• Title/Summary/Keyword: Fire damage characteristics

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Analysis of University Cafeteria Safety Based on Pathfinder Simulation

  • Zechen Zhang;Jaewook Lee;Hasung Kong
    • International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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    • v.16 no.2
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    • pp.209-217
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    • 2024
  • Recent years have seen a notable increase in fire incidents in university cafeterias, yet the social attention to these occurrences remains limited. Despite quick responses to these incidents preventing loss of life, the need for large-scale evacuation in such high foot traffic areas can cause significant disruptions, economic losses, and panic among students. The potential for stampedes and unpredictable damage during inadequate evacuations underscores the importance of fire safety and evacuation research in these settings. Previous studies have explored evacuation models in various university environments, emphasizing the influence of environmental conditions, personal characteristics, and behavioral patterns on evacuation efficiency. However, research specifically focusing on university cafeterias is scarce. This paper addresses this gap by employing Pathfinder software to analyze fire spread and evacuation safety in a university cafeteria. Pathfinder, an advanced emergency evacuation assessment system, offers realistic 3D simulations, crucial for intuitive and scientific evacuation analysis. The studied cafeteria, encompassing three floors and various functional areas, often exceeds a capacity of 1500 people, primarily students, during peak times. The study includes constructing a model of the cafeteria in Pathfinder and analyzing evacuation scenarios under different fire outbreak conditions on each floor. The paper sets standard safe evacuation criteria (ASET > RSET) and formulates three distinct evacuation scenarios, considering different fire outbreak locations and initial evacuation times on each floor. The simulation results reveal the impact of the fire's location and the evacuation preparation time on the overall evacuation process, highlighting that fires on higher floors or longer evacuation preparation times tend to reduce overall evacuation time.In conclusion, the study emphasizes a multifaceted approach to improve evacuation safety and efficiency in educational settings. Recommendations include expanding staircase widths, optimizing evacuation routes, conducting regular drills, strengthening command during evacuations, and upgrading emergency facilities. The use of information and communication technology for managing emergencies is also suggested. These measures collectively form a comprehensive framework for ensuring safety in educational institutions during fire emergencies.

Comparative Analysis of Forest Fire Danger Rating on Forest Characteristics of Thinning Area and Non-thinning Area on Forest Fire Burnt Area (산불적지에서 숲 가꾸기 실행 유무와 산불위험성 비교 분석)

  • Lee, Si-Young;Lee, Myung-Woog;Yeom, Chan-Ho;Kwon, Chun-Geun;Lee, Hae-Pyeong
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.32-39
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    • 2009
  • In this study, 18 plots were selected for particular investigation on Gangneung area and Samcheok area and Uljin area, where forest fire was occurred after thinning in 2007. After selection, a relationship between a damage of forest fire and thinning were compared and analyzed. Many factor such as a damaged species, a thinning or non-thinning, a direction of forest fire head, DBH, a height of tree, a mortality of tree, a leeward scorching ratio, a crown damage ratio, a forest tree standing crop density, a crown base height, a leaving of thinning slash, a location of plot (GPS), elevation, an aspect of slope, an angle of slope, and a topography were measured. Therefore, we analyzed a relationship with forest fire. In the result of this analysis, it was founded that the leeward scorching ratio was 24.7% on thinning area whereas 60.2% on non-thinning area. Subsequently, leeward scorching ratio on thinning area was increased by about 35.5% more than on non-thinning area. In the result of analysis about tree species, a forest of pine tree was more damaged than forest of oak tree. The mortality of tree was increased by about 41.4% on non-thinning area. When stands were close to thinning slashes, these were more damaged by 10${\sim}$20% than other stands for increasing of amount of a combustion material. Especially, as potential of re-ignition increased for more cumulated thinning slash, it will be more important to require a method for a periodical removing or practical utilization of slash.

A Study on the Application of Bushings Fire Prevent Structure to Prevent Fire Spread of Transformer (변압기의 화재확산 방지를 위한 부싱 방화구조체 적용에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Do-Hyun;Cho, Nam-Wook;Yoon, Choung-Ho;Park, Pil-Yong;Park, Keun-Sung
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.31 no.5
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    • pp.53-62
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    • 2017
  • Electric power which is the energy source of economy and industries requires long distance transportation due to regional difference between its production and consumption, and it is supplied through the multi-loop transmission and distribution system. Prior to its actual use, electric power flows through several transformations by voltage transformers in substations depending on the characteristics of each usage, and a transformer has the structure consisting of the main body, winding wire, insulating oil and bushings. A transformer fire that breaks out in substations entails the primary damage that interrupts the power supply to houses and commercial facilities and causes various safety accidents as well as the secondary economic losses. It is considered that causes of such fire include the leak of insulating oil resulting from the destruction of bottom part of bushings, and the chain reaction of fire due to insulating oil that reaches its ignition point within 1 second. The smoke detector and automatic fire extinguishing system are established in order to minimize fire damage, but a difficulty in securing golden time for extinguishing fire due to delay in the operation of detector and release of gas from the extinguishing system has become a problem. Accordingly, this study was carried out according to needs of active mechanism to prevent the spread of fire and block the leak of insulating oil, in accordance with the importance of securing golden time in extinguishing a fire in its early stage. A bushings fireproof structure was developed by applying the high temperature shape retention materials, which are expanded by flame, and mechanical flame cutoff devices. The bushings fireproof structure was installed on the transformer model produced by applying the actual standards of bushings and flange, and the full scale fire test was carried out. It was confirmed that the bushings fireproof structure operated at accurate position and height within 3 seconds from the flame initiation. It is considered that it could block the spread of flame effectively in the event of actual transformer fire.

