• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.27-34
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• 2022

The government is promoting various policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for carbon neutrality, one of the key tasks is to revitalize the hydrogen economy. As one of these policies the government has formulated a plan to incorporate hydrogen into existing city gas pipes, and aims to commercialize 20% hydrogen mixing by 2026. In preparation for the commercialization of city gas and hydrogen mixture, this study quantitatively predicts the scale of damage and the range of impact in the event of leakage of these two gas mixtures. The quantitative damage prediction method is to calculate the damage conversion distance through the calculation of the TNT equivalent by setting the leakage amount of the gas mixture in the event of an accident under a virtual scenario.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.10 no.3 s.32
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• pp.48-53
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• 2006

In case of fire and explosion which resulted from LP gas release of LPG vessel retail store, the populated area such as apartment complex is supposed to be damaged either partially or totally. To estimate the damage of LP gas explosion, we conducted quantitative risk analysis procedure as has been recommended by AIChE/CCPS. For incident scenario selection, event tree analysis was proposed. TNT equivalent method, SAFER Trace v.8.0 and probit model were also used for consequence analysis. The various methods and analyses which were performed in this study are presented with the effect zones in the layout.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.360-366
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• 2016

The Propulsion Test Facilities for the development of Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II are being built, some test facilities are completed and various combustion tests are running. The Propulsion Test Facilities consists test-stand, which carries out tests for engine development model, and various sub-systems and vessels containing LOX and Jet A-1 as propellant. There are always risks of fire and explosion at the test-stand since engine development model is conducted at test-stand with real combustion test with very high pressure, mixed propellant and high energy. In this paper, in order to establish the consequence analysis and risk reduction measures in the Propulsion Test Facilities, followings are considered. 1) a propellant leak accident scenario is assumed in test-stand. 2) TNT equivalent model equation based on blast wave of the explosion was used to analyze blast overpressure and impacts. Also, technical, systematic and managemental measure is described to ensure risk reduction for propulsion test facility.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.478-489
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• 2020

This study presents an analysis of infrasonic signals from two accidental explosions in Gwangyang city, Jeonnam Province, Korea, on December 24, 2019, recorded at 12 infrasound stations located 151-435 km away. Infrasound propagation refracted at an altitude of ~40 km owing to higher stratospheric wind in the NNW direction, resulting in favorable detection at stations in that direction. However, tropospheric phases were observed at stations located in the NE and E directions from the explosion site because of the strong west wind jet formed at ~10 km. The transmission losses on the propagation path were calculated using the effective sound velocity structure and parabolic equation modeling. Based on the losses, the observed signal amplitudes were corrected, and overpressures were estimated at the reference distance. From the overpressures, the source energy was evaluated through the overpressure-explosive charge relationship. The two explosions were found to have energies equivalent to 14 and 65 kg TNT, respectively. At the first explosion, a flying fragment forced by an explosive shock wave was observed in the air. The energy causing the flying fragment was estimated to be equivalent to 49 kg or less of TNT, obtained from the relationship between the fragment motion and overpressure. Our infrasound propagation modeling is available to constrain the source energy for remote explosions. To enhance the confidence in energy estimations, further studies are required to reflect the uncertainty of the atmospheric structure models on the estimations and to verify the relationships by various ground truth explosions.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.23-33
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• 2020

As the scale of the economy expands, the number of cases of damage in enclosed spaces such as tunnels is increasing due to the accident of transportation vehicles of dangerous substances such as explosive flammable materials that have increased rapidly. In the case of road tunnels in particular, in the aspect of protection against the long-winding trend and the environment in the downtown area, the number of cases of passing through the downtown area increases, and securing the safety of structures against unexpected extreme disasters such as explosions during tunnel passage is very urgent. For this reason, developed countries are already conducting a review of internal bombardment, but there are almost no evaluation and countermeasures for explosion risk in Korea. Therefore, in this study, in order to evaluate the explosion safety of road tunnels, a boiling liquid explosive explosion (BLEVE), which is considered to have the greatest explosion load among vehicles driving on the road, is set as a reference explosion source, and the equivalent TNT explosion load is used for simulation of the explosion. A method of conversion was presented. In addition, by applying the derived explosion load, dynamic behavior simulation was performed by assuming various variables for the tunnel, and the explosion safety of the tunnel was analyzed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.12-19
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• 2015

$CO_2$ is non-flammable, non-toxic gas and not cause of chemical explosion. However, various impurities and some oxides can be included in the captured $CO_2$ inevitably. While the $CO_2$ gas was temporarily stored, the pressure in a storage tank would be reached above 100bar. Therefore, the tank could occur a physical explosion due to the corrosion of vessel or uncertainty. Evaluating the intensity of explosion can be calculated by the TNT equivalent method generally used. To describe the physical explosion, it is assumed that the capacity of a $CO_2$ temporary container is about 100 tons. In this work, physical explosion damage in a $CO_2$ storage tank is estimated by using the Hopkinson's scaling law and the injury effect of human body caused by the explosion is assessed by the probit model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2023

