• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.69 no.2
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• pp.193-204
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• 2019

This paper presents results from experimental and numerical studies on the response of steel-concrete composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure conditions. Two composite box bridge girders, a simply supported girder and a continuous girder respectively, were tested under simultaneous loading and fire exposure. The simply supported girder was exposed to fire over 40% of its span length in the middle zone, and the two-span continuous girder was exposed to fire over 38% of its length of the first span and full length of the second span. A measurement method based on comparative rate of deflection was provided to predict the failure time in the hogging moment zone of continuous composite box bridge girders under certain localized fire exposure condition. Parameters including transverse and longitudinal stiffeners and fire scenarios were introduced to investigate fire resistance of the composite box bridge girders. Test results show that failure of the simply supported girder is governed by the deflection limit state, whereas failure of the continuous girder occurs through bending buckling of the web and bottom slab in the hogging moment zone. Deflection based criterion may not be reliable in evaluating failure of continuous composite box bridge girder under certain fire exposure condition. The fire resistance (failure time) of the continuous girder is higher than that of the simply supported girder. Data from fire tests is successfully utilized to validate a finite element based numerical model for further investigating the response of composite box bridge girders exposed to localized fire. Results from numerical analysis show that fire resistance of composite box bridge girders can be highly influenced by the spacing of longitudinal stiffeners and fire severity. The continuous composite box bridge girder with closer longitudinal stiffeners has better fire resistance than the simply composite box bridge girder. It is concluded that the fire resistance of continuous composite box bridge girders can be significantly enhanced by preventing the hogging moment zone from exposure to fire. Longitudinal stiffeners with closer spacing can enhance fire resistance of composite box bridge girders. The increase of transverse stiffeners has no significant effect on fire resistance of composite box bridge girders.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.509-516
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• 2020

Background: Meta-analyses have shown firefighters to be at an increased risk of several cancer types. Occupational carcinogen exposure may explain these increased risks. This study aims to describe Norwegian fire departments' work conditions from 1950 until today, focusing on factors relevant for potential occupational carcinogen exposure. Methods: With the help of a reference group, we developed a questionnaire on topics related to occupational exposure to carcinogens for the period 1950-2018. Selected Norwegian fire departments provided department-specific responses. Results: Sixteen departments, providing fire services for 48% of the Norwegian population as of 2019 and mainly consisting of professional firefighters, responded to our questionnaire. The introduction of synthetic firefighting foams, more regular live fire training, the introduction of chemical diving, and a higher number of diesel-driven fire service vehicles were identified as changes thought to increase exposure to occupational carcinogens. Changes thought to decrease exposure included the switch from negative to positive pressure self-contained breathing apparatuses, the use of self-contained breathing apparatuses during all phases of firefighting, the use of ventilating fans during firefighting, increased attention to flammable materials used during live fire training, increased attention to handling and cleaning of turnout gear and other equipment, and installment of exhaust removal systems in apparatus bays. Conclusion: Norwegian fire departments' work conditions have seen several changes since 1950, and this could influence firefighters' occupational carcinogen exposure. A peak of carcinogen exposure may have occurred in the 1970s and 1980s before recent changes have reduced exposure.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2018

High strength steels have been widely applied in recent years due to high strength and good working performance. When subjected to fire conditions, the strength and elastic modulus of high strength steels deteriorate significantly and hence the load bearing capacity of structures reduces at elevated temperatures. The reduction factors of mechanical properties of high strength steels are quite different from mild steels. Therefore, the fire design methods deduced from mild steel structures are not applicable to high strength steel structures. In recent ten years, the first author of this paper has carried out a lot of fundamental research on fire behavior of high strength steels and structures. Summary of these research is presented in this paper, including mechanical properties of high strength steels at elevated temperature and after fire exposure, creep response of high strength steels at elevated temperature, residual stresses of welded high strength steel member after fire exposure, fire resistance of high strength steel columns, fire resistance of high strength steel beams, local buckling of high strength steel members, and residual strength of high strength steel columns after fire exposure. The results show that the mechanical properties of high strength steel in fire condition and the corresponding fire resistance of high strength steel structures are different from those of mild steel and structures, and the fire design methods recommended in current design codes are not applicable to high strength steel structures.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.137-145
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• 2022