Acceptable Velocity Errors Tolerance For Field Artillery Weapon System (야전포병 무기체계의 속도오차 허용한계)

  • Min Kye-Ryo;Bai Do-Sun
    • Journal of the military operations research society of Korea
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.163-176
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    • 1976
  • The artillery fire is characterized by great damage that can be inflicted simultaneously to an area through concentrated firing. The field artillery guns used in R.O.K. Army are generally old. Thus high values of their velocity errors cause wide dispersion of shell landings. Therefore effects of the concentrated firing is lessened. In this paper a general model which considers all error factors involved in firing in general, is established first. Then from this a basic model which includes the errors involved in concentrated firing only, such as the ballistic error, velocity error, target density function, and damage function, is extracted. Among many weapon systems now in use a specific one called gun 'A' is selected and its concentration effects are measured through computer simulation. The results show that as the velocity error of a battery increases, its target coverage capability, i. e. concentration effect, decreases. Therefore the need arises for the field artillery commander to know beforehand characteristics, i.e. velocity errors, of the guns in his unit and also to carefully examine the problem of battery arrangement with the gun characteristics in mind in order to maximize the damage effects of his artillery unit.

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The Fire Resistant Performance of RC Column with Confined Lateral Reinforcement According to Fire Exposure Condition (횡방향 철근으로 구속된 철근콘크리트 기둥의 화재 노출조건에 따른 내화성능)

  • Choi, Kwang Ho
    • Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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    • v.6 no.4
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    • pp.311-318
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    • 2018
  • When reinforced concrete structures are exposed to fire, their mechanical properties such as compressive strength, elasticity coefficient and rebar yield strength, are degraded. Therefore, the structure's damage assessment is essential in determining whether to dismantle or augment the structure after a fire. In this study, the confinement effect of lateral reinforcement of RC column according to the numbers of fire exposure face and stirrup was verified by fire resistant test with the heating temperatures of $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$. The test results showed that the peak stress decreases and peak strain increases as the temperature is getting higher, also transverse ties are helpful in improving the compressive resistance of concrete subjected to high temperature. Based on the results of this study, the residual stress of confined concrete under thermal damage is higher at the condition of more lateral reinforcement ratio and less fire exposure faces. The decreasing ratio of elastic modulus of more confined and less exposure faces from the relationship of load and displacement was also smaller than that of opposite conditions.

Study on the Analysis of Damage Patterns of Cellular Phone Batteries According to Energy Sources (에너지원에 따른 이동전화기 배터리의 소손패턴 해석에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Chung-Seog
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.25 no.6
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    • pp.21-26
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    • 2011
  • The purpose of this paper is to present the damage patterns of cellular phone (SCH_W830) batteries according to energy sources and have them utilized as data for the settlement of disputes between manufactures and consumers. The reliability was secured by maintaining the ambient temperature and humidity at $22{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and 40~60 %, respectively. The voltage of the battery used for the tests was measured to be 4.18V between positive pole (+) and negative pole (-)(1), and 4.19 V between positive pole (+) and negative pole (-)(2). This study applied the Korean Industrial Standard (KS) to the flammability test of cellular phones due to a general flame applied to them and found that no damage occurred to the built-in battery even though the flame was applied to the cases of cellular phones for 30 seconds. From the results of immersing the cellular phones in the saline solution (NaCl, 0.9 %) for 180 seconds, it was found that there was a trace of carbonization and melting due to the heat caused by leaking current. It can be seen that when the cellular phones were heated for 70 seconds using a microwave oven (MWO), the areas containing the metal holder, recharging connector, antenna, etc., were melted and discolored and that other areas showed no particular problems. That is, while the external carbonization of cellular phones, built-in metals and dielectric materials, and damage and deformation of the battery terminal block, etc., occurred differently depending on the types of energy sources, the voltage showed comparatively constant characteristics. Therefore, it is thought to be possible to attribute the cause of damage to the battery by performing analysis taking into consideration comprehensively the characteristics of the flame spread pattern as well as the melting and deformation of metals.

