• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.15-21
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• 2019

A rack-type warehouse has the advantage of storing a large amount in a small area by loading goods vertically. But in terms of fire risk, the fire load is very high, which can cause massive damage in the event of a fire. In the United States, research has been actively conducted to minimize the spread of vertical fires, and relevant standards have been established and operated. In Korea, research and related standards are insufficient to prevent the vertical spread of rack-type warehouse fires. In this study, an experimental study was conducted to prevent the vertical spread of a rack-type warehouse fire using a horizontal barrier and in-rack sprinklers. As a result of the test, the horizontal barrier considering the continuous flame prevented the vertical spread of the flame for a certain time. However, the horizontal barrier with continuous flame did not show the effect of preventing continuous flame. The combination of the horizontal barrier and the in-rack sprinkler prevented the vertical spread of fire effectively. In addition, the heat collecting effect through the horizontal barrier was shown and helped the early operation of the in-rack sprinklers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.38-45
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• 2017

This paper is an experimental study to find an optimal detection method for detecting fire early in a rack-type warehouse stored with goods. In this study, we constructed rack-type structure with the fourth floor of 13.5 m high and conducted fire experiments which were to measure flow of heat/smoke in rack-type structure and response time of fire detectors. The detectors used at experiments were fixed temperature type detectors, rate of rise detectors, photoelectric smoke detectors, air sampling smoke detectors and flame detectors. The used ignition sources are n-heptane fire for response of heat detection and cotton fire for response of smoke detection. The fixed temperature type detectors, rate of rise detectors and photoelectric detectors were installed to every rack level respectively. The results show that the rate of rise detector should be installed every 2 levels and photoelectric smoke detector should be installed every 4 levels for the early stage fire detection. Air sampling smoke detectors can detect fire early in response to control of sensitivity, but there is a problem in false alarm. The fixed temperature detector is not suitable for early stage fire detection in warehouse and flame detector not worked if flame is not visible, so it need to install combination with other detector.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.55-60
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• 2019

The occurrence of fire in rack-type warehouses may either lead to the warehouses getting entirely burned up or collapsing. This can be attrubuted to the high height of rack-type warehouses, in which combustibles are generally vertically stacked. These characteristics make it difficult to detect a fire early; because detectors are installed on the ceiling, these fires cannot be extinguished at an early stage. In this study, the flow of heat and smoke generated by a fire in a rack-type warehouse was analyzed using a fire dynamic simulator. Through this analysis, the optimal installation conditions of fire detectors for the early detection of fire in rack-type warehouses were confirmed. The analysis results confirmed that complex detection of heat and smoke is required for the early detection of fire in rack type warehouses. Furthermore, it was found that fixed temperature detectors are not suitable for these warehouses, resulting in the need to install heat-smoke hybrid detectors at every three rack levels.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to suggest a systematic improvement plan for strengthening fire fighting ability of domestic rack- type warehouse buildings. Method: A fire case of small warehouse with sandwich panel structure and four design review of large warehouse with fire endurance structure were analyzed. Also, interviewed a group of 11 fire fighters who had 20 years field experience. Results: A provision of mobile equipment for initial fire fighting, accessibility of more than three sides, installation of internal entrance windows, proper placement of outdoor fire fighting equipment, image processing of fire site informations, and provide more incentives on the field commander are main factors of improvement plan. Conclusion: Effective standard operation procedures (SOP) and safety standards should be established and applied for each stage of the dispatch and on-site response considering the fire characteristics and risk factors of each warehouse by scale.

• 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.30 no.2
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• pp.98-105
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• 2016

A fire risk assessment in rack-type warehouse is typically determined based on the following factors: 1. flammability and fire loads for storage of goods, packing materials, and pallet, 2. a ceiling height of warehouse indoor spaces, and 3. height, arrangement, and spacing for storage racks. For appropriately extinguishing and protecting the fire in warehouses, therefore, it is necessary to classify combustibles considering the previously mentioned factors and to develop design Standards for sprinkler system. As the first step to apply automatic sprinkler system to domestic warehouses, this study investigated characteristics for commodity distribution and warehouse configuration using 28 warehouses in five distribution complexes located in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. In addition, this study analyzed Standards for commodity distribution adopted in USA, Europe, and Japan. Using the field survey analysis, this study was aimed to provide baseline data to prepare for Commodity Classification Standard for warehouses in South Korea.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.69-75
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• 2014

Recently Amore pacific rack-type warehouse fire broke out and argue an urgent improvement of fire protection design code including automatic sprinkler and detection design. Various type of commodities have their unique fire characteristics from fire spread rate and heat lease rate and fire hazard depends on storage height, rack arrangement, aisle width, fire load etc. With increasing ceiling height for more storage space prevent effective water spray of sprinkler head, also delays detection time causes failure of early suppression. To achieve fire protection code performance of this occupancy, Major code articles relating to a classification of commodity, sprinkler system installation, detection and fire fighting are reviewed and suggested based on fire case analysis, code review between country and field survey.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.214-222
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• 2019

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a sprinkler head that can be controlled and initial suppressed by installing it in a rack-type warehouse. Method: Considering the spray radius and spray pattern, various deflectors were designed, and the spray angle, discharge characteristics and protection performance test was conducted, and these results were compared and analyzed. Results: An optimal sprinkler head was developed to protect full load, front side of a commodity with minimum water volume 115L/min. Conclusion: The developed head of K-115 and 1Bar pressure was tested with one tier storage confirming that the fire control is carried out without burning all the loadings. In addition, the vertical distance from the top of the load to the deflector shall be separated by 450mm and installed to allow sufficient discharge to the outer part of the commodity.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.19-29
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• 2017

Recently, there has been increased demand for automatic warehouses with racks which are installed inside the warehouses to allow vertical loading of products or goods for space efficiency. Therefore considerations about fire hazards are extremely necessary. In this study, the fire hazard of automatic warehouse with racks was analyzed in the view of fire prevention engineering. It appeared its fire hazard was extremely high because of the undefined fire zones, the windowless floor, the large volume, the difficulty of extinguishment and the smoke emission in the view of building itself, and because of the fire hazard of load itself, the high fire load, and the chimney effect in the view of fire.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.44-50
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• 2019

In rack-type warehouses, it is difficult to extinguish fires effectively using sprinkler systems because high fire load commodities are stacked vertically and densely. In this study, an actual size rack structure was constructed and the effectiveness of the fire extinguished by the sprinkler system was confirmed through fire tests according to the type and arrangement of the sprinkler head in the rack structure. Through this study, to effectively suppress fires in rack-type warehouses, it is necessary to use sprinkler heads with a volume of more than 115 LPM and sprinkler heads need to be installed at the diagonal corner positions of the commodities of each rack.