设计火灾是设计火灾隧道的固有部分。急诊科提供了用于确定隧道内设备尺寸的火灾特征和在制定应急计划时应考虑的情景。在考虑火灾对结构的影响时，也会间接使用它们。因此，设计火灾构成紧急通风、疏散和结构设计分析的基本输入。设计火灾通常以热释放速率和物种输出作为时间的函数来定义。本文总结了为公路隧道火灾风险评估开发一套设计火灾曲线的工作。开发的设计火灾曲线包括以下阶段:（1）孵化阶段，（2）生长阶段，（3）完全发育阶段，以及（4）衰变阶段。引文:伊利诺伊州芝加哥ASHRAE会议论文

Design fires are an intrinsic part in designing tunnels for fires. They provide, quantitatively, the fire characteristics that are used to establish the sizing of equipment in tunnels and the scenarios to consider when developing emergency response plans. They are also used, indirectly, when considering the impact of fires on the structure. As such, design fires form the base input for emergency ventilation, evacuation, and structural design analyses. A design fire is generally defined in terms of heat release rate, and species output as functions of time. This paper summarizes efforts to develop a set of design fire curves as a useful tool for road tunnel fire risk assessment. The developed design fire curves include the following phases: (1) incubation phase, (2) growth phase, (3) fully-developed phase, and (4) decay phase.