• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

On August 12, 2015, two huge explosions were accidently happened in Tianjin port, China. The explosion energies of the two explosions were similar to those of TNT 3 tons and TNT 21 tons. Until now, the cause of the explosions was not clearly announced but some guesses of the cause were released. One of the possible cause of the explosion is the generation of explosive acetylene gas from the chemical reaction between $CaC_2$ and spraying water to extinguish fire happened at the storage site of different chemical compounds. The explosion of acetylene gas might ignite the explosion of 800 tons of ammonium nitrate. In this study, the explosion due to the scenario was analyzed in order to check that such a chemical reaction can produce the huge explosion observed at the Tianjin accident.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.478-489
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• 2020

This study presents an analysis of infrasonic signals from two accidental explosions in Gwangyang city, Jeonnam Province, Korea, on December 24, 2019, recorded at 12 infrasound stations located 151-435 km away. Infrasound propagation refracted at an altitude of ~40 km owing to higher stratospheric wind in the NNW direction, resulting in favorable detection at stations in that direction. However, tropospheric phases were observed at stations located in the NE and E directions from the explosion site because of the strong west wind jet formed at ~10 km. The transmission losses on the propagation path were calculated using the effective sound velocity structure and parabolic equation modeling. Based on the losses, the observed signal amplitudes were corrected, and overpressures were estimated at the reference distance. From the overpressures, the source energy was evaluated through the overpressure-explosive charge relationship. The two explosions were found to have energies equivalent to 14 and 65 kg TNT, respectively. At the first explosion, a flying fragment forced by an explosive shock wave was observed in the air. The energy causing the flying fragment was estimated to be equivalent to 49 kg or less of TNT, obtained from the relationship between the fragment motion and overpressure. Our infrasound propagation modeling is available to constrain the source energy for remote explosions. To enhance the confidence in energy estimations, further studies are required to reflect the uncertainty of the atmospheric structure models on the estimations and to verify the relationships by various ground truth explosions.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.355-362
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• 2021

Various blast pressure calculation methods have been developed for predicting the explosion pressure of vapor cloud explosions. Empirical methods include the TNT equivalent method, and multi-energy method. The multi-energy method uses a charge strength that considers environmental factors. Although the Kinsella guideline was provided to determine the charge strength, there are limitations such as guidelines related to ignition sources. In this study, we proposed an improved charge strength guideline, by subdividing the ignition source intensity and expanding the type classification through literature analysis. To verify the improved charge strength guideline, and to compare it with the result obtained using the Kinsella guideline, four vapor cloud explosion cases which could be used to estimate the actual blast pressure were investigated. As a result, it was confirmed that the Kinsella guidelines showed an inaccurate, that is, wider pressure than the actual estimated blast pressure. However, the improved charge strength guideline enabled the selection of the intensity of the ignition source, and more subdivided types through the expansion of classification, hence it was possible to calculate the blast pressure relatively close to that of the actual case.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.405-410
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• 2017

High energetic materials (HEMs) have been used in fuels, civil engineering and architecture as well as military purposes such as explosives and propellants. The essential process for the development of new energetic compounds is to accurately calculate its detonation performances. The most typical equation for calculating the explosive performance is the Kamlet-Jacobs (K-J) equation. In the K-J equation, the parameter such as the number of moles of gaseous products at the explosion, the average molar mass of gas products, and the explosion heat greatly affect the explosion performance. These depend on the product composition for the detonation reaction. In this study, detonation products of 65 high energetic molecules (HEMs) were calculated from the various rules such as Kamlet-Jacobs, Kistiakowsky-Wilson, modified Kistiakowsky-Wilson, Springall-Roberts rules to calculate more accurate detonation velocity (Dv). In addition, they were applied to five kinds of detonation velocity equations proposed by K-J, Rothstein, Xiong, Stine and Keshavarz. The mean absolute error and root mean square error of HEMs were obtained from experimental and calculated velocity value for each method. The K-J and Xiong equation that is slightly complex showed a lower mean absolute error than the simple Rothstein and Keshavarz equation. When the mod-KW rule was applied to the Xiong equation, the detonation velocities were the most accurate. This study compared the various method of calculating the detonation velocity of HEMs to obtain accurate HEMs performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.124-128
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• 2000

