• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.63-74
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to present an evacuation performance analysis model that can derive vulnerable evacuation spaces with considering the movement behavior as per the elderly groups in the event of a fire in a geriatric hospital. Methods: The evacuation characteristics of geriatric hospital users were investigated through the review of precedent studies. First, the occupant conditions and the evacuation scenario were set to analyze a study target hospital. Then, the evacuation simulation was carried out considering the group types and the density of each group. Finally, an evacuation performance analysis model according to the group type was presented based on the simulation results. Results: The results of this study are as follows: (1) The evacuation performance according to the group type is to be clarified through the suggested study model. (2) It is necessary to secure a ramp or an emergency elevator to distribute the evacuation personnel at the design stage because congestion occurs due to collisions between evacuees on the stairs and delays the evacuation time. (3) It is necessary to consider the evacuation stairs and openings of sufficient size by analyzing the frequency of congestion occurrence and the escape routes of occupants in advance to identify the space where the evacuation flow overlaps. Implications: It is expected that the study result is to be used as primary data for studies that consider the elderly and clustering evacuation behavior in the event of a fire in a geriatric hospital.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.522-532
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• 2015

In the present study, a tunnel type soundproof wall with partial opening is proposed to reduce the environmental noise caused by railway vehicles traveling on bridges, which affects residents of high-rise apartment buildings; the study also attempts to minimize load due to wind and the weight of the wall. Applying the principles of computational fluid dynamics and structural mechanics, and the ray tracing method, a reduction in noise as well as of the overall weight of the soundproof walls is estimated. Analysis results show that the proposed soundproof wall with a partial opening weighs less, while reducing the wind loading by up to 30%. To prevent direct propagation of sound through openings in the wall, an acoustic louver, which is a type of silencer, could be considered for the opening. In order to achieve a similar noise effect with existing insulation material, the fluid flow and the insulation effect of the acoustic louver are analyzed. As the considered opening is in the range of 30~40% of the total length of the soundproof wall, the noise effect and wind load are reduced by 10dB and 25% respectively. Consequently, opening some part of tunnel type soundproof walls and installing louvers on the wall openings can have the effects of weight-reduction and reduced wind load. If a partial opening is applied with proper sound material application, a gain of an additional 5~10dB of noise reduction can be achieved.

• Proceedings of the International Union of Geodesy And Geophysics Korea Journal of Geophysical Research Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2003

In the summers of 1997 and 1998 and in February of 2000 we made 570 measurements of the ambient geomagnetic field 120 cm above the pavement surface of State Route 130, south of Pahoa, the island of Hawaii using a three-component fluxgate magnetometer. We measured at every 15.2 m (50 feet) interval covering a distance of 6, 310 m (20, 704 ft) where both historic and pre-historic highly magnetic basalt flows underlie. We also collected 197 core samples from eight road cuts, 489 specimens of which were subject to AF demagnetizations at 5 - 10 mT level up to a maximum field of 60 mT. We observed significant inclination anomalies ranging from a minimum of $31^{\circ}$ to a maximum $40^{\circ}$ where a uniform inclination value of $36.7^{\circ}$ (International Geomagnetic Reference Field, IGRF) was expected. Since the mean of the observed inclinations is approximately $35^{\circ}$ we assume that the study area is slightly affected by the magnetic terrain effect to a systematically shallower inclinations for being located in the regionally sloping surface of the southern side of the island (Baag, et al., 1995). We observed inclination anomalies showing wider (spacial) wavelength (160 - 600 m) and higher amplitudes in the historic lava flows area than in the northern pre-historic flows. Our observations imply that preexisting inclination anomalies such as those that we observed would have been interpreted as paleosecular variation (PSV). These inclination anomalies can best be attributed to concealed underground highly magnetic dikes, channel type lava flows, on-and-off hydrothermal activities through fissure-like openings, etc. Both the within- and between-site dispersions of natural remanent magnetization (NRM) are largest (up to ${\pm}7^{\circ}$) above the flows of 1955, while the area of pre-historic flows in the northern part of the study area exhibit the smallest dispersion. Nevertheless, mean inclinations of each historic flow of 1955 and 1790 are almost identical to that of the corresponding present field, whereas mean of NRM (after AF demagnetization) inclinations for each of the four pre-historic lava flow units is twelve to thirteen degrees lower than the present field inclination. We observed three cases of very large inclination variations from within a single flow, the best fitting curves of which are linear, second and third order polynomials each from within a single flow, whereas no present field variations are observed. This phenomena can be attributed to the notion that local magnetic anomalies on the surface of an active volcano are not permanent, but are transient. Therefore we believe that local magnetic anomalies of an active volcano may be constantly modified due to on going subsurface injections and circulations of hot material and also due to wide spacial and temporal distribution of highly magnetic basaltic flows that will constantly modify the topography which will in turn modify the local ambient geomagnetic field (Baag, et al., 1995). Our observations bring into question the general reliability of PSV data inferred from volcanic rocks, because on-going various geologic and geophysical activities associated with active volcano would continuously deflect and modify the ambient geomagnetic field.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.74-83
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• 2019

