• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.89-95
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• 2016

Keeping the gas pipelines in the common utility tunnel is useful because it has a lower risk of corrosion than conventional burial, and can prevent from excavating construction. But, explosions in common utility tunnels can cause greater damage from the blast overpressure compared to outdoor explosions, due to nature of the confined environment. Despite this fact, however, research on common utility tunnels has been limited to fire hazard and little has been studied on the dangers of explosions. This study developed scenarios of methane gas explosion caused by gas leak from gas piping within the common utility tunnel followed by unknown ignition; the study then calculated the extent of the impact of the explosion on the facilities above, and suggested the needs for designing additional safety measures. Two scenarios were selected per operating condition of safety devices and the consequence analysis was carried out with FLACS, one of the CFD tools for explosion simulation. The overpressures for all scenarios are substantial enough to completely destroy most of the buildings. In addition, we have provided additional measures to secure safety especially reducing incident frequency.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.825-833
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• 2018

In this study, one calculated the range of damage to the combustion characteristics according to the composition of LNG and the size of leaking holes, and analyzed the damage effect in case of leakage accidents caused by pipe damage in the re-gasification process for the LNG supply system. In order to confirm the combustion characteristics according to LNG composition, there was no significant difference in the result of risk analysis by LNG-producing areas. However, the higher the methane content of the components, the lower the risk of flash fire, hazardous areas of overpressure due to explosion, and thermal radiation damage caused by jet fire. In addition, one investigated the effect of leakage, holes, and ruptures on the risk range and explosions according to the size of the pipe-leakage hole. Also, the influence of overpressure and the range of damage from radiant heat could be predicted. One confirmed the effect of LNG composition and pipe-leakage size on fire and explosion.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.918-922
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• 2015

As international environmental regulations for pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions discharged from ships are being reinforced, it is drawing attention to use LNG as ship fuel. This paper compares the explosion risk potential in the LNG fuel gas supply systems of two types used in marine LNG fuelled vessels. By selecting 8500 TEU class container ships as target, LNG storage tank was designed and pressure conditions were assumed for the use of each fuel supply type. The leak hole sizes were divided into three categories, and the leak frequencies for each category were estimated. The sizes of the representative leak holes and release rates were estimated. The release rate and the leak frequency showed an inverse relationship. The pump type fuel gas supply system showed high leak frequency, and the pressure type fuel gas supply system showed high release rate. Computational fluid dynamics simulation was applied to perform a comparative analysis of the explosion risk potential of each fuel supply system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.66-74
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• 2024

This study addresses the escalating issue of worldwide hydrogen gas accidents, which has seen a significant increase in occurrences. To comprehensively evaluate the risks associated with hydrogen, a two approach was employed in this study. Firstly, a qualitative risk assessment was conducted using the bow-tie method. Secondly, a quantitative consequence analysis was carried out utilizing the areal locations of hazardous atmospheres (ALOHA) model. The study applied this method to two incidents, the hydrogen explosion accident occurred at the Muskingum River power plant in Ohio, USA, 2007 and the hydrogen storage tank explosion accident occurred at the K Technopark water electrolysis system in Korea, 2019. The results of the risk assessments revealed critical issues such as deterioration of gas pipe, human errors in incident response and the omission of important gas cleaning facility. By analyzing the cause of accidents and assessing risks quantitatively, the effective accident response plans are proposed and the effectiveness is evaluated by comparing the effective distance obtained by ALOHA simulation. Notably, the implementation of these measures led to a significant 54.5% reduction in the risk degree of potential explosions compared to the existing risk levels.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.105-113
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• 2016

Since the 1980s, the number of large space buildings in Korea has consistently been increasing due to large scale international competitions such as the Olympics and the World Cup, demands for environmental improvement, and development of structural systems. Due to these reasons, this paper conducted a comparative analysis on terrorism risk factors of large space structure and skyscrapers in Korea. The results suggest that the total risk level of high-rise and large space structure was "medium level risk" and that the terrorism risk level for large space structure was as high as that for high-rise buildings. As it relates to the risk levels depending on scenarios, terrorism risks to large space structure were higher than high-rise buildings in the "internal explosion" and "internal intrusion" categories. And the results of analyzing explosion-related scenarios except for CBR suggest that terrorism risks to large space structure were highest when it comes to Internal-Explosive followed by Internal-Intrusion and Explosive-Zone I; and the results showed a regular pattern. On the other hand, in the case of high-rise buildings, terrorism risks were highest in Internal-Explosive followed by Explosive-Zone I and Explosive-Zone II; and the results showed an irregular pattern.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.102-109
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• 2023

