• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.26-30
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• 2013

It is necessary to use pressure reducing valves to provide required water pressure in water-based fire suppression systems of the tall buildings. In many cases, however, pressure reducing valves lose their function due to the phenomenon of pressure equalization caused by valve leak. This study carried out performance evaluation of the recently developed pressure reducing valve to prevent pressure equalization and found it can maintain designed pressure reducing ratio within 11% variation and prevent pressure equalization by automatic self-lock function of the piston.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.69-77
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• 2020

With the recent enlargement and complication of buildings, damage caused by the incidents of fires breaking out are escalating. Consequently, the use of sprinkler facilities is increasing among water-based fire extinguishing systems. Piping materials used in fire prevention systems include carbon steel (for general or pressure pipeline), CPVC, copper, and stainless-steel. Among these, the steel and CPVC pipes, which are commonly employed in fire prevention, were considered for testing the reliability of the water-based systems. This analysis was performed using the PIPENET software to perform hydraulic calculations in order to examine the flow and pressure at the terminal head when the corrosion coefficient was applied; this coefficient was applied considering the aging of pipes. Assuming a uniform pipe diameter in the steel pipes, the rated flow in the pump installed on the first floor of the basement was reduced by over 10% after 20 years had passed (C value of 90); moreover, the reduction in pressure and flow at its terminal head exceeded 30% and 16.5%, respectively. The results indicate that it is difficult to ensure the reliability of these fire prevention facilities. Furthermore, according to our estimation, considering 30 years had passed (C value of 80), the rated flow of the pump was reduced by over 15%, and the corresponding reduction in pressure and flow at its terminal head exceeded 42% and 24%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.355-362
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• 2016

The pipe material is selected according to the physical and chemical properties of the fluid flowing within it. Because the fluid used in fire extinguish systems is water, the various foreign substances dissolved in it cause scale to form on the pipe wall and accelerate the corrosion and aging of the pipe itself. This results in an increase in the friction loss and eventually degrades the efficiency of the pump. The use of CPVC (Chlorinated Poly-Vinyl Chloride) pipes was confirmed to reduce the friction loss compared to conventional steel pipes in the design and construction stages. The friction loss was found to be 76.64MPa with a C-value of 120 for the steel pipe and 50.72 MPa with a C-value of 150 for the CPVC pipe in an actual apartment construction environment. It was confirmed that the friction loss was improved by about 34% when using the CPVC pipe. When the steel and CPVC pipes were employed in the construction, the construction costs were 1,585,158 and 931,842 won, respectively. Therefore, it was shown that the construction cost was reduced by about 41%. We investigated the safety of the fire extinguishing system and the improvement in the economic performance due to the reduction in the total installed capacity by studying practical applications in the field.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2019

Reaction-to-fire performance of pipe insulation materials should be approved in accordance with KS standards prior to installing water-based suppression systems because several fire accidents are initiated from insulation materials around ceilings or concealed space. A small room test to evaluate the reaction-to-fire performance of the polyethylene foam and elastomeric pipe insulation materials was conducted according to ISO 20632. Different fire growth rate and heat release rate are observed depending on the materials and construction methods. In order to improve a fire safety, the reaction-to-fire performance of pipe insulation material needs to be subdivided with regard to the heat release rate and smoke generation. Furthermore, the characteristics of the applying space are also required to be considered. Subsidiary materials for installation process such as tape and adhesive are found to provide an adverse effect to maintain a fire safety.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 2015

Water hammering created by an unsteady flow in pipeline systems can cause excessive change in pressure, vibration, and noise. So, water hammer analysis is very important for limiting the damage caused to pipeline, pump and valve systems by operation conditions. On the other hand, water hammer arrester has been manufactured and used in order to minimize the damage caused by water hammering phenomenon in domestic, and it has been produced and installed as the low cost-oriented because of being no separate standard in the meanwhile. Therefore, our research team investigated about the standardization of water hammer arrester performance through the various methods, such as test methods for verification of one pipe, assuming the occurrence of water hammer in a water-based fire extinguishing system, separated for opening impact pressure and shut off impact pressure and for a branch pipe in order to make guideline for water hammer arrester performance. And finally, verified the performance of the water hammer pressure as the simple mechanical way using the U-shaped pipe and a test weight, so KFI standards for the water hammer arrester could be established.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.35-42
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• 2021

In this study, a steel frame that realized the second floor of a structure was fabricated in referring to NFPA 13. In addition, a riser pipe system with groove joints was installed, and a seismic simulation test was performed using static cyclic loading. Cyclic loading tests on the maximum allowable side sway of seismic design standards for buildings in Korea were conducted using actuators to analyze the seismic behavior of the riser pipe system and major piping elements due to the deformation of the steel frame structure or the displacement-dominant behavior caused by the relative displacement between the structural members in the event of a seismic load. Moreover, the deformation angle of the riser pipe system was measured using an image measurement system because it is difficult to measure using the conventional sensors.