In the U.S., the pressurization of elevator shaft was developed in 1972 to allow vulnerable people, such as the elderly and weak who could not use escape stairs in case of fire, to evacuate. It is an advantage in terms of space saving by not using vertical ducts. This study drew the problem of the pressurization of elevator shaft based on the existing domestic patents and proposed improvements. The smoke control volume calculation method is proposed by using vertical modeling. Leakage gaps in elevator doors need to be reviewed through experimental data or actual data. The evacuation floor was divided, the openings in the elevator machine room were automatically closed to the fire signal and the relief damper was installed to improve the performance. The improved method functions as the smoke control damper supplying the air flow rather than maintaining the differential pressure. To increase reliability of the research results, the procedure was performed to verify by using Contam.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.10
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• pp.2173-2182
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• 2020

Control valves are widely used to regulate fluid flux in nuclear power plants, and there are more than 1500 control valves in the primary circuit of one nuclear power plant. With their help, the flux can be regulated to a specific level of water or steam to guarantee the energy efficiency and safety of the nuclear power plant. The flux characteristics of the control valve mainly depend on the valve core shape. In order to analyze the effects of valve core shapes on flux characteristics of control valves, this paper focuses on the valve core shapes. To begin with, numerical models of different valve core shapes are established, and results are compared with the ideal flux characteristics curve for the purpose of validation. Meanwhile, the flow fields corresponding to different valve core shapes are investigated. Moreover, relationships between the valve core opening and the outlet flux under different valve core shapes are carried out. The flux characteristics curve and equation are proposed to predict the outlet flux under different valve core openings. This work can benefit the further research of the flux control and the optimization of the valve core for control valves in nuclear power plants.

• Solar Energy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.70-83
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• 1992

The interaction between the surface radiation and the mixed convection transport from an isolated thermal source, with a uniform surface heat flux input and located in a rectangular enclosure, is stuied numerically. The enclosure simulates a practical system such an air cooled electric device, where an air-stream flows through the openings on the two vertical walls. The heat source represents an electric component located in such an enclosure. The size of this cavity is $0.1[m]{\times}0.1[m]$. The inlet velocity is assumed as 0.07[m/s] and the inlet temperature is maintained as $27^{\circ}C$. The inflow is kept at a fixed position. Laminar, two dimensional flow is assumed, and the problem lies in the mixed convection regime, governed by buoyancy force and surface readiation. The significant variables include the location of the out-flow opening, of the heat source and the wall emissivity. The basic nature of the resulting interaction betwwn the externally induced air stream and the buoyancy-driven flow generated by the source is investigated. As a result, the best location of the heat source to make the active heat transfer is 0.075[m] from the left wall on the floor. The trends observed are also discussed in terms of heat removal from practical systems such as electric circuitry.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

Carbon dioxide($CO_2$) agent, which has more safely extinguished fire than any other gaseous fire extinguishing agents, has been widely used in various protected enclosures and types of fires. According to the concept of performance-based design(PBD). $CO_2$ extinguishing system to be designed is needed to be evaluated for the performance of fire suppression with possible fire scenarios in an enclosure. In this paper, CFD simulations were carried out to study the effects of opening area on the performance of $CO_2$ extinguishing system and the flow characteristics in the machine room of $100m^3$ in which kerosene spill fire happened. This study showed that time of fire suppression increased linearly in proportion to the size of opening area, and fires for each model were completely suppressed prior to the end of discharge of $CO_2$ agent. It was shown that mass flow rate through opening was influenced by the combined effects of heat release rate of fire and discharge of $CO_2$ agent. After $CO_2$ agent was completely discharged, oxygen concentrations in enclosures for each model were lower than the limit concentration of combustion.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.41-49
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• 2019

In the present experimental study, based on a real-scale theater, a 1/14 reduced-scale model was constructed, and the effects of natural vent and fire curtain in fire of a theater stage were investigated. The case without fire curtain under the opened natural vent showed lower temperatures in the stage, whereas the case with fire curtain under the opened natural vent showed lower temperatures in the auditorium. On the other hand, through analyzing the starting time of the temperature rise at the point near the proscenium opening in the auditorium, it was found that the opened natural vent condition can delay the starting time of smoke spread from the stage to the auditorium and suppress the temperature rise in the auditorium. Under the present experimental conditions, the fire curtain installation did not affect significantly the velocity and mass flow rate of the outflow through the natural vent of the stage, which might be due to openings in the stage. The present results can be used to examine the effects of natural vent and fire curtain in a real-scale fire of a theater and to check the accuracy of the numerical simulation code.