This work deals with the study of the phenomena involved when a water mist is sprayed in a tunnel fire environment. It relies on an extensive use of numerical simulations using the CFD code Fire Dynamics Simulator. The first chapter of this thesis provides an overview of the tunnel fire characteristics and the phenomena involved when the water mist is sprayed. A bibliographical review on the research on tunnel fires with or without any mitigation system is conducted, allowing to outline the reason and the context for this research. In the second and third chapters, the computational tool undergoes testing. It is verified and validated based on comparison with analytical solutions and experimental cases of increasing complexity : from the laboratory scale for assessing one particular part of the water spray model (chapter 2) up to the tunnel scale (chapter 3). For the last case, the code validation makes use of the results of a reduced scale (1/3rd) tunnel fire test campaign conducted between 2005 and 2008. Once the validation is achieved, the computational tool is used intensively in the third chapter in order to improve the understanding of the interaction phenomena between water mist, tunnel longitudinal ventilation and fire. In particular, the water mist influence on the tunnel air flow is studied, the water mist heat contribution is quantified and the heat transfered to the droplets is identified. Furthermore, the CFD code is used to assess the impact of the longitudinal air velocity, the heat release rate and the water droplet size on the water mist efficiency. The last chapter illustrates how a CFD code can be used on a given situation, here a compartment fire test campaign, in order to foresee the interaction between the water mist, the smoke layer and the smoke extraction.
