• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.52 no.6
• /
• pp.706-712
• /
• 2014

Explosives are reactive material that contain a great amount of high potential energy. They produce detonation if released suddenly, accompanied by the production of strong light, high heat, great noise and high pressure. Damage at surrounding detonation point is affected by high pressure and blast wave for explosives detonation. Consequently, analysis of pressure and blast wave is very important. This study focuses on the analysis of maximum overpressure and blast wave of explosives for safety assurance. First of all, four cases of the amount of HMX were selected. Secondly, maximum pressure and blast wave were calculated through detonation simulation along with a set of TNT and HMX quantities. The peripheral effect of detonation point was analyzed by calculating overpressure and absolute velocity and considering detonation occurred in the center of geometry by HMX. Also, maximum overpressure and blast wave of HMX were compared to equivalent amount of TNT, which was taken as a base case and verified through theoretical HMX graph. This study contributes to the base case for overpressure and blast wave of complex gunpowder containing HMX.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2022

For carbon neutrality, interest in R&D and infrastructure construction for hydrogen energy, an eco-friendly energy source, is growing worldwide. In particular, for hydrogen stations installed in downtown areas, underground hydrogen infrastructure are being considered to increase a safety distance from hydrogen tank explosions to adjacent structures. In order to design an appropriate location and depth of the underground hydrogen infrastructure, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of the explosion of the underground hydrogen infrastructure on adjacent structures. In this paper, a numerical model was developed to analyze the effect of the underground hydrogen infrastructure explosion on adjacent structures, and the over pressure of the hydrogen tank was evaluated using the equivalent TNT (Trinitrotoluene) model. In addition, parametric analysis was performed to estimate the stability of adjacent structures according to the construction conditions of the underground hydrogen infrastructure.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.605-612
• /
• 2021

Amid growing global damage due to abnormal weather caused by global warming, the introduction of eco-friendly cars is accelerating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from internal combustion engines. Accordingly, many studies are being conducted in each country to prepare for the explosion of hydrogen fuel in semi-closed spaces such as tunnels and underground parking lots to ensure the safety of hydrogen-electric vehicles. As a result of predicting the explosion pressure of the hydrogen tank using the equivalent TNT model, it was found to be about 1.12 times and 2.30 times higher at a height of 1.5 meters, respectively, based on the case of 52 liters of hydrogen capacity. A review of the impact on the human body and buildings by converting the predicted maximum explosive pressure into the amount of impact predicted that all predicted values would result in lung damage or severe partial destruction. The predicted degree of damage was applied only by converting the amount of impact caused by the explosion, and considering the additional damage caused by the explosion, it is believed that the actual damage will increase further and safety and disaster prevention measures should be taken.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.55-63
• /
• 2016

A dust explosion is a phenomenon of strong blast wave propagation involving destruction which results from dust pyrolysis and rapid oxidation in a confined space. There has been some research done to find individual explosion characteristics and common physical laws for various dust types. However, there has been insufficient number of studies related to the heat of combustion of materials and the oxygen consumption energy about materials in respect of dust explosion characteristics. The present study focuses on the relationship between dust explosion characteristics of wood dust samples and oxygen consumption energy. Since it is difficult to estimate the weight of suspended dust participating in explosions in dust explosion and mixtures are in fuel-rich conditions concentrations with equivalent ratios exceeding 1, methods for estimating explosion overpressure by applying oxygen consumption energy based on unit volume air at standard atmospheric pressure and temperature are proposed. In this study an oxygen consumption energy model for dust explosion is developed, and by applying this model to TNT equivalent model, initial explosion efficiency was calculated by comparing the results of standardized dust explosion experiments.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.47-60
• /
• 2021

Hydrogen is a next-generation energy source, and according to the roadmap for activating the hydrogen economy, it is expected that industries to stably produce, store, and transport of hydrogen as well as the supply of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be made rapidly. Accordingly, safety measures for accidents of hydrogen vehicles in confined spaces such as tunnels are required. In this study, as part of a study to ensure the safety of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in road tunnels, a basic investigation and research on the risk of fire and explosion due to gas leakage and hydrogen tank rupture among various hazards caused by hydrogen fuel cell vehicle accidents in tunnels was conducted. The following results were obtained. In the event of hydrogen fuel cell vehicle accidents, the gas release rate depends on the orifice diameter of TPRD, and when the gas is ignited, the maximum heat release rate reaches 3.22~51.36 MW (orifice diameter: 1~4 mm) depending on the orifice diameter but the duration times are short. Therefore, it was analyzed that there was little increase in risk due to fire. As the overpressure of the gas explosion was calculated by the equivalent TNT method, in the case of yield of VCE of 0.2 is applied, the safety threshold distance is analyzed to be about 35 m, and number of the equivalent fatalities are conservatively predicted to reach tens of people.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.399-406
• /
• 2018

