• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.223-229
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• 2014

This study investigated the explosion characteristics of HCNG fuel using a simulation tool. The damage caused by the storage container explosion and vapor cloud explosion in a gas station was predicted. In case of an vapor cloud explosion in the HCNG station, 50~200kPa explosion pressure was predicted inside the station. When the cylinder explosion was occurred, in case of hydrogen, the measured influential distance of overpressure was 59m and radiant heat was 75m. In case of CNG, influential distance of overpressure was 89m and radiant heat was 144m would be estimated. In case of 30% HCNG that was blended with hydrogen and CNG, influential distance of overpressure was 81m and radiant heat was 130m were measured. The damage distance that explosive overpressure and radiant heat influenced CNG was seen as the highest. HCNG that was placed between CNG and hydrogen tended to be seen as more similar with CNG.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 2021

Experimental and analytical investigations are performed to explore the explosion characteristics of a hydrogen-air mixture in open atmosphere. A hydrogen-air mixture tent of total volume of 27 m³, with 40% hydrogen volume, is used to observe overpressure at a distance from the ignition source. Vapor cloud explosion analyses are performed using the TNO multi-energy model and Baker-Strehlow-Tang model. The results of these analyses are compared with experiment done from this study and references. The experimental results with and without obstacles indicate that the overpressure values measured at a distance of 4.5-21.5 m from the ignition source are about 9.4-3.6 kPa and 6.5-2 kPa, respectively. This implies that the overpressure with obstacles is approximately 1.7 times greater than that without obstacles. Analytical observation indicates that the results obtained with the Baker-Strehlow-Tang model with M_f = 0.2-0.35 are in good agreement with those of most of the previous studies, including that obtained from this study. Moreover, the TNO multi-energy model with a volume of 27 m³ well predicts the overpressure obtained from this study. Further studies should considered explosions in semi-confined spaces, which is more suitable for hydrogen refueling stations.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.7-12
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to present a methodology to estimate the capacity of the pressure relief valve which prevents overpressure of the pressure vessel in a cold state. In this methodology, the transient behavior of the flow rate through the pressure relief valve and the pressure inside the pressure vessel are considered. The result of this study shows the followings; The more the relief valve capacity is considered in excess, the more the initial relief flow rate and the initial pressure inside the pressure vessel are high and low respectively. When the relief valve capacity is determined properly, the pressure inside the pressure vessel maintains almost the same value, so the ASME code requirement will be met.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

On August 4, 2020, 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a storage warehouse at the Port of Beirut exploded. This explosion is said to be the largest ammonium nitrate explosion ever. By applying the TNT equivalency method, TNT equivalent amount corresponding to the explosion energy of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate was calculated, and it is found to be 856 tons. Overpressure and impulse were calculated in a range up to 3600 m from the blast using the Kingery-Bulmash explosion parameter calculator tool. As the distance from the explosion center increases, the overpressure and impulse decrease exponentially, but the overpressure decreases more significantly, showing that overpressure is more affected by distance than the impact. As a result of applying the damage criteria to evaluate the effects of overpressure and impulse on the structure, the critical distances at which partial collapse, major damage, and minor damage to the structure occur are found to be approximately 500, 800, and 2200 m from the center of the explosion, respectively. The probit function was applied to evaluate the probability of damage to structures and human body. The points where the probability of collapse, major damage, minor damage, and breakage of window-panes to structures are greater than 50% are found to be approximately 500, 810, 2200, and 3200 m, respectively. For people within 200 m from the center of the explosion, the probability of death due to lung damage is more than 99%, and the 50% probability of eardrum rupture is approximately 300 m. The points with a 100% probability of death due to skull rupture and whole body impact due to whole body displacement are evaluated to be 300 and 100 m, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.35-43
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• 2002

For the unconfined vapor cloud explosion accident by the continuous release of gas-liquid flow of various saturated liquids in a vessel at ground level, overpressures were estimated and analyzed with various release conditions and materials by TNT equivalency model with vapor dispersion. We found that at same release conditions, overpressure showed n-heptane > xylene > n-hexane > toluene > n-heptane > benzene, respectively and that overpressure was increased with increasing the hole diameter and the storage pressure, but it was increased with decreasing the wind speed, the interested distance, and the vessel thickness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.317-326
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• 2020

