• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.64-72
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to study the safety of a small LPG storage tank with a capacity less than 3 ton when it is exposed to an external fire. First, simulation studies were carried out using ASPEN Plus and PHAST to demonstrate that overpressurization in the tank can be relieved by discharging the LPG through an adequately sized safety valve, but the release may lead to the secondary risk of fire and explosion around the tank. Next, the temporal variations of the temperatures of the lading and tank wall were obtained using AFFTAC, which showed that the tank wall adjacent to the vapor space could be overheated in about 11 min to such a point that the weakened strength might cause a rupture of the tank and subsequent BLEVE. The consequences of the BLEVE were estimated using PHAST. Finally, several practical measures for preventing the hazards of overheating were suggested, including an anti-explosion device, sprinkling system, insulation, heat-proof coating, and enhanced safety factor for tank fabrication. The effectiveness of these measures were examined by simulations using AFFTAC and ASPEN Plus.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.74-83
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• 2020

In Korea, about 110,000 LPG small storage tanks of less than three tons have been installed in restaurants, houses and factories, and are used as LPG supply facilities for cooking, heating and industrial use. In the case of combustible liquefied gas storage tanks, the tank may rupture due to the temperature increase of the tank steel plate (approximately 600℃) even when the safety valve is operating normally, causing large-scale damage in an instant. Therefore, in the event of a fire near the LPG small storage tank, it is necessary to accurately predict the timing of the BLEVE(Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) outbreak in order to secure golden time for lifesaving and safely carry out fire extinguishing activities. In this study, we have first investigated the results of a prior study on the prediction of the occurrence of BLEVE in the horizontal tanks. And we have developed thermodynamic models and simulation program on the prediction of BLEVE that can be applied to vertical tanks used in Korea, have studied the effects of the safety valve's ability to vent, heat flux strength of external fires, size of tanks, and gas remaining in tanks on the time of BLEVE occurrence and have suggested future utilization measures.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.319-327
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• 2023

This study analyzes the risks of explosions of small LPG storage tanks installed at highway rest areas. For this purpose, the ranges of the effect of thermal radiation and overpressure caused by the BLEVE(Boiling Liquid Expansion Vapor Explosion)and VCE(Vapor Cloud Explosion) of a 2900-kg small LPG storage tank installed at highway rest areas were quantitatively evaluated by applying the Areal Location of Hazardous Atmospheres program. The ranges of influence of the derived explosion overpressure and thermal radiation were found to have a maximum radii of 336 m and 423 m, respectively. The study determined that those within 269 m could be severely injured by an explosion overpressure of 3.5 psi, and fatalities from thermal radiation of 10 kw/m² could occur within 192 m of the exploded storage tank. The safety management plan for the LPG storage tank was discussed while considering the auxiliary facilities of highway rest areas and the extent of the damage impact. These research results will help improve safety accident prevention regulations considering the environment and facilities of the rest areas as well as the safety management of small LPG storage tanks installed at highway rest areas.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.18-24
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to validate thermal hinderance effects, i.e., feasibilities, of fire-proof structure for LPG tank exposed to fire from adjacent burning building. The panel materials suggested for the fire-proof structure are (1) 10 mm-thick wood, (2) wood with fireproof coating, (3) 75 mm-thick Expanded Polystyrene, (4) 75 mm-thick glass wool filled sandwich panel, and (5) 75 mm-thick autoclaved lightweight concrete. The square planar fire source of 1 ㎡, a matrix of nozzles releasing 120-140 g/s of LPG, is used to heat up the wall and the tank beyond, mimicking heat transfer from burning exterior wall finishes. The feasibility is tested by inspecting structural integrity after test, and then by examining temperatures at both sides of panels and tank's front surface as well as heat fluxes. As a result, it can be concluded that, among the suggested sample materials, fire-proof wall with ALC panel only showed the feasibility for explosion prevention with the proven evidences of structural integrity and least increase in temperature of tank.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2020

In the safety control and business of liquefied petroleum gas act, LPG supply using bulk lorry of liquefied petroleum gas dealer is possible only to small storage tanks of less than 3 tons in bulk lorry less 10 tons. The government has announced plans to extend the bulk lorry supply to storage tanks of less than 10 tons, reflecting improved safety management capabilities of liquefied petroleum gas dealer. Therefore, in order to supply LPG to the storage tank stably through the bulk lorry, the technical evaluation of the existing bulk lorry LPG supply system is needed. In this study, we will investigate the status of LPG supply system in Korea through bulk lorry and investigate safe LPG supply method. First, we conducted a survey on the supply of LPG storage tanks through bulk lorry to related companies to collect basic data. Based on the results of the surveys, we will conduct field surveys to provide basic data for stable LPG supply.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.928-936
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• 2003

In the present study, feasibility investigation on the solar assisted hot water supply system for apartment houses was carried out by the review of service facility and heat load pattern. Also analysis and experiment of the small sized system model were performed. This hybrid system are consists of solar collector, heat storage tank, controller, and gas boiler using LPG as a secondary heat source. The analytical results showed a good agreement with experimental data. We found that this hybrid system could reduce the energy cost by 30% for hot water compared to typical boiler system in the apartment houses. Also we showed that this model could be used for the energy and economic analysis of the hybrid system.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.28-33
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• 2018

Currently, the government has been expanding the supply of semi-low-pressure in order to solve the problems of unsupplied area of city gas and to secure the economical efficiency of small supplied area. It is mainly supplied from the central storage tank to each household by buried piping. It is necessary to provide such a shutoff valve that can block the excess flow gas due to pipeline leak or rupture when piping is damaged by other construction. For this study, System CFD code named Flownex has been used and a component corresponding to the actual EFV was developed. We compared Flownex results with experimental data to verify the accuracy of Flownex and confirmed the error rate to be around 2%. In this study, pipeline network modeling was done by selecting the LPG supply pipeline in a village and installed the component of the EFV at each junction. We selected the longest pipeline from the main pipeline and set scenarios so that the excess flow occurs by that the pipeline is ruptured before entering the household. The excess flow occurs by the pipeline rupture and the EFV is closed. At this time, we analyzed backflow effects to the other pipeline by closing EFV.