• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1-13
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• 2015

Accidents related to gas explosion are frequently happened in foreign countries and in Korea. For the evaluation and the analysis of gas explosions, TNT equivalent methods are used. In this study, the influence of the selection of chemical equation in TNT explosion and the selection of enthalpy of the products on the explosion energy, detonation pressure, velocity of detonation, and temperature was calculated. Depending on the chemical equations, the maximum detonation pressure can be 2 times higher than the minimum. As an example for applying TNT equivalent method, an explosion of methane gas in a confined volume was assumed. With the TNT equivalent, it was possible to predict the variation of peak overpressure and impulse with the distance from the explosion location.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

Vapor cloud explosions show different characteristics from that caused by ordinary TNT explosives and their loading effect is similar to pressure waves. Typical methods used for blast pressure calculations are the TNT-equivalent method and multi-energy method. The TNT-equivalent method is based on shock waves, similar to a detonation phenomenon, and multi-energy method is based on pressure waves, similar to a deflagration phenomenon. This study was conducted to derive an appropriate blast pressure by applying various plant explosion cases. SDOF analysis and nonlinear dynamic analysis were performed to compare the degree of deformation and damage of the selected structural members for the explosion cases. The results indicated that the multi-energy method was more exact than the TNT-equivalent method in predicting the blast pressure of vapor cloud explosions. The blast pressure of vapor cloud explosion in plants can be more accurately calculated by assuming the charge strength of multi-energy method as 7 or 8.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2020

Gas explosion accidents are steadily being issued due to increased gas consumption in Korea and foreign countries. To analyze the effects of these gas explosions, a TNT equivalent method is used. In this study, the TNT equivalent was calculated in the event of an explosion due to the volume content in the air of CO, CH₄ and C₂H₄, the typical flammable gases emitted by coal. Also, the peak overpressure and impulse variation with the distance from explosion point were compared and analyzed by gas using the calculated equivalent value of TNT. The upper limit of the TNT equivalent for the three mixed gases is up to five times larger than the other gases mixture. In addition, the peak overpressure and impulse, which are factors of the TNT characteristic curve, are also increasing as the number of gases increases.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.73-92
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• 2023

With the increase of risk of gas explosion, various methods for indirectly estimating the explosion paramaters, which are required for the prediction of gas explosion scale and impact. In this study, the characteristics of the most frequently used methods such as TNT equivalent method, TNO multi-energy method, and BST method and the processes for determining the parameters of the methods were compared. In the case of TNT equivalent method, an adequate selection of the efficiency factor for various conditions such as the type of vapor cloud explosion and explosion material is needed. There is no objective guidelines for the selection of class number in TNO multi-energy method and it is not possible to estimate negative overpressure. It was found that there were some mistakes in the reported parameter values and suggested corrected values. BST method provides more detailed guidelines for the estimation of the explosion parameters including negative overpressure, but the graphs used in this methods are not clear. In order to overcome the problem, the graphs were redrawn. A more convenient estimation of explosion parameters with the numerical expression of the redrawn graphs will be available in the future.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.26-34
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• 2018

Explosions of vapor cloud formed due to the leakage from installations with flammable fuels have often occurred in Korea and foreign countries. In this study, TNT equivalency method and Multi-Energy method for vapor cloud explosion blast modelling are described and demonstrated in a case study. As TNT equivalency method is simple and direct, it has been widely used for modelling a vapor cloud explosion blast. But TNT equivalency method found to be difficult to select a proper correlation between the amount of combustion energy produced from the vapor cloud explosion and the equivalent amount of TNT to model its blast effects. Multi-Energy method assumes that the strength of vapor cloud explosion blast depends on the layout of the space where the vapor cloud is spreading. Strictly speaking, the explosive potential of a vapor cloud is dependent upon the density of the obstructed regions. In this study, Flixborough accident are analyzed as a case study to assess the applicability of TNT equivalency method and Multi-Energy method. TNT equivalency method and Multi-Energy method found to be applicable if coefficient of TNT equivalency and coefficient of strength of explosion blast are selected properly.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.28-34
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• 2016

