• Title/Summary/Keyword: Catastrophic fire

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Fire-Resistance Characteristics of Shield Tunnel Concrete Linings (쉴드터널 콘크리트 라이닝의 내화특성)

  • Park Hae Geun;Lee Myeong Sub;Jeon Sang Eun;Park Dong Kyu
    • Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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    • 2004.05a
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    • pp.32-35
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    • 2004
  • In recent years a number of catastrophic tunnel fires, the Euro tunnel, the Mont Blanc tunnel, the Tauem tunnel and the Gotthard tunnel, have occurred and inflicted serious damages to European countries. If a fire occurs in shield tunnels, the reinforced concrete segment linings playing as an important structural member is expected to damage severely and finally can be caused the collapse of tunnel. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of concrete segment lining under heat exposure and to obtain information to assist a new technical approach to fighting fires in tunnels. In order to evaluate the fire-resistance performance of concrete segment by adding Polypropylene fibers, fire tests using the RABT heat-load curve is carried out. The temperature rise of this curve is very rapid up to $1200^{\circ}C$ within 5 minutes, and duration time of the $1200^{\circ}C$ exposure is 55 minutes. From the fire test, it was found that the explosive spalling was rapidly reduced by adding polypropylene fibers and this method is considered as an effective fireproof material to upgrade fire safety in tunnels economically.

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Slab panel vertical support and tensile membrane action in fire

  • Abu, Anthony K.;Burgess, Ian W.;Plank, Roger J.
    • Steel and Composite Structures
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    • v.8 no.3
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    • pp.217-230
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    • 2008
  • The increasing use of performance-based approaches in structural fire engineering design of multi-storey composite buildings has prompted the development of various tools to help quantify the influence of tensile membrane action in composite slabs at elevated temperatures. One simplified method which has emerged is the Bailey-BRE membrane action method. This method predicts slab capacities in fire by analysing rectangular slab panels supported on edges which resist vertical deflection. The task of providing the necessary vertical support, in practice, requires protecting a panel's perimeter beams to achieve temperatures of no more than $620^{\circ}C$ at the required fire resistance time. Hence, the integrity of this support becomes critical as the slab and the attached beams deflect, and large deflections of the perimeter beams may lead to a catastrophic failure of the structure. This paper presents a finite element investigation into the effects of vertical support along slab panel boundaries on the slab behaviour in fire. It examines the development of the membrane mechanism for various degrees of edge-beam protection, and makes comparisons with predictions of the membrane action design method and various acceptance criteria.

Analysis of Causes of Casualties in Jecheon Sports Center Fire - Focus on Structural Factors of Building and Equipment - (제천 스포츠센터 화재의 다수 사상자 발생원인 분석 - 건물과 설비의 구조적인 요인을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Eui-Pyeong
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.32 no.4
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    • pp.86-94
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    • 2018
  • A sports center fire in Jecheon caused 29 deaths and 40 injuries. This study focused only on the structural factors of the building and equipment to investigate the causes of casualties based on the fire investigation results at the sports center. The structural factors of the building and equipment were a piloti-type parking lot, lack of a fire compartment between the piloti-type parking lot and lobby, lack of an installed sprinkler system, lack of an installed fire door in the main stairs on the $1^{st}$ floor, lack of an installed fire water tank on the rooftop, an installed pocket fire door in the main entrance on the $2^{nd}$ floor, poor fire compartments in an EPS space and a pipe pit and on each floor, a leak in the joint of a drain pipe, plywood installed in the hoistway of the freight elevator and interior wall, illegal remodeling of a closed rooftop structure, which cannot discharge smoke and heat, installed styrofoam insulation in the inside of the parking lot ceiling, an installed tempered glass window, which cannot be opened in the ladies bathroom on the $2^{nd}$ floor, and a finished dryvit exterior wall.

Analysis of the Causes of Casualties of Jecheon Sports Center Fire - Focus on an Initial Response and Management - (제천 스포츠센터 화재의 다수 사상자 발생원인 분석 -초기대응과 관리적인 측면을 중심으로-)

  • Lee, Eui-Pyeong
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.32 no.5
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    • pp.57-66
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    • 2018
  • A sports center fire in Jecheon that caused 29 deaths and 40 injuries was analyzed based on initial response and management in order to investigate the causes of the casualties. The aspects of initial response included delay of reporting 119, not being guided to the exit for the body scrubber on the $2^{nd}$ floor for escape, opening the fire doors of the exits on the $1^{st}$ floor and $3^{rd}$ floor, not closing the fire door of the main stairs on the $3^{rd}$ floor, and not doing an emergency broadcast. The management aspects included closing the alarm valve of the sprinkler system on the $1^{st}$ floor, starting-stop of the fire pump controller, neglecting leakage of water and electricity between the false ceiling and ceiling in the parking lot, hiding the exit light in the ladies bathroom lounge on the $2^{nd}$ floor and piling up things in the exit, neglecting the button of an automatic door on the $2^{nd}$ floor, conventional fire safety management, insufficient inspection of fire equipment, and not working fire shutters and smoke exhaust windows.

Introduction of Fire Protection Technology and Its Design Method of Offshore Facilities (해양플랜트의 방화대책 및 설계기술 소개)

  • Koo, Myeong Jun;Choi, Jae Woong;Yoon, Ho Byung
    • Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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    • v.1 no.1
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    • pp.49-57
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    • 2013
  • The dimensioning accidental loads have been selected through suitable quantitative risk assessment and generally utilized important factors for offshore facility design. The fire hazard can be quantified with dimensioning fire loads. The main purposes of fire protection are to maintain the functionality of safety systems within evacuation period and to prevent the escalation from initial fire to uncontrolled catastrophic fire. This paper introduces the applications and the design methods of active and passive fire protections as representative measures of fire protection of offshore facilities. The passive fire protection requires the high initial installation cost and much difficulty on the operation of facilities and their maintenance. The oil major clients have asked the design contractors of offshore facilities to optimize the amount of passive fire protection with relevant engineering technology recently.