In this study, damages caused by flash fire, overpressure, and thermal radiation based on the sizes of leak holes were evaluated using the areal location of hazardous atmospheres when natural gas leaked owing to the damage of pipeline in a LNG fueled ship. In addition, environmental variables (wind speed, atmospheric temperature, and atmospheric stability) and process variables (pipe pressure and pipe length) were classified to analyze the damage impact ranges caused by various scenarios. From the results, the damage range caused by the environmental variables was the largest, followed by overpressure and thermal radiation. Additionally, for the process variables, regardless of the pressure, length, or size of the leak holes, the damage range attributed to flash fire was the most significant, and the damage range was high in the order of overpressure and thermal radiation, similar to the environmental variables. The larger the size of the leak holes, the higher the values of the environmental and process variables, and the higher the damage range caused by jet fire compared to the environmental variables.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2021

In this study, a real-scale fuel-cell room of volume 1.36 m³ is constructed to confirm the explosion characteristics of hydrogen-air mixture gas in a hydrogen-powered house. A volume concentration of 40% is applied in the fuel-cell room as the worst-case scenario to examine the most severe accident possible, and two types of doors (made of plastic sheet and wood) are fabricated to observe their effects on the overpressure and impulse. The peak overpressure and impulse based on distance from the ignition source are experimentally observed and assessed. The maximum and minimum overpressures with a plastic-sheet door are about 20 and 6.7 kPa and those with a wooden door are about 46 and 13 kPa at distances of 1 and 5 m from the ignition source, respectively. The ranges of impulses for distances of 1-5 m from the ignition source are about 82-28 Pa·s with a plastic-sheet door and 101-28 Pa·s with a wooden door. The amount of damage to people, buildings, and property due to the peak overpressure and impulse is presented to determine the safe distance; accordingly, the safe distance to prevent harm to humans is about 5 m based on the 'injuries' class, but the structural damage was not serious.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.79-90
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• 2021

This paper presents a study to reduce the effect of blast pressure on the blast valves installed in protection tunnels, where the shape of the tunnel entrance and the blast pocket is optimized based on the predetermined basic shape of the protective tunnels. The reliability of the numerical tunnel models was examined by performing analyses of mesh convergence and overpressure stability and with comparison to the data in blast-load design charts in UFC 3-340-02 (DoD, 2008). An optimal mesh size and a stabilized distance of overpressure were proposed, and the numerical results were validated based on the UFC data. A parametric study to reduce the blast overpressures in tunnel was conducted using the validated numerical model. Analysis was performed applying 1) the entrance slope of 90, 75, 60, and 45 degrees, 2) two blast pockets with the depth 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 times the tunnel width, 3) the three types of curved back walls of the blast pockets, and 4) two types of the upper and lower surfaces of the blast pockets to the reference tunnel model. An optimal solution by combining the analysis results of the tunnel entrance shape, the depth of the blast pockets, and the upper and lower parts of the blast pockets was provided in comparison to the reference tunnel model. The blast overpressures using the proposed tunnel shape have been reduced effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.5 no.2 s.14
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• pp.62-68
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• 2001

Overpressure in pipeline attached to outlet of LPG vaporizer has been studied to provide countermeasures to prevent it. The cause of liquefaction in pipeline was reviewed using vapor pressure curve with temperature, pressure, and composition to suggest method of controlling such parameters. Performance of vaporizer has been tested to detect defective design of float ball, and then improved scheme was suggested. Trouble of regulator attached to vaporizer was also studied to give countermeasures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.731-734
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• 2002

This paper describes on the fabrication and characteristics of a ceramic thin-film pressure sensor based on Ta-N strain gauges for harsh environment applications. The Ta-N thin-film strain gauges are sputter deposited onto a micromachined Si diaphragms with buried cavity for overpressure protectors. The proposed device takes advantages of the good mechanical properties of single crystalline Si as diaphragms fabricated by SDB and electrochemical etch-stop technology, and in order to extend the operating temperature range, it incorporates relatively the high resistance, stability and gauge factor of Ta-N thin-films. The fabricated pressure sensor presents a low temperature coefficient of resistance, high sensitivity, low non-linearity and excellent temperature stability. The sensitivity is $1.097{\sim}1.21mV/V{\cdot}kgf/cm^2$ in the temperature range of $25{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ and the maximum non-linearity is 0.43 %FS.