Physical Characteristics of Lighting Environment and Physiological Change of Drivers in Tunnel

The physical characteristics (i.e., road surface luminance, sidewall luminance, overall uniformity of luminance, and longitudinal uniformity of luminance) of the tunnel and the physiological change (i.e., pupil diameter and heart rate) of the drivers were investigated by the real vehicle tests and the whole scale model. Experiments were carried out in the real tunnel and the whole scale model with the sidewalls covered by the energy-storage and self-luminous material coating (ESMC) and the fireproof material coating (FMC). The results also show that compared to FMC, the luminance and the luminance uniformity were higher, and the pupil diameter and heart rate of drivers were smaller for ESMC. Furthermore, the physical characteristics of the light environment are negatively correlated with the physiological change of drivers. Moreover, each decrease of 1 cd/mm2 in road surface luminance and sidewall luminance, the pupil diameter increase by 0.54 and 1.06 mm, the heart rate increase 7.29 and 14.15 times/min, respectively. Each decrease of 0.1 in luminance uniformity, the pupil diameter increase by 0.33 mm, the mean heart rate increase 4.41 times/min, respectively.