Empirical model, phenomenological model, and CFD model have been used to evaluate the blast effects produced by explosion of explosives, flammable gas and liquid or dust. TNT equivalence method which is one of empirical models has been widely used as it is simple. In this study, new peak overpressure-scaled distance and scaled impulse-scaled distance equations are induced through fitting data from the curves given by TNT equivalence method. If the TNT equivalent mass is calculated, it is possible to estimate the peak overpressure and impulse using the regression equations. Differences of peak overpressure with yield factor which is a component of TNT equivalence method are found to be great in near-by distances from explosion source where the increase in overpressure is very steep, but the differences are getting smaller as the distances increase.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.44-53
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• 2022

This study evaluates the applicability of the TNT Equivalency Method, Multi-Energy Method, and Baker-Strehlow-Tang (BST) Method, which are blast prediction models used to determine the overpressure of blast wave generated from vapor cloud explosion. It is assumed that the propane leaked from a propane storage container with a capacity of 2000 kg installed in an area where studio houses and shopping centers are concentrated causes a vapor cloud explosion. The equivalent mass of TNT calculated by applying the TNT Equivalency Method is found to be 4061 kg. Change of overpressure with the distance obtained by the TNT Equivalency Method, Multi-Energy Method, and BST Method is rapid and the magnitude of overpressure obtained by the TNT Equivalency Method and BST method is generally similar within 100 m from explosion center. As a result of comparing the overpressure observed in the actual vapor cloud explosion case with the overpressure obtained by applying the TNT Equivalent Method, Multi-Energy Method, and BST Method, the BST Method is found to be the best fit. As a result of comparing the overpressure with the distance obtained by each explosion prediction model with the damage criteria for structure, it is estimated that the structure located within 90 m from explosion center would suffer a damage more than partial destruction, and glass panes of the structure separated by 600 m would be fractured.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4 s.23
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• pp.120-129
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• 2005

To analyze a blast effect of developed explosives, three different kinds of aluminized tastable explosives and melted cast explosive TNT were used. Conventional explosive TNT was used as a reference. Each tested explosive charge of 340mm diameter spherical type was initiated at the charge center with DXD-65(${\sim}750g$) booster and RP-87 EBW detonator. Thirteen piezo type pressure sensors were located at a range from 4 to 50m away from the charge. From the blast wave profiles, we calculated a peak blast pressure and impulse of the explosion. The calculated pressures and in pulses were converted to TNT Equivalent Weight(TEW) factor by the scaling ]aw method. The average TEW factors based on the blast pressure of TX-01, TX-02, TX-03, TX-04 were 1.298, 1.05, 1.266, 1.274 and the average TEW factors based on impulse were 1.504, 1.686, 1.640, 1.679. From the results, we concluded that TEW factors based on blast pressure and based on impulse of aluminized explosives were superior to TNT. This results are owing to the high contents of aluminum in formulations.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.355-362
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• 2021

Various blast pressure calculation methods have been developed for predicting the explosion pressure of vapor cloud explosions. Empirical methods include the TNT equivalent method, and multi-energy method. The multi-energy method uses a charge strength that considers environmental factors. Although the Kinsella guideline was provided to determine the charge strength, there are limitations such as guidelines related to ignition sources. In this study, we proposed an improved charge strength guideline, by subdividing the ignition source intensity and expanding the type classification through literature analysis. To verify the improved charge strength guideline, and to compare it with the result obtained using the Kinsella guideline, four vapor cloud explosion cases which could be used to estimate the actual blast pressure were investigated. As a result, it was confirmed that the Kinsella guidelines showed an inaccurate, that is, wider pressure than the actual estimated blast pressure. However, the improved charge strength guideline enabled the selection of the intensity of the ignition source, and more subdivided types through the expansion of classification, hence it was possible to calculate the blast pressure relatively close to that of the actual case.

• 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.