As steel is highly sensitive to temperature variations, fire exposure is more destructive in the case of steel structures in comparison to the concrete ones. The performance of an intermediate three-story steel moment frame with 4 spans was studied under the service load, thermal load and post-earthquake fire in this paper. Also, the effects of passive fire-protection materials such as ordinary cement-based and fire-retardant coatings were investigated. To model and analyze the structure; Abaqus software is utilized. In order to apply the earthquake effect, the push-over analysis method is employed. Changes in the stories deflection, endurance time and growth of nonlinear regions due to losses in the steel stiffness and strength, are among the issues considered in this study. As an interesting finding, the beams protected by ordinary cement-based coating could sustain the fire exposure at least for 30 minutes in all cases. The mentioned time is increased by employing a new fire-retardant protection, which could prevent significant loss in the structure resistance against fire, even after 60 minutes of exposure to fire.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2020

To reduce the damage of concrete in fire, a new type of lightweight cinder aggregate concrete was developed due to the excellent fire resistance of cinder. To further enhance its fire resistance, Polypropylene (PP) Fibers which can enhance the fire resistance of concrete were also used in this type of concrete. However, the bond behavior of this new type of concrete after fire exposure is still unknown. To investigate its bond behavior, 185 specimens were heated up to 22, 200, 400, 600 or 800℃ for 2 h duration respectively, which is followed by subsequent compressive and tensile tests at room temperature. The concrete-rebar bond strength of C30 PP fiber-reinforced cinder concrete was subsequently investigated through pull-out tests after fire exposure. The microstructures of the PP fiber-reinforced cinder concrete and the status of the PP fibre at different temperature were inspected using an advanced scanning electron microscopy, aiming to understand the mechanism of the bonding deterioration under high temperature. The effects of rebar diameter and bond length on the bond strength of PP fiber-reinforced cinder concrete were investigated based on the test results. The bond-slip relation of PP fiber-reinforced cinder concrete after exposure at different temperature was derived based on the test results.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.10-16
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• 2003

The main purpose of this study is to raise the point at issue and to propose reform direction about the current performance criteria of fire resistance through the examination of the fire resistance required for each use of compartment by using performance-based fire safety design method. To examine the performance criteria of fire resistance, this study compared the equivalent time of fire exposure which was calculated by using time-equivalent formulae with the required fire resistance time determined by existing prescriptive code, and surveyed factors such as the fire load energy density, ventilation factor, fire compartment materials and fire compartment geometry in order to calculate the equivalent time of fire exposure.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Structure & Construction
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.35-42
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• 2018

This study evaluated the fire resisting capacity and post-fire serviceability of the concrete beams retrofitted by near surface mounted method(NSM) using GFRP plates. Main parameters in the test are grout materials and fire exposure. For the test, two types of grout materials between concrete substrate and GFRP plate were used; flame resisting epoxy and filling mortar. Four RC beam specimens were made and two of them were exposed to fire according to real scale fire curve proposed KS F 2257. After the fire exposure test, flexural test were performed to investigate the flexural performance of concrete beams including strength and deformation. From the test results, it was found that the beam retrofitted by NSM-GFRP presented higher flexural strength than that of the beam without retrofit, which indicates NSM-GFRP retrofit technologies is effective to maintain flexural strength even after fire exposure. In addition, the specimens grouted by epoxy showed good performance in strength but bad performance in ductility.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2011

