T'unnelling and Underground Space Technology 134 ( 2023)104985 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology incorporating Trenchless Technology Research journal homepage : .elsevier./locate/tust Effect of inclined mainline on smoke backlayering length in naturally branched tunnel fire Youbo Huang ",,Xi Liu ,Bingyan Dong ,Hua Zhong , Bin Wang ,Qiwei Dong College of Safety .University of Science and Technology ,Chongging China School of Architecture ,Design and Built ,Nottingham Trent University ,Nottingham United Kingdom Beijing General Engineering Designt Research Institute ,Beijing ,Chin ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT Keywords In this study ,the effect of the slope of the mainline tunnel on the characteristics smoke movement and the Tunnel fire distance of smoke backflow in a branched tunnel with an inclined downstream mainline was investigated .The Tunnel slope downstream mainline tunnel slope varied from 0% to 7% at intervals of 1% .A virtual wind velocity was proposed Backlayering length Bifurcation angle as a means to correlate with the airflow velocity induced by the stack effect .The results showed that significant Nat...