• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2011

In this research, the safety trends and technologies of HCNG, a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas, are analyzed. This is an attracting alternative fuels to meet the strengthened automotive exhaust gas emission standards. HCNG is very important opportunities and challenges in that it is available the existing CNG infrastructures, meets the strengthened emission standards, and the technical, social bridge of the coming era of hydrogen. It is essential for the commercialization of HCNG that hydrogen - compressed natural gas blended fuel for use in preparation of various safety considerations included accidents scenario, safety distance, hydrogen attack, ignition sources and fire detectors are examined. Risk assessments also are suggested as one of permission procedure for HCNG filling station.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.499-504
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• 2019

Due to the rapid spread and low minimum ignition energy of hydrogen, rupture is highly likely to cause fire, explosion and major accidents. The self-ignition of high-pressure hydrogen is highly likely to ignite immediately when it leaks from an open space, resulting in jet fire. Results of the diffusion and leakage simulation show that jet effect occurs from the leakage source to a certain distance. And at the end of location, the vapor cloud explosion can be occurred due to the formation of hydrogen vapor clouds by built-up. In the result, it is important that depending on the time of ignition, a jet fire or a vapor cloud explosion may occur. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account jet effect by location of leakage source and establish a damage minimizing plan for the possible jet fire or vapor cloud explosion. And it is required to any kind of measurements such as an interlock system to prevent hydrogen leakage or minimize the amount of leakage when detecting leakage of gas.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.338-346
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• 2019

During last years, hydrogen refueling infrastructure test and devices research for hydrogen station presented a significant growth consisting of the commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). However, we still have many challenges for making commercial hydrogen stations such as increased safety and cost reduction. This study demonstrates the low cost hydrogen storage tank (type 2) and effective winding method for high pressure hydrogen storage. We use numerical analysis to verify stress changes inside the wire according to the winding condition. Also liner size, winding wire size and wire tension were studied for the safety and cost down. Results show that the stress of winding wire decreased with increased winding angle and increased the liner diameter. On the other hand, the stress of winding wire increased according to the increased wire thickness and tension.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.101-107
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• 2022

To test a flameproof enclosure for the safety certificate, a reference pressure of explosion needs to be determined. However, the explosion pressure may be changed according to relative humidity of explosive gases. Therefore, the guideline on relative humidity should be recommended for measuring the explosion pressure for accurate and reproducible testings. This study examined the relationship of explosion pressure with relative humidity of hydrogen (31 vol %)-air and acetylene (14 vol %)-air mixture gases. The explosion pressures were measured by increasing the relative humidity of the gases by 10 % from dry state to 80 % in a cylindrical explosion enclosure of 2.3 L. on ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure (1 atm). The maximum explosive pressures were remained almost constant until the relative humidity reached 10 % for the hydrogen-air mixture and 20 % for the acetylene-air mixture. However, the maximum explosive pressures linearly decreased as the relative humidity increased. Based on the results of the study, it would be recommended to use 10 % relative humidity for the hydrogen-air mixture and 20 % for the acetylene-air mixture as the critical value in testing a flameproof enclosure.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.415-427
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• 2024

Explosion experiments were conducted using a rectangular concrete structure filled with hydrogen-air mixture (29.0%). In addition, the effect of ignition location on explosion was investigated. The impact on overpressure and flame was increased with the increasing distance of the ignition source from the vent. Importantly, depending on the ignition location the incident pressure was up to 24.4 times higher, while the reflected pressure was 8.7 times higher. Additionally, a maximum external overpressure of 30.01 kPa was measured at a distance of 2.4 m from the vent, predicting damage to humans at the injury level (1% fatality probability). Whereas, no significant damage would occur at a distance of 7.4 m or more from the vent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2008

In this study, small punch test and tensile test were performed with specimens directly machined from an ASTM A53 grade B carbon steel pipe at which an explosion accident was occurred in the Heavy Oil Unit. Main damage mechanism of the pipe was known as a high temperature hydrogen attack(HTHA). Effects of HTHA on the mechanical strength change of the A53B steel were studied in detail. Small punch test results have showed that maximum reaction forces, SP energy and ductility were decreased at hydrogen attacked part of the pipe compared with sound part of the pipe. Yield strength and tensile ultimate strength were calculated with the obtained small punch test curve results using different methods and compared the estimation methods. Small punch test simulation has been also performed with the finite element method and then mechanical strength, equivalent strain and fracture toughness were calculated with the obtained numerical analysis results. It was shown that the fracture toughness data calculated from small punch equivalent energy obtained by the finite element analysis for SP test was very low at the hydrogen attacked part.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1742-1756
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• 2023

The hydrogen behavior in a nuclear containment vessel is a significant issue when discussing the potential of hydrogen combustion during a severe accident. After the Fukushima-Daiichi accident in Japan, we have investigated in-depth the hydrogen transport mechanisms by utilizing experimental and numerical approaches. Computational fluid dynamics is a powerful tool for better understanding the transport behavior of gas mixtures, including hydrogen. This paper describes a Large-eddy simulation of gas mixing driven by a high-buoyancy flow. We focused on the interaction behavior of heat and mass transfers driven by the horizontal high-buoyant flow during density stratification. For validation, the experimental data of the Containment InteGral effects Measurement Apparatus (CIGMA) facility were used. With a high-power heater for the gas-injection line in the CIGMA facility, a high-temperature flow of approximately 390 ℃ was injected into the test vessel. By using the CIGMA facility, we can extend the experimental data to the high-temperature region. The phenomenological discussion in this paper helps understand the heat and mass transfer induced by the high-buoyancy flow in the containment vessel during a severe accident.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.9-15
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• 2023

Hydrogen is gaining attention as a sustainable and renewable energy source, potentially replacing fossil fuels. Its high diffusivity, wide flammable range, and low ignition energy make it prone to ignition even with minimal friction, potentially leading to fire and explosion risks. Workplaces manage ignition risks by classifying areas with explosive atmospheres. However, the effective installation of a blast wall can significantly limit the spread of hydrogen, thereby enhancing workplace safety. To optimize the wall installation of this barrier, we employed the response surface methodology (RSM), considering variables such as wall distance, height, and width. We performed 17 simulations using the Box-Behnken design, conducted using FLACS software. This process yielded two objective functions: explosion likelihood near the barrier and explosion overpressure affecting the blast wall. We successfully achieved the optimal solution using multi-objective optimization for these two functions. We validated the optimal solution through verification simulations to ensure reliability, maintaining a margin of error of 5%. We anticipated that this method would efficiently determine the most effective installation of a blast wall while enhancing workplace safety.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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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 the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.41-46
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• 2007

The residential fuel cell system was modeled as a box-shaped chamber with vent openings, filled with various components such as reformer, desulfurizer, fuel cell stack and humidifier. When the vent openings are 1% of the total surface and hydrogen leakage 1%, hydrogen concentration is around 0.1% higher than the other regions from leak points in the chamber at 30 seconds and hydrogen concentration is increased from 0.3% to 0.7% in the upper region of the system after 200 seconds. When the vent openings are 1% of the total surface and hydrogen leakage 1%, 3%, 5%, the steady state result of CFD, 5% of hydrogen leakage is reached the lowest ignition limit in the system. When the vent openings are 2% of the total surface and hydrogen leakage 1%, hydrogen concentration is increased in the bottom of the system for 60 seconds. After 250 seconds, hydrogen concentration is reached the steady state in the system. As the vent opening of the total surface increased from 1% to 2%, averaged hydrogen mole fraction is under 1% in the system, however, upper regions of the system from the hydrogen leakage points are shown over 1% of hydrogen mole fraction.