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the noise exposures of firefighters according to their time-dependent activity patterns. Methods: Personal exposure levels were measured for six days and nights using noise dosimeters; three days and nights for on-duty tasks, the other days and nights for off-duty activities. Results: The total amount of time spent in the workplace was 13,677 min (67%), outside areas 4,833 min (23%), in transit 1,002 min (5%), and other indoor area 807 min (4%) during a working period. However, during off-days they spent 10,858 min (76%) at home, 1,382 min (10%) outdoors, 1,225 min (9%) other indoors, and 493 min (3%) in transit. As a result of individual exposure levels, TWA did not exceed 90 dBA of the occupational exposure limit for the majority of the firefighters, whereas the levels of Lmax were 119 dBA, which were higher than the noise levels of firefighters in USA. Sometimes during dispatching the levels of Lpeak exceeded the ACGIH exposure standard (140 dBC). The Leq levels in transit were higher than the levels in home and other indoors even though the activity time is short. Conclusions: This paper characterized the noise exposure patterns of firefighters in Korea. We suggest that special noise sources, including sirens and speaker phones, should be readjusted to reduce noise exposure.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.345-364
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• 2021

Developments in the understanding of fire behaviour for large open-plan spaces typical of tall buildings have been greatly outpaced by the rate at which these buildings are being constructed and their characteristics changed. Numerous high-profile fire-induced failures have highlighted the inadequacy of existing tools and standards for fire engineering when applied to highly-optimised modern tall buildings. With the continued increase in height and complexity of tall buildings, the risk to the occupants from fire-induced structural collapse increases, thus understanding the performance of complex structural systems under fire exposure is imperative. Therefore, an accurate representation of the design fire for open-plan compartments is required for the purposes of design. This will allow for knowledge-driven, quantifiable factors of safety to be used in the design of highly optimised modern tall buildings. In this paper, we review the state-of-the-art experimental research on large open-plan compartment fires from the past three decades. We have assimilated results collected from 37 large-scale compartment fire experiments of the open-plan type conducted from 1993 to 2019, covering a range of compartment and fuel characteristics. Spatial and temporal distributions of the heat fluxes imposed on compartment ceilings are estimated from the data. The complexity of the compartment fire dynamics is highlighted by the large differences in the data collected, which currently complicates the development of engineering tools based on physical models. Despite the large variability, this analysis shows that the orders of magnitude of the thermal exposure are defined by the ratio of flame spread and burnout front velocities (V_S / V_BO), which enables the grouping of open-plan compartment fires into three distinct modes of fire spread. Each mode is found to exhibit a characteristic order of magnitude and temporal distribution of thermal exposure. The results show that the magnitude of the thermal exposure for each mode are not consistent with existing performance-based design models, nevertheless, our analysis offers a new pathway for defining thermal exposure from realistic fire scenarios in large open-plan compartments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.385-394
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• 2023

Objectives: Firefighters could be exposed to a range of toxic chemicals during firefighting. When tyre burns, various toxic chemicals including volatile organic compounds(VOCs) could be emitted. In this study, the researchers assessed the VOC exposure of firefighters during tyre fire suppression through biomonitoring. Methods: There was a big tyre fire on 12 March 2023. Of the responding firefighters, we recruited 14 participants to collect their urine after firefighting. One week later, researchers collected firefighters' urine again right after their off-duty period. We analyzed each metabolite of benzene, toluene, xylene, and styrene in urine and compared their exposure level based on sampling time. Results: The detection rate for metabolite of benzene, toluene, styrene, and xylene in urine sampled at each time was 43%-64%, 100%, 86%-100%, and 100%, respectively. Except for the benzene, metabolite levels measured in urine after firefighting were similar to that from off-duty period. However, the median concentration of benzene metabolite in urine sampled after firefighting was three times higher compared to that from off-duty period(34.2 ㎍/g crea. and 10.9 ㎍/g crea., respectively.) The estimated airborne concentration of benzene calculated from metabolite level in urine was 0.16 ppm, which exceeded the recommended exposure level set by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Conclusions: This study shows that firefighters could be exposed to the high level of VOCs including benzene during their firefighting especially at tyre fire. These results could be used as a valuable data to prove firefighters' exposure to hazardous chemicals during their duty.