This study presents an analytical study of investigating the effect of shock waves generated by the hydrogen detonation and damage to structures for the safety evaluation of hydrogen storage facilities against detonation. Blast scenarios were established considering the volume of the hydrogen storage facility of 10 L to 50,000 L, states of charge (SOC) of 50% and 100%, and initial pressures of 50 MPa and 100 MPa. The equivalent TNT weight for hydrgen detonation was determined considering the mechanical and chemical energies of hydrogen. A hydrogen detonation model for the converted equivalent TNT weight was made using design equations that improved the Kingery-Bulmash design chart of UFC 3-340-02. The hydrogen detonation model was validated for overpressure and impulse in comparison to the past experimental results associated with the detonation of hydrogen tank. A parametric study based on the blast scenarios was performed using the validated hydrogen detonation model, and design charts for overpressure and impulse according to the standoff distance from the center of charge was provided. Further, design charts of the three-stage structural damage and standoff distance of adjacent structures according to the level of overpressure and impact were proposed using the overpressure and impulse charts and pressure-impulse diagrams.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2023

On August 4, 2020, 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a storage warehouse at the Port of Beirut exploded. This explosion is said to be the largest ammonium nitrate explosion ever. By applying the TNT equivalency method, TNT equivalent amount corresponding to the explosion energy of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate was calculated, and it is found to be 856 tons. Overpressure and impulse were calculated in a range up to 3600 m from the blast using the Kingery-Bulmash explosion parameter calculator tool. As the distance from the explosion center increases, the overpressure and impulse decrease exponentially, but the overpressure decreases more significantly, showing that overpressure is more affected by distance than the impact. As a result of applying the damage criteria to evaluate the effects of overpressure and impulse on the structure, the critical distances at which partial collapse, major damage, and minor damage to the structure occur are found to be approximately 500, 800, and 2200 m from the center of the explosion, respectively. The probit function was applied to evaluate the probability of damage to structures and human body. The points where the probability of collapse, major damage, minor damage, and breakage of window-panes to structures are greater than 50% are found to be approximately 500, 810, 2200, and 3200 m, respectively. For people within 200 m from the center of the explosion, the probability of death due to lung damage is more than 99%, and the 50% probability of eardrum rupture is approximately 300 m. The points with a 100% probability of death due to skull rupture and whole body impact due to whole body displacement are evaluated to be 300 and 100 m, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.517-534
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• 2021

Hydrogen fuel is emerging as an new energy source to replace fossil fuels in that it can solve environmental pollution problems and reduce energy imbalance and cost. Since hydrogen is eco-friendly but highly explosive, there is a high concern about fire and explosion accidents of hydrogen fueled vehicles. In particular, in semi-enclosed spaces such as tunnels, the risk is predicted to increase. Therefore, this study was conducted on the applicability of the equivalent TNT model and the numerical analysis method to evaluate the hydrogen explosion pressure in the tunnel. In comparison and review of the explosion pressure of 6 equivalent TNT models and Weyandt's experimental results, the Henrych equation was found to be the closest with a deviation of 13.6%. As a result of examining the effect of hydrogen tank capacity (52, 72, 156 L) and tunnel cross-section (40.5, 54, 72, 95 m²) on the explosion pressure using numerical analysis, the explosion pressure wave in the tunnel initially it propagates in a hemispherical shape as in open space. Furthermore, when it passes the certain distance it is transformed a plane wave and propagates at a very gradual decay rate. The Henrych equation agrees well with the numerical analysis results in the section where the explosion pressure is rapidly decreasing, but it is significantly underestimated after the explosion pressure wave is transformed into a plane wave. In case of same hydrogen tank capacity, an explosion pressure decreases as the tunnel cross-sectional area increases, and in case of the same cross-sectional area, the explosion pressure increases by about 2.5 times if the hydrogen tank capacity increases from 52 L to 156 L. As a result of the evaluation of the limiting distance affecting the human body, when a 52 L hydrogen tank explodes, the limiting distance to death was estimated to be about 3 m, and the limiting distance to serious injury was estimated to be 28.5~35.8 m.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.33-39
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• 2011

This study presented quantitative risk analysis in case of transporting explosive materials by railway. Accident types were classified into accidents of in station and in transit. And the study presented an initial value of accident frequency through derailment accident and crushing one according to each type, and drew the results of accident frequency through event tree analysis. Damage impact evaluation used TNT equivalent method and probit analysis method. As the result of risk evaluation, railway transportation of explosive materials passing through areas which are high in population density is appeared to be able to cause a large number of personnel injury when occurring accidents. Specially, the accident of explosive transportation combined with petroleum was forecasted as easily resulting in large explosive accident. Consequently, there is a necessity to reduce consequences by decreasing passage through areas where are high in population density, and take measures for lessening the risks in case of transporting dangerous explosive materials.