• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.231-239
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• 2021

Detection of fire accelerants from fire residues is critical to determine whether the case was arson or accidental fire. However, to develop a standardized model for determining the presence or absence of fire accelerants was not easy because of high temperature which cause disappearance or combustion of components of fire accelerants. In this study, logistic regression, random forest, and support vector machine models were trained and evaluated from a total of 728 GC-MS analysis data obtained from actual fire residues. Mean classification accuracies of the three models were 63 %, 81 %, and 84 %, respectively, and in particular, mean AU-PR values of the three models were evaluated as 0.68, 0.86, and 0.86, respectively, showing fine performances of random forest and support vector machine models.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2008

Observations from experiments and real fire indicate that restrained steel beams have better fire-resistant capability than isolated beams. Due to the effects of restraints, a steel beam in fire condition can undergo very large deflections and the run away damage may be avoided. In addition, axial forces will be induced with temperature increasing and play an important role on the behaviour of the restrained beam. The factors influencing the behavior of a restrained beam subjected to fire include the stiffness of axial and rotational restraints, the load type on the beam and the distribution of temperature in the cross-section of the beam, etc. In this paper, a simplified model is proposed to analyze the performance of restrained steel beams in fire condition. Based on an assumption of the deflection curve of the beam, the axial force, together with the strain and stress distributions in the beam, can be determined. By integrating the stress, the combined moment and force in the cross-section of the beam can be obtained. Then, through substituting the moment and axial force into the equilibrium equation, the behavior of the restrained beam in fire condition can be worked out. Furthermore, for the safety evaluation and repair after a fire, the behaviour of restrained beams during cooling should be understood. For a restrained beam experiencing very high temperatures, the strength of the steel will recover when temperature decreases, but the contraction force, which is produced by thermal contraction, will aggravate the tensile stresses in the beam. In this paper, the behaviour of the restrained beam in cooling phase is analyzed, and the effect of the contraction force is discussed.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.427-440
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• 2001

The growing use of unprotected or partially protected steelwork in buildings has caused a lively debate regarding the safety of this form of construction. A good deal of recent research has indicated that steel members have a substantial inherent ability to resist fire so that additional fire protection can be either reduced or eliminated completely. A performance based philosophy also extends the study into the effect of structural continuity and the performance of the whole structural totality. As part of the structural system, thermal expansion during the heating phase or contraction during the cooling phase in most beams is likely to be restrained by adjacent parts of the whole system or sub-frame assembly due to compartmentation. This has not been properly addressed before. This paper describes an experimental programme in which unprotected steel beams were tested under load while it is restrained between two columns and additional horizontal restraints with particular concern on the effect of catenary action in the beams when subjected to large deflection at very high temperature. This paper also presents a three-dimensional mathematical modelling, based on the finite element method, of the series of fire tests on the part-frame. The complete analysis starts with an evaluation of temperature distribution in the structure at various time levels. It is followed by a detail 3-D finite element analysis on its structural response as a result of the changing temperature distribution. The principal part of the analysis makes use of an existing finite element package FEAST. The effect of columns being fire-protected and the beam being axially restrained has been modelled adequately in terms of their thermal and structural responses. The consequence of the beam being restrained is that the axial force in the restrained beam starts as a compression, which increases gradually up to a point when the material has deteriorated to such a level that the beam deflects excessively. The axial compression force drops rapidly and changes into a tension force leading to a catenary action, which slows down the beam deflection from running away. Design engineers will be benefited with the consideration of the catenary action.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.66-72
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• 2011

This is the fourth of a series of companion papers dealing with the mechanical property reductions of various marine structural steels. Even though a reduction of the elastic modulus according to temperature increases has not been obtained from experiments, high temperature experiments from room temperature to $900^{\circ}C$ revealed that initial the yield strength and tensile strength are both seriously degraded. The mechanical properties obtained from high temperature experiments are compared with those from EC3 (Eurocode 3). It is found that the high temperature test results generally comply with the prediction values by EC3. Based on the prediction of EC3, time domain nonlinear finite element analyses were carried out for a blast wall installed on a real FPSO. After applying the reduced mechanical properties, corresponding to $600^{\circ}C$ to the FE model of the blast wall, more than three times the deflections were observed and it was observed that most structural parts experience plastic deformations exceeding the reduced yield strength at the high temperature. It is noted that a protection facility such as PFP (passive fire protection) should be required for structures likely to be directly exposed to fire and explosion accident.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1-6
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• 2010

A smoldering ground fire can be a probable cause of reignition of surface fire when transmitted from Fermentation layer to Humus layer with temperature higher than that of ignition. Purpose of this paper is to identify experimental methodology on the potential risk of a smoldering ground fire, which is similar to the real surface fuel bed, and its combustion characteristics. The fuel model designed in this study is composed of 3 layers such as Litter layer, Fermentation layer and Humus layer and 8 Thermocouples are set through 3 layer at each boundary and in between to detect the temperature change and duration of smoldering and propagation velocity. As a result, it was observed that ignition conditions in the boundary between L layer and F layer determined transmission and non-transmisstion to F-H layer. In addition, range of critical humidity at which a smoldering ground fire was transmitted in a material layer was 33~44% and when temperature exceeds $350^{\circ}C$, likelihood of transmission of a smoldering ground fire was high. In the research, the experimental model for multi-layer smoldering ground fire is suggested and information about propagation of smoldering fire, possibility of reignition according to moisture content, propagation velocity and temperature change are obtained, Also, the built-up methods were established to help analyze basic characteristics of smoldering ground fire.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.217-223
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• 2017

