• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.140-151
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• 2019

It is to assess the indoor air quality of the chemical hazardous materials exposed to the fire after firefighters returned to the fire scene. The research subject randomly selected four fire stations located in Seoul, Korea. Two fire stations were set up as control groups after the return of the firefighting activities at the actual fire scene, and two other fire stations were set up as control groups to measure the air quality of the room at normal levels regardless of the action. We conducted 24-hour monitoring for all fire accidents that occurred in Seoul Metropolitan using fire safety map computer system. Also, indoor air quality was measured immediately after homecoming if the experiment group was to be dispatched due to an accident of intermediate or larger scale. 11 hazardous substance items such as fine dust, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, PAH, VCM, acidity, asbestos, CO₂, NO₂, O₃ were measured according to the process test method. Three of 11 types of harmful substances exceeded domestic and foreign standards, and one of them was found to be close to foreign standards. In particular, total volatile organic compounds, carbon dioxide and sulfuric acids were 2.5 times, 2.2 times and 1.1 times higher than the standard. Also, for formaldehyde and sulfuric acid, it was measured higher in the control group than in the case group. This findings could be used in policies to improve indoor air quality in the fire station of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.75-95
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• 2003

A numerical model is presented to simulate the mechanical behaviour of composite steel and concrete columns taking into account the interaction between the hollow steel section and the concrete core. The model, based on displacement finite element methods with an Updated Lagrangian formulation, allows for geometrical and material non linearities combined with heating over all or a part of the section and column length. Comparisons of numerical calculations made using the model with 33 fire resistance tests show that the model is able to predict the fire resistance, expressed in minutes of fire exposure, of composite columns with a good accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.41-47
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• 2010

For the enhancement of structural safety of thermally damaged reinforced concrete structure, rapid evaluation of damage in the structure is very important. This study addresses a simplified method which is equivalent to the standard fire curve (ISO 834) for the residual bond strength evaluation. In the proposed method, a exposure duration as well as the maximum temperature can be considered. For the comparisons with conventional methods, concrete properties obtained from the report of Daegu subway fire accident were referred and the results support the applicability of the proposed method in this study.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.59-66
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• 2009

This research aims to conduct a pilot study for the in-fire performance of headed studs, commonly used in composite structures over the world. The robustness of the shear studs in fire appears to be a key element to govern the composite behaviour after a sudden local instability developed in structures such as trusses and cellular beams. In order to experimentally evaluate the residual strength of studs in fire, the standard push-out test was modified for a half of the original set-up to be equipped with a furnace. The adjustments allow the steel section to have a 3-sided exposure against fire. Under the Standard ISO fire, the modified push-out tests under loading were conducted to identify the failure mechanism of the studs in relation to temperature developments.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.569-576
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• 2019

Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to assess firefighters' daily personal noise exposure and explore noise levels related to specific tasks and their contributions to total noise exposure using 24-hour full-shift noise exposure measurements with task-based data. Methods: Noise exposure was assessed for eight firefighters (two rescuers, two drivers, and four suppressors) using time-activity diaries. We collected a total of 24 full-shift personal noise sample sets (three samples per a firefighter). The 24-hour shift-adjusted daily personal noise exposure level (L_ep,d), eight weekly personal noise exposures (L_eq,w), and 40 task-specific L_eq values (L_{eq activity}) were calculated via the ISO/NIOSH method. Results: The firefighter noise-sample datasets showed that most firefighters are exposed to noise levels above EU recommended levels at a low-action value. The highest noise exposure was for rescuers, followed by drivers and suppressors. Noise measurements with time-at-task information revealed that 82.3% of noise exposure occurred when checking equipment and responding to fire or emergency calls. Conclusions: The results indicate that firefighters are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss. Therefore, efforts at noise-control are necessary for their protection. This task-specific noise exposure assessment also shows that protective measures should be focused on certain tasks, such as checking and testing equipment.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.521-537
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• 2012

In this study, an experimental study is performed to understand the effect of spalling on the structural behavior of fire damaged steel reinforced high strength concrete (SRHSC) columns, and the test results of temperature distributions and the displacements at elevated temperature are analyzed. Toward this goal, three long columns are tested to investigate the effect of various test parameters on structural behavior during the fire, and twelve short columns are tested to investigate residual strength and stiffness after the fire. The test parameters are mixture ratios of polypropylene fiber (0 and 0.1 vol.%), magnitudes of applied loads (concentric loads and eccentric loads), and the time period of exposure to fire (0, 30, 60 and 90 minutes). The experimental results show that there is significant effect of loading on the structural behaviors of columns under fire. The loaded concrete columns result more explosive spalling than the unloaded columns under fire. In particular, eccentrically loaded columns are severely spalled. The temperature distributions of the concrete are not affected by the loading state if there is no spalling. However, the loading state affects the temperature distributions when there is spalling occurred. In addition, it is found that polypropylene fiber prevents spalling of both loaded and unloaded columns under fire. From these experimental findings, an equation of predicting residual load capacity of the fire damaged column is proposed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.181-190
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• 2007

A fire-resistant steel with enhanced load-bearing capacity has been developed to enable structural elements such as columns and beams withstand exposure to severe fire conditions. To precisely evaluate the fire-resistant performance of structural elements that compose fire-resistant steels, mechanical properties such as yield strength and elastic modulus are essential. To obtain the mechanical database of fire-resistant steels at high temperatures, tensile tests at high temperatures were conducted on steels of two kinds of thicknesses. The results showed that the thickness difference could not affect the mechanical properties at a high temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1652-1656
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• 2022

Fire tests were conducted on cables using fire-retardant paint employed in nuclear power plants that transmit electrical power, control and instrument signals. The failure criteria of various power and control cables coated with fire retardant coating at three different coating thicknesses (~0.5 mm, 1.0 mm & 1.5 mm) were studied under direct flame test using Container Fire Test Facility (CFTF) based on standard tests for bare cables. A direct flame fire test was conducted for 10 min with an LPG ribbon burner rated at ten by fixing the cable samples in a vertical cable track. Inner sheath temperature was measured until ambient conditions were achieved by natural convection. The cables are visually evaluated for damage and the mass loss percentage. Cable functionality is ascertained by checking for electrical continuity for each sample. The thickness of cable coating on fire exposure is also studied by comparing the transient variation of inner sheath temperature along the Cable length. This study also evaluated the adequacy of fire-retardant coating on cables used for safety-critical equipment in nuclear power plants.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-197
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• 2014

Ventilation and fire safety design in road tunnels are one of the most complex issues that need to be carefully considered and analysed in the designing stage of any potential upgrade of ventilation and other fire safety systems in tunnels. Placement road tunnels space has an important influence on fire safety, especially when considering the effect of adverse wind conditions that significantly influence ventilation characteristics. The appropriate analysis of fire and smoke control is almost impossible without the use of modern simulation tools (e.g., CFD) due to a large number of influential parameters and consequently extensive data. The impact of the strong wind is briefly presented in this paper in the case of a longitudinally ventilated road tunnel Kastelec, which is exposed to various severe wind conditions that significantly influence its fire safety. The possibility of using CFD simulations in the analysis of the tunnel placement in space terms negative effect of wind influence on the tunnel ventilation is clearly indicated.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.11-14
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• 2008

This paper is currently being conducted to develop a nonlinear finite element analysis methods for predicting the structural behavior of reinforced concrete structures, exposed to fire. The changes in thermal parameters are discussed from the point of view of changes of structure and chemical composition due to the high temperature exposure. Although, this study considers codes standard fire for reinforced concrete frame, any other time-temperature relationship can be easily incorporated.