hardening measures
Natasha De los Rios, Mott Macdonald, USA

Natasha has 24 years engineering experience with focus in design, analysis and technical review for underground ventilation and fire life safety for transit, rail, and road tunnel projects in the USA and abroad.  Skilled in the application of industry-recognized analytical tools, such as: Subway Environment Simulation (SES), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and Egress Modeling software.

 

Natasha is a Deputy Practice Lead, and has worked in key design positions, as Discipline Lead and Project Manager for FLS on diverse infrastructure projects such as Ontario Line Technical Advisory, WMATA Tunnel Ventilation Upgrades, DC, USA, Second Avenue Subway – NYC; MARTA GEC- Rehabilitation-Atlanta USA; Northwest Rail Link-Sydney Australia; Bosphorus Crossing-Turkey; Mascot Tunnel Electrical and Civil Upgrade- Sydney Australia, Southwest LRT, MN, USA; Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel, VA, USA.

Dr. George Leoutsakos, Attiko Metro, Greece

Dr Mechanical Engineer with 31 years’ experience in Metro, LRT and Tram Projects engineering, with focus on electromechanical / railway systems including rolling stock; also in design, design management and interface coordination of stations / tunnels / shafts / depots for conventional and driverless systems.  Worked for 15 Metro and 3 Tramway projects in operation, under construction and under design.

Initially specialized on fluid mechanics, heat transfer and turbomachinery research, then to rail/metro tunnel ventilation and fire protection and eventually centrally involved in the concept, preliminary and detailed design and project specifications for >100 Metro stations, >200 Metro Ventilation and Electromechanical equipment shafts, 20 Tramway stations, 10 Metro & Tram depots, 6 bus and park & ride facilities. Currently Deputy Engineering Director in Elliniko Metro S.A. in Athens, Greece.

Parallel experience on contracts and tender documents preparation, testing & commissioning, systems installation supervision and Metro operations documentation. Also involved in research projects οf Metro energy saving and structural health monitoring within EU research frameworks. 53 publications in international journals/conferences.

Silas Li, WSP, USA

Silas Li is the Director of Tunnel Systems at WSP where he actively participated in various complex multi-discipline transportation projects involving advanced technologies that can improve tunnel ventilation and fire life safety.  Silas has spent over 30 years in all phases of project delivery for tunnel systems and fire-life safety, and is particularly skilled in the application of computer software for transit, rail and road tunnel projects. Silas has worked on over 50 signature projects in the U.S. and 10 overseas countries. Silas has chaired the ventilation task group of NFPA 130 technical committee for over 10 years. He is the leading author of the latest version of SES software contributing to the success of numerous projects worldwide.

Igor Maevski, Jacobs Engineering, USA

Chairman of ASHRAE TC TC5.9 on Enclosed Vehicular Facilities (2014 – 2016);

  • Chairman of ASHRAE Standard Committee SPC 217 “Non-Emergency Ventilation in Enclosed Road, Rail and Mass Transit Facilities”;
  • Principal Member of NFPA 502 Technical Committee since 2004;
  • Author of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Synthesis Study – Design Fires in Road Tunnels – a detailed description of national and international design and operation   practices;
  • Author of Recommended AASHTO Guidelines for Emergency Ventilation Smoke Control in   Road Tunnels;
  • Professional Engineer in the States of New York, New Jersey, Washington.

  Over 30 years of experience in tunnel ventilation and fire life safety systems design and   analysis

Norman Rhodes, Consulting Engineer, USA

Norman began his career in the shipbuilding industry and was involved in many aspects of mechanical design and commissioning of naval ships. Later specializing in computer simulation of fluid flow, he participated in the development and application of the first general purpose CFD codes. Applications included the first three dimensional fire and smoke movement models – now a conventional and accepted technique for design.

