• Fire Science and Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.119-127
• /
• 2011

Because of most notably the increase in vehicular traffic in Korea, as measured by highway transport usage, relief is being sought by expanding the construction of highways after 1970s'. These highways have opened up over 70 % of the mountainous areas in Korea's country side which includes the construction of tunnels. Currently there are 607 tunnels installed that are being maintained and by 2015, under the next medium-term plan, Korea will build an additional 440 tunnels. In addition, the use of 1,000m double-pole tunnels is expected to increase significantly in 256 locations. There is no doubt that these tunnels will relieve traffic congestion and aid improved communications, but halfclosed underground highway tunnels in particular are required to reduce tunnel fires caused by poor vehicle maintenance, and other factors such as speeding motorists that increase the number of vehicular accidents. Double-pole tunnels in 1,000m length over require vehicle drivers to be more cautious in terms of the continuous speed limit, judged by how devastating most of car-crash fires within these tunnels can be. In order to prevent these disasters, a full-length tunnel speed enforcement system should be considered mandatorily in legal clauses.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.27-33
• /
• 2024

In this study, an analysis was conducted on internal and external factors related to fires in electric vehicles in order to improve the safety of electric vehicles against fire accidents. To conduct the analysis, field survey data conducted on actual electric vehicle fire accidents were used, and accident-related statistical data was used. Among them, as a result of analyzing the internal factors related to fire accidents in electric vehicles, it was confirmed that high-voltage batteries are an important factor in fire accidents caused by internal factors of electric vehicles. An analysis of external factors for fire accidents of electric vehicles was also conducted in this study. The largest number of electric vehicle accidents that occurred on public roads were mainly caused by physical external forces such as collisions. Therefore, strengthening the safety of this road infrastructure could be an additional solution to improve the fire safety of electric vehicles. As a result, based on car accident cases, two crash scenarios based on road infrastructure were derived, each of which simulates a high-speed frontal collision situation and a lower-end collision situation. Additionally, detailed test methods for these scenarios were developed.