In realizing a hydrogen society, it is important to secure the safety of the hydrogen refueling station, which is the facility where consumers can easily meet hydrogen. The hydrogen refueling station consists of compressed gas facilities that store high-pressure hydrogen, and there is a risk that the high-pressure compressed gas facility will rupture due to a fire explosion due to hydrogen leakage in the facility or the influence of surrounding fires. Accordingly, the Korea Gas Safety Corporation is making every effort to find out risk factors from the installation stage, reflect them in the design, and secure safety through legal inspection. In this study, a TNT explosion demonstration test using a protection wall was conducted to confirm the safety effect of the protection wall installed at the hydrogen refueling station, and the empirical test results were compared and verified using FLACS-CFD, a CFD program. As a result of the empirical test and CFD analysis, it was confirmed that the effect of reducing the explosion over-pressure at the rear end of the protection wall decreased from 50% to up to 90% depending on the location, but the effect decreased when it exceeded a certain distance. The results of the empirical test and computer analysis for verifying the safety of the protection wall will be used in proposals for optimizing the protection wall standards in the future.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2015

Gas leakage and dispersion in the underground LNG power plant can lead to serious fire and explosion accident. In this study, computational fluid dynamics simulation was applied to model the dynamic process of gas leakage and dispersion phenomena in a closed space. To analyze the risk assessment factor, such as the flammable volume ratio, transient simulations were carried out for different scenarios. The simulation results visualized the gas distribution with time in the closed space. The flammable volume ratio was introduced for quantitative analysis the fire/explosion probability.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2024

In the semiconductor manufacturing process, the Diffusion process generates various reactive by-products. These by-products are deposited inside the pipes of post-processing and exhaust treatment systems, posing a potential risk of substantial dust explosions. In this study, three methods material verification, selection of analysis samples, and risk analysis were employed to address the substances produced during the Diffusion process. Among the materials handled in the Diffusion process, ZrO₂, TEOD, and E-DEOS were identified as raw material capable of generating by-product dust. Test for Minimum Ignition Energy and dust explosion were conducted on the by-products collected from each processing facility. The results indicated that, in the case of MIE, none of the by-products ignited. However, the dust explosion test revealed that ZrO₂ exhibited a maximum pressure of 7.6 bar and K_st value of 73.3 bar·m/s, its explosive hazard. Consequently, to mitigate such risks in semiconductor processes, it is excessive buildup.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.289-300
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• 2020

Estimating the damage induced by an explosion around a blast hole has always been a challenging issue in geotechnical engineering. It is difficult to determine an exact dimension for damage zone since many parameters are involved in the formation of failures, and there are some uncertainties lying in these parameters. Thus, the present study adopted a probabilistic approach towards this problem. First, a reliability model of the problem was established and the failure probability of induced damage was calculated. Then, the corresponding exceedance risk curve was developed indicating the relation between the failure probability and the cracked zone radius. The obtained risk curve indicated that the failure probability drops dramatically by increasing the cracked zone radius so that the probability of exceedance for any crack length greater than 4.5 m is less than 5%. Moreover, the effect of each parameter involved in the probability of failure, including blast hole radius, explosive density, detonation velocity, and tensile strength of the rock, was evaluated by using a sensitivity analysis. Finally, the impact of the decoupling ratio on the reduction of failures was investigated and the location of its maximum influence was demonstrated around the blast point.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.25-31
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• 2020

Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion(BLEVE) can cause not only economic damage to the plant but also serious casualties. LPG accidents account for 89.6 percent of all accidents caused by gas leaks in Korea over the past nine years, while casualties from accidents also account for 73 percent of all accidents, according to statistics from the Korea Gas Safety Corporation. In addition, a potential explosion and a fire accident from one LPG storage tank may affect the nearby storage tanks, causing secondary and tertiary damage (domino effect). The safety distance standards for LPG used by LPG workplaces, charging stations, and homes in Korea have become stricter following the explosion of LPG charging stations in Bucheon. The safety distance regulation is divided into regulations based on the distance damage and the risk including frequency. This study suggests two approaches to optimizing the safety distance based on the just consequence and risk including frequencies. Using the Phast 7.2 Risk Assessment software by DNV GL, the explosion overpressure and heat radiation were derived according to the distance caused by BLEVE in the worst-case scenario, and accident and damage probability were derived by considering the probit function and domino effect. In addition, the safety distance between LPG tanks or LPG charging stations was derived to minimize damage effects by utilizing these measures.