With the Mott MacDonald group he led the simulation and modelling division, becoming involved with large infrastructure project design and construction and particularly tunnel ventilation and safety. During this period he conducted research in visualization of design through Virtual Reality, including the incorporation of simulation results to demonstrate operational strategies. A byproduct of this work was the development of the pedestrian modelling software STEPS. 

He is the former chair of the IMechE Thermofluids Committee, and former secretary of PIARC working group on Fire and Smoke Control in Tunnels, in which capacity he contributed to the monographs on tunnel fire safety issues published by PIARC. He was a member of the steering committee for the European Union Fires in Tunnels (FIT) thematic network, and rapporteur for the FIT report on fire response management.

Conrad Stacey, Stacey Agnew Pty Ltd, Australia

Mechanical engineer with an early background in mining, hypersonic upper atmospheric flight, scramjet propulsion, open channel hydraulics, livestock heat stress on ships, the geodynamo and boomerang aerodynamics.

Now a thought leader in ventilation and fire safety in underground infrastructure.

Current projects are

  • Atlanta Plane Train Extension
  • Brisbane Cross River Rail
  • Brisbane Metro Busway
  • Sydney WestConnex Motorway Tunnel network
  • North East Link road tunnel in Melbourne
Ignacio del Rey Llorente, TYPSA, Tecnica y proyectos, S.A., Spain

In his more than twenty years of professional experience, has participated as tunnel ventilation specialist in road, railway, and metro tunnels. His huge experience in the application of fire and ventilation simulation tools (1D and 3D) but also his involvement as TVS lead designer and fire safety specialist has allowed him to participate in many different project stages: planning, design, testing, commissioning and even training of control centre operators.

He has participated in large metro projects around the world (Riyadh, Stockholm, Doha, Lima, etc.), road tunnels (M30 ring road, Vielha, Sauzal, Envalira, Somport, etc.) and high speed (HS2, Chamartin) which has provided him huge experience in the identification and resolution of the complex interfaces existing between TVS and other disciplines (fire and life safety, civil works, architecture, etc). Holistic view of fire safety aspects (evacuation, smoke management, operation, and other related issues).

Currently, he is one of the Spanish members of the Road Tunnels Operations committee of the World Road Association (PIARC), having acted as Chairman of that Committee from 2012 to 2015 and as Spanish speaking secretary from 2008 to 2011. For more than 20 years, he has been an active member of the working groups on ventilation, air quality and fire of this Committee.

He also was member of the task group on Research and new findings of the International Committee on Safety in Underground Facilities (ITA-COSUF) and a member of the National Spanish Road Tunnels Committee, where is currently acting as Vice-Chair.

For more than 15 years he was part-time professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Technical University of Madrid in graduate and postgraduate courses and professor of the Professional Master in Fire Safety Engineering in the Pontificia Comillensis University in the area of ventilation in underground facilities. He is very active as lecturer in different tunnel ventilation courses including the Road Tunnel Operators Training Course by the Spanish National Association (ATC) or the Master in Tunnel Engineering by AETOS.

Joseph Grella, Retired, National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK), USA

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering: The Pennsylvania State University

Registered Professional Engineer: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York.  Retired: California, Minnesota, and Oregon.

Life Member: American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers

Life Member: American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Alternate Member: 2007 NFPA 130 Technical Committee

Career: General Electric Company (1974) – Aerospace thermodynamics for re-entry vehicle design; Kling-Lindquist Architect/Engineers (1980) – Building mechanical services design; AMTRAK (1991) – Rail transportation facilities design

Past Work: Design of buildings and facilities for passenger rail operations — including repair shops, service and inspection facilities and tunnel ventilation & life safety.

Interests: Photography, automobile mechanics and travel.

Bruce Dandie, RRT Pty Ltd, Australia

Bruce is experienced in the design, construction, and management of road and rail projects in an underground environment. He has particular expertise in tunnel ventilation and fire/life safety, and has led the technical management of many projects around the world. In his career, he has acted as client, consultant, and contractor for numerous private and government organisations. He is a member of the NFPA130 committee and has been a PIARC Working Group member, and a member of the Austroads technical committee.