가연성분진을 생산, 가공, 수송하는 과정에서 분진폭발의 위험성은 항상 존재하고 있으며, 일단 분진폭발이 발생하면 인명과 재산상의 피해가 큰 대형사고의 경향을 띄게 되므로, 무엇보다 중요한 과제는 폭발예방대책을 강구하는 것이라 할 수 있다. 분진폭발을 예방하기 위해서는 폭발하한계, 최대폭발압력, 폭발압력상승속도, 최소착화에너지, 최저발화온도 등이 있으며, 이들 특성치는 실험을 통하여 파악하여야 한다.(중략)

• 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.15 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2011

The interest about new and renewable energy is increasing to reduce the burden of problems by depletion of fossil fuels and air pollutions. For example, LNG/CNG and LPG are expected to be replaced, especially in transportation use, by HCNG mixture and DME-LPG mixture, respectively. Because these new energies are still flammable gases, it is not inherently safe from the explosion. In this research, the quantitative risk analysis for using alternative mixtures in existing recharging facilities has been studied by using three types of explosion models (TNT equivalency model, PHAST and CFD-based FLACS) to manage the risk effectively. The differences of results by models were compared against, and the practical ways of when and how to use these models were suggested. It was also predicted that conventional gas filling stations would be converted as new energy stations without additional explosion risk.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2016

The theoretical investigation has been performed to predict detonation velocity, detonation pressure, and thermodynamic stability of HMX/LLM-116 cocrystal. All possible geometries of HMX, LLM-116, and cocrystal have been optimized at the B3LYP/cc-pVTZ level of theory. The binding energy for the trigger bond and cluster has been calculated to predict the thermodynamic stability. The MP2 binding energies were obtained using single point energy calculation at the B3LYP optimized geometries, and the density has been calculated from monte carlo integration. The detonation velocity and detonation pressure have been calculated using Kamlet-Jacobs equation, while enthalpy has been predicted at the CBS-Q level of theory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 2000.06a
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• pp.136-139
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• 2000

현대산업사회의 급속한 발전으로 사용이 편리하고, 깨끗한 연료인 도시가스의 사용량은 점점 더 증대될 뿐만 아니라 사용형태 또한 다양화되고 있어, 이에 따른 사고도 증가하고 있으며 사고의 규모도 대형화 되어가고 있다. 일반적으로 가스폭발의 경우 개방된 영역에서 보다 밀폐된 영역에서 발생할 경우 폭발압력에 의한 파괴효과는 더욱 증가한다. 이러한 부분에 대해 많은 학자들은 단일가스와 산화제를 혼합시킨 형태의 가스 폭발에 대한 특성을 연구하여 왔다. 그러나 산소농도의 변화에 따른 가연성가스의 폭발범위, 폭발시 초기압력의 변화, 최소점화에너지에 관한 연구는 거의 없는 실정이다. (중략)

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Industrial Safety Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.105-108
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• 1998

Dust explosion은 combustible solid의 미세한 입자가 공기 혹은 산소중에서 폭발범위의 농도에서 부유할 때 화염 혹은 spark 등의 에너지 공급에 의해 폭발하는 현상이며 plastic 공업, 금속분말, 유기약품, 무기약품, 안료, 농수산건조물 등에서 분체취급 분야의 확대 및 취급량의 증가에 따라 분진폭발의 잠재 위험성이 급증하고 있어 화학적 성질, 농도, 입경, 폭발 압력 등의 분진특성과 함께 분진폭발의 착화온도와 상한 및 하한 농도에 대해 이론 및 실험적으로 광범위하게 연구가 진행되어져 왔다. (중략)