• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.4 no.4 s.12
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• pp.50-57
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• 2000

Past accidents have shown that vapor cloud explosions are the predominant cause of the largest losses in the chemical and petrochemical industries due to the generation of significant overpressures. Prediction of such overpressure is of great concern and a knowledge of the likely overpressure is needed for the design of equipment, safety cases and emergency planning. For these reasons, risk assessment for vapor cloud explosion is crucial and this assessment can be carried out using the different models including TNT-Equivalency, TNO Hemispherical, TNO Multi-Energy and CFD models. Accordingly, in this paper, the published VCE prediction models are reviewed to provide a critical comparison of the different models used for the quantification of explosion hazards, in terms of the fundamental assumptions employed, and their predictive accuracy

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.790-803
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• 2019

The dioctyl terephthalic acid (DOTP) process produces plastic plasticizers by esterification of terephthalic acid with powder in the form of octanol. In this study, the dust explosion characteristics of terephthalic acid directly injected into the manhole in the form of powder in the presence of flammable solvent or vapor in the reactor of this process were investigated. Dust particle size and particle size distribution dust characteristics were investigated, and pyrolysis characteristics of dust were investigated to estimate fire and explosion characteristics and ignition temperature. Also, the minimum ignition energy experiment was performed to evaluate the explosion sensitivity. As a result, the average particle size of terephthalic acid powder was $143.433{\mu}m$. From the thermal analysis carried out under these particle size and particle size distribution conditions, the ignition temperature of the dust was about $253^{\circ}C$. The lower explosive limit (LEL) of the terephthalic acid was determined to be $50g/m^3$. The minimum ignition energy (MIE) for explosion sensitivity is (10 < MIE < 300) mJ, and the estimated minimum ignition energy (Es) based on the ignition probability is 210 mJ. The maximum explosion pressure ($P_{max}$) and the maximum explosion pressure rise rate $({\frac{dP}{dt}})_{max}$ of terephthalic acid dust were 7.1 bar and 511 bar/s, respectively. The dust explosion index (Kst) was 139 mbar/s, corresponding to the dust explosion grade St 1.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.54-61
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• 2015

A series of CFD calculation has been conducted to investigate the effect of facility confinement on explosion power for process plant facility. The level of confinement of a facility was simplified with VBR(volume blockage ratio) and averaged size of obstacles. FLACS which is 3D CFD code of gas dispersion and the explosion was used for simulating the explosion phenomena in the idealized domain with different confinement level. The CFD results showed a tendency that the overpressure increases with increasing VBR and number of obstacles. The effect of VBR on the overpressure was relatively small for the case of number of obstacle less than 25. The results of this study can be used to provide a safety guideline considering the facility confinement in case of leakage accident of flammable gas and vapor in process plants.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 1997

The aim of the present study is to investigate experimentally the mechanism of an exploding wire in water and also to observe the bubble motion induced by an exploding wire. The experiment of an exploding wire is carried out in a water tank. As a metallic wire, a tungsten wire of 0.2mm in diameter and 10mm in length is employed. The electric energy of 50-300J is fed to the wire from a capacitor of 100$\mu$F charged up to 1-2.5kV. The explosion is recorded by a CCD camera with the resolution of 1$\mu$sec. The explosion process of metallic wire is divided into three phases. Phase 1 : As the voltage is applied to the wire, the temperature increases due to Joule heating and the wire emits light. Phase 2 : Then the wire melts and the cylindrical plasma is formed between the electrodes. Up to this stage, strong light emission is observed. Phase 3 : The light emission goes out and a vapor bubble begins to grow spherically. The radius of a bubble oscillates in time, but the amplitude of oscillation diminishes in several cycles.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 2012

An efficient cooling system is an essential part of the electronic packaging such as a high-luminance LED lighting. A special technology, Pulsating Heat Pipe (PHP), can be applied to improve cooling of a sealed, explosion-proof LED light fixture. In this paper, the characteristics of the pulsating heat pipes in the imposed thermal boundary conditions of LED lightings were experimentally investigated and a PHP device that works free of alignment angle was investigated for cooling of explosion-proof LED lights. Five working fluids of ethanol, FC-72, R-123, water, and acetone were chosen for comparison. The experimental pulsating heat pipe was made of copper tubes of internal diameter of 2.1 mm, 26 turns. A variable heat source of electric heater and an array of cooling fins were attached to the pulsating heat pipe. For the alignment of the heating part at bottom, an optimum charging ratio (liquid fluid volume to total volume) was about 50% for most of the fluids and water showed the highest heat transfer performance. For the alignment of the heating part on top, however, only R-123 worked in an un-looped construction. This unique advantage of R-123 is attributed to its high vapor pressure gradient. Applying these findings, a cooling device for an explosion-proof type of LED light rated 30 W was constructed and tested successfully.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.35 no.7
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• pp.946-956
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• 2011