The present study focuses on the performance of basalt fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC) lining in tunnel situated in sandstone rock when subjected to internal blast loading. The blast analysis of the lined tunnel is carried out using the three-dimensional (3-D) nonlinear finite element (FE) method. The stress-strain response of the sandstone rock is simulated using a crushable plasticity model which can simulate the brittle behavior of rock and that of BFRC lining is analyzed using a damaged plasticity model for concrete capturing damage response. The strain rate dependent material properties of BFRC are collected from the literature and that of rock are taken from the authors' previous work using split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The constitutive model performance is validated through the FE simulation of SHPB test and the comparison of simulation results with the experimental data. Further, blast loading in the tunnel is simulated for 10 kg and 50 kg Trinitrotoluene (TNT) charge weights using the equivalent pressure-time curves obtained through hydrocode simulations. The analysis results are studied for the stress and displacement response of rock and tunnel lining. Blast performance of BFRC lining is compared with that of plain concrete (PC) and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) lining materials. It is observed that the BFRC lining exhibits almost 65% lesser displacement as compared to PC and 30% lesser displacement as compared to SFRC tunnel linings.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.99-110
• /
• 2023

When a fire accident accompanied by an explosion occurs, the surrounding firewalls are affected by impact and thermal loads. Damaged firewalls due to accidental loads may not fully perform their essential function. Therefore, this paper proposes an advanced methodology for evaluating the fire resistance performance of firewalls damaged by explosions. The fragments were assumed to be scattered, and fire occurred as a vehicle exploded in a large compartment of a roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) vessel. The impact velocity of the fragments was calculated based on the TNT equivalent mass corresponding to the explosion pressure. Damage and thermal-structural response analyses of the firewall were performed using Ansys LS-DYNA code. The fire resistance reduction was analyzed in terms of the temperature difference between fire-exposed and unexposed surfaces, temperature increase rate, and reference temperature arrival time. The degree of damage and the fire resistance performance of the firewalls varied significantly depending on impact loads. When naval ships and RO-RO vessels that carry various explosive substances are designed, it is reasonable to predict that the fire resistance performance will be degraded according to the explosion characteristics of the cargo.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2008

Three failure cases of CNG composite vessels were reported since after January 2005. The 1st and 2nd accidents were indebted to vessel defect and installation mistake. The 3rd was caused by gas leak at pipe connections. In this paper various aspects were studied based on information of the three failure analysis, which must be improved for better safety of the CNG bus system. Overpressure region caused by vessel explosion was theoretically predicted and also assessed by PHAST program. Explosion of 120 l vessel under 20 MPa is equivalent to 1.2 kg TNT explosion. The predicted value by PHAST was more serious than theoretical one. However, actual consequence of explosion was much less than both of the predicted consequences. Since the CNG vessel was designed by the performance based design methodology, it is difficult to verify whether the required process and tests were properly conducted or not after production. If material toughness is not enough, the vessel should be weak in brittle fracture at early in the morning of winter season since the metal temperature can be lower than the transition temperature. If autofrettage pressure is not correct, fatigue failure due to tensile stress during repeated charging is possible. One positive aspect is that fire did not ocurred after vessel failure. This may be indebted to fast diffusion of natural gas which hindered starting fire.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.688-699
• /
• 2021

On September 23, 2020, at 1:39 a.m., a bright fireball above Seocheon was observed across the country. Two fireball explosions were identified in the images of the All-Sky Camera (ASC), and the shock waves were recorded at seismic and infrasound stations in the southwestern Korean Peninsula. The location of the explosion was estimated by a Bayesian-based location method using the arrival times of the fireball-associated seismic and infrasound signals at 17 stations. Realistic azimuth- and rang-dependent propagation speeds of sound waves were incorporated into the location method to increase the reliability of the results. The location of the sound source was found to be 36.050°N, 126.855°E at an altitude of 35 km, which was close to the location of the second fireball explosion. The two explosions were identified as sequential infrasound arrivals at local infrasound stations. Simulations of waveforms for long ranges explain the detection results at distant infrasound stations, up to ~266 km from the sound source. The dominant period of the signals recorded at five infrasound stations is about 0.4 s. A period-energy relation suggests the explosion energy was equivalent to ~0.3 ton of TNT.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.141-148
• /
• 2022

In this study, the structural behavior of reinforced concrete members under simultaneous axial and blast loads was analyzed. Nonlinear dynamic analysis verification was performed using the experimental data of panels under fundamental blast load as well as those of reinforced concrete columns subjected to axial and blast loads. Because Autodyn is a program designed only for dynamic analysis, an analysis process is devised to simulate the initial stress state of members under static loads, such as axial loads. A total of 80 nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis procedures were conducted by selecting parameters corresponding to axial load ratios and scaled distances ranging 0%~70% and 1.1~2.0 (depending on the equivalent of TNT), respectively. The structural behavior was compared and analyzed with the corresponding degree of damage and maximum lateral displacement through the changes in axial load ratio and scaled distance. The results show that the maximum lateral displacement decreases due to the increase in column stiffness under axial loads. In view of the foregoing, the formulated analysis process is anticipated to be used in developing blast-resistant design models where structural behavior can be classified into three areas considering axial load ratios of 10%~30%, 30%~50%, and more than 50%.