Sanetoshi Saito, Railway Technical Research Institute

April 1990: Researcher of Railway Technical Research Institute, Japan.

2011-2021 Laboratory Head of Heat and Air Flow Analysis of Environmental Engineering Division of Railway Technical Research Institute, Japan.

2022-present

Director of Environmental Engineering Division of Railway Technical Research Institute, Japan.

Research interests:

– Pressure variation in tunnel

– Micro-pressure wave

– Smoke flow in railway tunnel

Dr. Davar Abi Zadeh, ARUP, UK – Emeritus Member

Davar has DIC and MSc from Imperial College and PhD from University of London. He is an ARUP Fellow and a retired director of Arup with over 40 years’ experience in design, construction and operation of rail, road, cable tunnels ventilation  aerodynamics, and  mechanical engineering.

His latest projects include:

  • Second Ave Subway, New York,
  • Cross Rail London,
  • Marmaray Crossing, Turkey,
  • Cityringen and Fermarnbelt Link, Denmark, and Fulton Street Transit Centre, New York
Deputy Chief Gary English, Retired, Underground Command and Safety, USA

Retired Seattle USA Deputy Chief of Major Transportation Projects and Assistant Fire Marshal.  Extensive experience new and retrofits of road and rail tunnel projects: 2004-2017- New light rail system including, twin tunnels, rail tunnel sprinklers, converting Interstate 90 road tunnels to rail. 2010-2019 State Route 99 Large diameter stacked road tunnel, I 90 twin tunnels independent testing and selecting detection system and foam efficacy verification.

Assistant Fire Marshal Supervised 60 staff including Fire Protection Engineers in code compliance, fire systems design, plan review, installation inspections, commissioning and ongoing system testing for 30,000 building systems. Interpreting and applied International Fire Code regulations and developed local amendments to codes and standards for road and rail tunnels.     

Development of emergency response plans, conduct emergency responder training in underground fires, terrorism, multiple casualty incidents with numerous related papers. Supervising Tunnel Rescue Team.  Technical committee member on NFPA Road (502) and Rail (130) tunnels, Tech committee member on Transportation Research Board Underground/Tunnel Structures with numerous papers accepted, Tunnel Projects for National Research Council (US and Canada), National Highway Cooperative Research Programs.

Currently addressing water additives and sprinklers in road tunnels to allow unrestricted dangerous goods and developing guidance documents for existing tunnels to recognize and address undersized ventilation systems by operational changes, using sprinklers to limit fire size to match existing ventilation. 

Prof. Akisato Mizuno, Kogakuin University Tokyo, Japan
  • May 1969: Graduated from the University of Tokyo, Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • May 1971: Completed master’s course in Mechanical Engineering at Graduate school of the University of Tokyo
  • March 1979: Completed doctorial course in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tokyo
  • April 1979: Lecturer of Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kogakuin University
  • From April 1984 to July 1985: Studied at the institute for Heat and Fluid Research at Ruhr University Bochum, West Germany
  • April 1990: Professor of Department of Mechanical Engineering at Kogakuin University
  • From January 2005: CEO of FITUT Laboratory co. ltd.
  • From April 2009 to March 2013: The President of Kogakuin University
  • November 2021: Received “The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” from the Japanese Government
Dr. Miho Seike, Asssociate professor, Hiroshima University, Japan
  • Dr. Miho Seike is associate professor of Hiroshima University, having received her Ph. D in 2015. Her major is fluid engineering and safety engineering. Her recent research work is to investigate evacuation behaviour by full-scale tunnel with smoke experiments. She is also interested in rescue and fire-fighting activities in smoke filled large enclosed space such as tunnels and undergrounds space fire. She focuses on smoke’s and evacuees’ behaviours in tunnel fires by full-scale experiments and numerical simulations. She is a Membership Advisory Council (MAC) member of International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) since 2023 and also Co-Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
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