Messina Strait crossing! Safety analysis for submerged floating tunnels

A permanent link by submerged road and railways tunnels has been proposed for the crossing of Messina Strait, South Italy. The development of the design has required the investigation of quite innovative safety problems for both main structures and functional systems. The paper deals with the major accident scenarios identified by FMEA and Event Tree Analyses and the safety strategy adopted to optimise the proposed preventive and protective measures. The focus is on the following areas: sinking ship scenarios and explosions. An in-depth analysis has been carried out to model the sinking ship process, to evaluate the frequencies of occurrence of severe impacts as well their potential consequences for the tunnel structural integrity. The benefits of the proposed tunnel cross-section are also shown with reference to internal and external explosion scenarios.