A Study on the Fire Characterization of Foam block using Cone-calorimeter and FTIR (콘칼로리미터와 적외선분광계(FTIR)를 이용한 폼블럭의 연소특성에 대한 실험적 연구)

  • Han, Bong-Hoon;Seo, Dong-Ho;Kwon, Young-Hee;Min, Se-Hong
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.31 no.6
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    • pp.23-32
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    • 2017
  • Foam block, popularized as the self-interior goods, is susceptible to fire since the main material is the polyethylene flammable synthetic resin. However, it is widely used in homes, offices, and multi-use facilities. In order to understand the fire characteristics of the foam block, two kinds of foam blocks sold in the market (non-fire retardant and fire retardant) were evaluated according to standard of KS F 5660-1 (Reaction to fire test). In addition, the hazard analysis of the gas generated by the combustion of the specimen was performed using the FTIR gas analyzer. The cone calorimeter test showed that the ignition and flame combustion of both two specimens were burned as soon as the radiant heat blocking device was removed, and it was confirmed that the flame could become a rapid propagation factor during the fire. The analysis of the combustion gas through the FTIR gas analyzer showed that both the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide classified as the common combustion gases and the acrolein, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide causing serious damage to the human body were detected substantially. This study showed that a foam block product has high ignitionability and generates toxic gases. Hence, it is urgently required to establish the standards used for properly classifying the combustion characteristics of the material on the basis of the use conditions of a foam block product and to prepare the standards on the purpose of use.

Study on the Smoke Density Characteristics of Flame Retardant Sol Manufactured by a Sol-gel Method (졸-겔법으로 제조된 방염제졸의 연기밀도 특성에 관한 연구)

  • Cho, Kyeong-Rae;Lee, Chun-Ha;Kim, Si-Kuk
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.31 no.3
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    • pp.11-18
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    • 2017
  • In this study, a non-halogen type organic-inorganic hybrid flame retardant sol, which can impart flame resistance to synthesize silicate of inorganic material and silane coupling agent of organic material by a sol-gel method, were newly manufactured. The addition of flame retardant will prevent loss of life in a fire because smoke from the flammability of interior finishing materials used as the construction materials poses a major danger. The smoke density measurement standard based on flame retardant performance standards, experiments were conducted according to the test equipment and procedures of ASTM E 662. The non-flaming mode experiment and the flaming mode experiment were conducted to confirm the performance of the manufactured flame retardant sol. As a result, the manufactured flame retardant sol improved the physical properties and heat resistance of existing flame retardants, and decreased the smoke production of the fire. Therefore, it may be possible to reduce the damage caused by smoke and expand the applications to various interior finishing materials.

Inhibitory Effect of adding Phase Change Material (PCM) to Fire Fighter Protective Clothing on Burn Injuries (Phase Change Material (PCM) 소재 적용 소방보호복의 화상발생 억제효과에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Jun Kyoung
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.16-22
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    • 2016
  • Fire fighters rely on fire fighter protective clothing (FFPC) to provide adequate protection in the various hazardous environments. To enhance its protection performance, the FFPC material must be thick and thus it is difficult to achieve weight reduction. One of the methods of overcoming this problem, the addition of phase change material (PCM) to FFPC, is a new technology. In previous studies, the researches was mostly related to the temperature characteristics of the fibers incorporating PCM, but little information is available about its effect on burn injuries. Thus, in this study, the inhibitory effects of adding PCM to FFPC on second degree burns were investigated through numerical calculations. Thermal analyses of biological tissues and FFPC with embedded PCM exposed to several fire conditions causing severe tissue damage were studied by using a finite difference method based on the Pennes bio-heat equation. FFPC with embedded PCM was found to provide significantly greater protection than conventional fire fighting clothing, because the heat of absorption due to the phase change within the material is used to limit the heat conduction of the material.

Real-Time Fire Detection based on CNN and Grad-CAM (CNN과 Grad-CAM 기반의 실시간 화재 감지)

  • Kim, Young-Jin;Kim, Eun-Gyung
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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    • v.22 no.12
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    • pp.1596-1603
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    • 2018
  • Rapidly detecting and warning of fires is necessary for minimizing human injury and property damage. Generally, when fires occur, both the smoke and the flames are generated, so fire detection systems need to detect both the smoke and the flames. However, most fire detection systems only detect flames or smoke and have the disadvantage of slower processing speed due to additional preprocessing task. In this paper, we implemented a fire detection system which predicts the flames and the smoke at the same time by constructing a CNN model that supports multi-labeled classification. Also, the system can monitor the fire status in real time by using Grad-CAM which visualizes the position of classes based on the characteristics of CNN. Also, we tested our proposed system with 13 fire videos and got an average accuracy of 98.73% and 95.77% respectively for the flames and the smoke.