Variation of Material Properties of Fire-killed Timber (I) - Mechanical Properties of Fire-killed Korean Red Pine in the East Coast Area - (산불 피해목의 재질 변화에 관한 연구(I) - 동해안 산불 피해 소나무의 재질 특성 -)

  • Park, Jung-Hwan;Park, Byung-Soo;Shim, Kug-Bo;Jo, Tae-Su
    • Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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    • v.33 no.6 s.134
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    • pp.8-16
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    • 2005
  • Fire-killed trees of Korean red pine are valuable resources for industrial uses. It is common only believed that fire-killed trees are too weak and brittle to use in construction purposes. The misunderstandings of fire-killed trees lead these valuable resources abandonment. The purposes of this research are focused on scrutinization of material properties of fire-killed trees to facilitate industrial uses of these resources. The sample logs were collected from the forest fire site of the eastern coast area in which the most catastrophic wild fire had taken place in 2000. Fire-killed Korean red pines were classified into 3 levels by the degree of fire damage so called light, medium and heavy, then their physical, mechanical and chemical properties were compared with sound trees. No significant difference in physical appearances were found in the cross sections by degree of damage compared to sound tree but bark char. Investigation on mechanical and chemical properties indicates that forest fire did not impact significantly in lowering the strength of damaged trees. It was concluded that there was any limitation of forest fire-killed trees of Korean red pine in industrial utilization.

Effects of Different Restoration Practices on Nutrient Loss from Sediments after a Forest Fire in Two Watersheds

  • Hwang, Tae-Hwan;Lee, Kyu-Song;Park, Sang-Deog;Choung, Yeon-Sook
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.265-269
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    • 2007
  • The loss of nitrogen and phosphorus from sediments in two watersheds, one naturally regenerating and one artificially planted, in Sacheon-myun, Gangneung-si, Gangwon Province, were measured two years after a forest fire in 2000. Sediment losses occurred five times in the course of the year. In the artificially planted watershed, $50{\sim}140$ times more nitrogen and $54{\sim}139$ times more phosphorus were lost with sediments during heavy rains, from July to August, than in the naturally regenerating watershed. When the typhoon Rusa struck the country, 1,389 times more nitrogen and 1,647 times more phosphorus were lost from the artificial watershed. In spite of the limited scope of this study, these results suggest that artificially planted watersheds are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic natural disasters such as typhoons. Elevated loss of nutrients in the artificially planted watershed might have resulted from the mechanized silvicultural practices employed immediately after the fire. To maximize soil preservation, the timing and necessity of plantation practices should be reconsidered, and rapidly regenerating vegetation should be protected to promote nutrient uptake and to mitigate nutrient loss from burned forests.

A study on the deterministic temperature-time curves and required resistance times by fire model for assessment of fire resistance of tunnel structures (터널의 내화성능 평가용 화재온도곡선과 화재모델별 내화시간에 대한 고찰)

  • Kim, Hyo-Gyu;Park, Kyung-Whan;Yoon, Myong-O;Lee, Chang-Woo
    • Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.165-176
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    • 2005
  • A variety of research projects have been undertaken due to the recent catastrophic tunnel fires throughout the world, Among them, more emphasis was given to full scale and scale model fire experiments, and recently the area of fire resistance of tunnel structures attract more interests, On the contrary to the cases in most of the advanced countries where design standards as well as recommendations have already been announced, no local criteria for design can be found, This paper aims at deriving the fire characteristics appropriate for the assessment criteria of fire resistance of structures in local tunnels through studying the existing fire temperature curves including ISO 834 standard temperature curve, HC curve, RWS curve, ZTV curve and EBA curve.

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A Development of Expert System for the Estimated Maximum Loss of Vapor Cloud Explosion (증기운 폭발시의 예상최대손실 산정을 위한 전문가 시스템 개발)

  • 김원철
    • Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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    • 1996.11a
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    • pp.37-42
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    • 1996
  • The assessment of catastrophic accidents such as BLEVE, vapor cloud explosion, and toxic material releases in the chemical process industries(CPI) shall be carried out according to the Requirement of PSM/SMS enforced by Korea Government Agencies, but reasonable models are not proposed for the practical application. The traditional models, TNT Equivalency Model, are well-known and helpful for the assessment of vapor cloud explosion. However, the estimated-damage-area using the traditional model has much more deviations comparing to the real damage caused by vapor cloud explosion suffered before. These are why an expert system for the assessment of vapor cloud explosion has been developed, which is based on theoretical, statistical and experimental data, and it would be helpful for CPI to evaluate the damage-area in case of vapor cloud explosion.

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Improving the Safety Regulation For Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (특정소방대상물의 공기호흡기 안전규제 개선방안)

  • Lee, Sang-Pal
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.24 no.3
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    • pp.45-51
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    • 2010
  • The objective of this study to analyse the cause and pattern of failing to use in Self Contained Breathing Apparatus using by government regulation for producer and client. Regulation for producer is related to legal and institution of safety inspectiontest of SCBA. Rregulation for client is preventive maintenance. Improving fail in use of SCBA are following. First, expansion of ad hoc collection inspection and safety checking is required. Second, the strict application of the law for monitoring and auditing disposal procedure in low performance SCBA is required.