The main objectives of this study are to analyze the leaked gas dispersion and quantify the potential overpressures due to vapor cloud explosions in order to identify the most significant contributors to risk by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFX & FLACS) for gas fuelled ships. A series of CFD simulations and analyses have been performed for the various gas release scenarios in a closed module, covering different release rates and ventilating methods. This study is specially focused on the LNG FGS (Fuel Gas Supply) system recently developed for the propulsion of VLCC crude oil carriers by shipyards. Most of work presented is discussed on the gas dispersion from leaks in the FGS room, and shows some blast prediction validation examples.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1317-1326
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• 2003

The maximum temperature limit at which liquid boils explosively is called the superheat limit of liquids. The superheat limits of hydrocarbon liquids and their mixtures were measured by the droplet explosion technique. Also the fully evaporated droplet at the superheat limit and subsequent bubble evolution from the fully evaporated droplet were visualized. The pressure wave emanating from the evaporating droplet and subsequent bubble evolution process were measured by a piezoelectric transducer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2012

An analysis was completed of the hazards distance of hydrogen accidents such as jet release, jet fire, and vapor cloud explosion(VCE) of hydrogen gas, and simplified equations have been proposed to predict the hazard distances to set up safety distance by the gas dispersion, fire, and explosion following hydrogen gas release. For a small release rate of hydrogen gas, such as from a pine-hole, the hazard distance from jet dispersion is longer than that from jet fire. The hazard distance is directly proportional to the pressure raised to a half power and to the diameter of hole and up to several tens meters. For a large release rate, such as from full bore rupture of a pipeline or a large hole of storage vessel, the hazard distance from a large jet fire is longer than that from unconfined vapor cloud explosion. The hazard distance from the fire may be up to several hundred meters. Hydrogen filling station in urban area is difficult to compliance with the safety distance criterion, if the accident scenario of large hydrogen gas release is basis for setting up the safety distance, which is minimum separation distance between the station and building. Therefore, the accident of large hydrogen gas release must be prevented by using safety devices and the safety distance may be set based on the small release rate of hydrogen gas. But if there are any possibility of large release, populated building, such as school, hospital etc, should be separated several hundred meters.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2023

Due to the prolonged impact of COVID-19, the demand for Information Technology (IT) products is increasing, and their production facilities are expanded. Consequently, the use of harmful and dangerous chemicals are increased, the risk of fire(s) and explosion(s) is also elevated. In order to mitigate these risks, the government sets standards, such as KS C IEC 60079-10-1, and manages explosion-prone hazardous facilities where flammable substances are manufactured, used, and handled. However, using the standards of KS, it is difficult to predict the actual possibility of an explosion in a facility, because ventilation (an important factor) is not considered when setting up a hazardous work environment. In this study, the SEMI S6, Tracer Gas Test was applied to the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) facility, a major part of the display industry, to evaluate ventilation performance and to confirm the possibility of creating a less explosive environment. Based on the results, it was confirmed that the ventilation performance in the assumed scenarios met the standards stipulated in SEMI S6, along with supporting the possibility of creating a less explosive working condition. Therefore, it is recommended to use the prediction tool using engineering techniques, as well as KS standards, in such hazardous environments to prevent accidents and/or reduce economic burden following accidents.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.319-327
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• 2023

This study analyzes the risks of explosions of small LPG storage tanks installed at highway rest areas. For this purpose, the ranges of the effect of thermal radiation and overpressure caused by the BLEVE(Boiling Liquid Expansion Vapor Explosion)and VCE(Vapor Cloud Explosion) of a 2900-kg small LPG storage tank installed at highway rest areas were quantitatively evaluated by applying the Areal Location of Hazardous Atmospheres program. The ranges of influence of the derived explosion overpressure and thermal radiation were found to have a maximum radii of 336 m and 423 m, respectively. The study determined that those within 269 m could be severely injured by an explosion overpressure of 3.5 psi, and fatalities from thermal radiation of 10 kw/m² could occur within 192 m of the exploded storage tank. The safety management plan for the LPG storage tank was discussed while considering the auxiliary facilities of highway rest areas and the extent of the damage impact. These research results will help improve safety accident prevention regulations considering the environment and facilities of the rest areas as well as the safety management of small LPG storage tanks installed at highway rest areas.