This research was planned to evaluate the structural performance of post tensioned(PT) concrete member subjected to fire. Prime objective was to suggest some techniques to evaluate the performance of post tensioned concrete beam and slab exposed to high temperature through experiment. To accomplish this objective, the following two scopes have been proceeded to verify the strength reducing ratio of strands and find out the difference of resisting force at the PT concrete members exposed to high temperature through the fire test. The properties of prestressing steel(tendon) in PT concrete beam and slab under variable temperatures were reviewed. The test of this study was shown that stress relaxation occurred at high temperature, and some restoration of tensional force appeared as it got cooling down. The residual tension of the post tensioned beams at 4 hours after reaching the target temperature were 70% at $400^{\circ}C$, 10% at $600^{\circ}C$ and 2% at $800^{\circ}C$. The post tensioned slabs were 94% at $400^{\circ}C$, 84.5% at $600^{\circ}C$ and 62% at $800^{\circ}C$. The reason why the residual tension loss of the post tensioned slab was relatively small was considered to be that the slab was exposed just one side to high temperature and the strength of the strand was restored larger than that of beam. Also, it was confirmed that the post tensioned member inevitably experienced the loss of strength by fire damage, and restoration design of the member should be required to compensate for the value as much as lost strength.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2017

A rack warehouse with a vertically loading type and high loading density has severe risks and damage during its fire. In this regard, US and Japan strive to minimize the fire spread by applying in-rack sprinkler, horizontal barriers, etc. corresponding to their own rack warehouse but there is no study and policy in Korea. Therefore, a model scale fire test was carried out targeting the standard rack incorporating the national rack warehouse in order to check fire characteristics in ignition points and installation distances of horizontal barriers in this study. As a result of the test, vertical fire spread of about 30% was inhibited by narrowing its installation distance from 2-layer to 1-layer in an ignition condition of the flue space. In addition, as a result of the measurement of the temperature in the upper and lower parts of the horizontal barrier, the temperature distribution showed about 2~4 higher in a condition with an installation of the barrier than that in the condition without the barrier. Consequently, it is likely that the horizontal barrier will help the initial operation of in-rack sprinkler.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.63-71
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• 2011

In this study, it was evaluated the fire risk of an electric heater as representative seasonal appliances. Two type of electric heaters were used in experiments. When electric heaters were operated, temperature variation was measured around the heater. Internal structure was understood by Nondestructive inspection. It was evaluated the tire risk of electric heaters, when flammable materials were positioned ear a heater. It was also estimated the probability of a tire in case of malfunction of a safety tip-over witch. When a heater was operated in a normal condition, temperature was maintained under $80^{\circ}C$ around the heater. The possibility of a fire is very high, when a heater is covered with flammable materials or malfunction of safety parts (safety tip-over switch, anti-overheating devices).

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.64 no.3
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• pp.339-346
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• 2017

Slabs prevent harmful effects of fire that may occur in any floor. However, it is necessary to protect the slabs from fire. Insulation materials may be appropriate to protect reinforced concrete (RC) slab from elevated temperature. In the present study, a model has been developed in artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the moment capacity ($M_r$) of RC slabs exposed to fire with insulation material. 672 data were obtained for ANN model through author's prepared program. Input layer in model consisted of seven input parameters; such as effective depth (d), ratio of d'/d, thermal conductivity coefficient ($k_{insulation}$), insulation materials thickness ($L_{insulation}$), reinforcement area ($A_{st}$), fire exposure time ($t_{\exp}$), and concrete compressive strength ($f_c$). The predicted $M_r$ by ANN was consistent with the obtained $M_r$ by author. It is proposed to ease computational complexity in determining $M_r$ using ANN. The effects of using insulation material on the moment capacity in RC slabs were also investigated. Insulating material with low thermal conductivity has been found to be more effective for durability to high temperature.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.115-122
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• 2009

Numerical methods are applied to simulate the smoke behavior in a ventilated tunnel using large eddy simulation (LES) which is incorporated in FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) with proper combustion and radiation model. In this study, present numerical results are compared with data obtained from experiments on pool fires in a ventilated tunnel. The model tunnel is $182m(L){\times}5.4m(W){\times}2.4m(H)$. Two fire scenarios with different ventilation rates are considered with two different fire strengths. The present results are analyzed with those from LES without combustion and radiation model and from RANS ($\kappa-\epsilon$) model as well. Temperature distributions caused by fire in tunnel are compared with each other. It is found that thermal stratification and smoke back-layer can be predicted by FDS and the temperature predictions by FDS show better results than LES without combustion and radiation model. The FDS solver, however, failed to predict correct flow pattern when the high ventilation rate is considered in tunnel because of the defects in the tunnel-inlet turbulence and the near-wall turbulence.