• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.71-76
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• 2012

The coflow velocity effect on the minimum extinguishing concentration(MEC) was investigated experimentally in heptane cup-burner flames. Various inert gases($N_2$, Ar, $CO_2$, He) were added into the oxidizer to find the critical concentration and the effectiveness of the agents on flame extinction. The experimental results showed that the MECs were increased with increasing coflow velocity for most inert gases except helium, but the higher coflow velocity induced the lower burning rates of heptane. This indicated that the increase of coflow velocity resulted in the decrease of fuel velocity evaporated from fuel surface, and hence the stain rate on the reaction zone was also decreased. In the case of helium as a additive, the extinguishing concentration was independent of the coflow velocity because the heat conductivity was ten times larger than the other inert gases and flow effect by a strain rate might be compensated for heat loss to the surroundings.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.95-99
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• 2008

Halon was known as a cause of the ozone layer destruction. In 1987, it was designated as one of the ozone-layer-destroying materials in the Montreal Protocol. Therefore substitutes of Halon agent has been developed including inert gas extinguish system, which is one of the most widely used fire extinguishing system. This study intended to increase the efficiency of inert gas extinguishing agent by using inert gas additives. As IG-541 shows high extinguishing power, the experiment was performed to measure the effects of gaseous additives to it. Cup-burner fire extinguishing apparatus was used with n-Heptane fuel. Among many of pure inert gaseous agents, Helium showed the most excellent extinguishing power. When Helium was added to IG-541, fire extinguishing power was increased and the concentration of oxygen in chimney also risen. By adding Helium to IG-541, the effectiveness of inert gas fire extinguishing system is able to be increased.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.20-28
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• 2014

Effect of radiation models on the suppression limits in counterflow $CH_4$/air diffusion flame was numerically investigated with fundamental experiments for the numerical validation. $N_2$ and $CO_2$ were considered as extinguishing agents. The differences in extinguishing concentration between OTM and SNB radiation models which have different accuracy levels were examined. As a result, there is no considerable difference in extinguishing concentration for the $N_2$ dilution as the radiation models with different accuracy levels were used. As the $CO_2$ having strong radiative effect was diluted in the low strain flames, however, the radiation model with high predictive accuracy such as SNB should be used. In particular, the $CO_2$ dilution in fuel stream leads to the significant difference in extinguishing concentration between OTM and SNB models. Therefore, it is necessary that the radiation model should be reasonably chosen with the consideration of numerical accuracy and computational time for the prediction of extinguishing concentration.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.42-47
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• 2012

In the study, fire extinguishing concentration of $K_2CO_3$-Zeolite composite was measured. Zeolite composite is a porous adsorbent which has small particle size, low density and anti-catalytic effect. Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-Ray diffraction and thermal analysis were also conducted to investigate the structural properties of composite. The result showed that despite of weight ratio, the extinguishing concentration of the composite was lower than pure $K_2CO_3$. The extinguishing concentration of $K_2CO_3$-Zeolite composite which has weight ratio of 7 : 3 was 5.72 times lower than that of pure $K_2CO_3$ and 1.1 times lower than that of ABC powder. The SEM and XRD patterns showed that $K_2CO_3$ was adsorbed on the Zeolite properly, and through the thermal analysis, it was founded that the composite is more effective extinguishing agent than pure $K_2CO_3$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.46-51
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• 2018

A basic sprinkler system is a fire extinguishing system that can be easily installed in a fire-vulnerable place such as a publicly used establishments. However, the publicly used establishments are not only complicated in structure, but also have a large amount of flammable interior materials, and the users are not normally in a normal state, which is a very dangerous fire-fighting object. Therefore, due to the low fire extinguishing performance of the basic sprinkler system installed in the publicly used establishments, the fire suppression control can not be performed quickly in case of fire, which may increase the life and property damage. In this study, the cases of quantitative changes of extinguishing water used in basic sprinkler system and the cases of addition of additives such as wetting agents, reinforced agents to improve extinguishing performance were compared. Experimental results showed that the extinguishing performance was improved as the quantity of extinguishing water increase and the reinforced agents showed similar performance to that of 60% increase in the amount of extinguishing water. The cooling time to $200^{\circ}C$ and oxygen concentration were improved up to 14.3% and 34.5%, respectively. In the case of using the wetting agent, the cooling time to $200^{\circ}C$ and oxygen concentration did not show any significant improvement, but showed the effect of preventing deep seated fire. In order to prevent loss of life and property, it is necessary to improve the performance of the basic sprinkler system by increasing amount of extinguishing water or using additives like reinforced agents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.27-31
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• 2009

An experimental study on the unsteady effect of the extinction limit was performed in ethene jet diffusion flames. To impose the unsteadiness on jet flames, the amplitude and frequency of a co-flow velocity was varied, and the two inert gases, $N_2$ and $CO_2$, were used to dilute the oxidizer for extinguishing concentration. The experimental results shows that large amplitude of velocity induces a low extinguishing concentration, which implies that flow variation affects the blow out mechanism. Also, the flow oscillation effects under high frequency attenuates the flame extinction. These results means that flow unsteadiness extends the extinction limit and finally minimum extinction concentration by inert gases. When the Stoke's 2nd Problem is introduced to explain the flow unsteadiness on extinction concentration, the solution predicts the effect of amplitude and frequency of velocity well, and hence it is concluded the effect of low frequency velocity excitation was attributed only to flow effect.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2012

The purpose of the study is to assess the extinguishing concentration of inert gases in engine nacelle fire. The experiment was performed with a two dimensional rectangular bluff body stabilized flames, where the fuel was ejected to counter flow and co-flow against an oxidizer stream. Two inert gases, $CO_2$ and $N_2$, were used for extinguishing agent in the oxidizer and methane was used for fuel. The main experimental parameters were the direction of injecting fuel, the kinds of agent and the velocity ratio between air and fuel streams, which controlled the mixing characteristic near bluff body and the strength of recirculation zone in the downstream. The result shows the flame structure and the mode were strongly dependent with fuel/air ratio and the fuel jet direction. For both flow configurations, the extinguishing concentration of $CO_2$ was smaller than the $N_2$ because of the large heat capacity of $CO_2$. However, the concentration of inert gasesat blowout was much smaller than those in the cup burner and coflow jet diffusion flames, which implies that the extinction mechanism of bluff body stabilized flames was mainly due to the aerodynamic aspect. Compared to co-flow fuel injection, the extinguishing concentration of inert gases under counter flow configuration was lower. The effect of direction might result from the mixing characteristic and strength of recirculation zonearound a bluff body. More details should be investigated for the characteristic of recirculation zone in the wake of bluff body using the LES(Large Eddy Simulation).

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.424-430
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to analyse the characteristics and spreading laws of parameters such as fire smoke, concentration of CO, visibility, and temperature at fire scene in high-rise residential buildings under the different conditions of fire doors and automatic fire extinguishing systems. Using Pyrosim to simulate diverse fire scenes in a high-rise apartment with corridors, to analyze the changes in those parameters. The results show that when a fire occurs, closing the fire-fighting corridor will increase the smoke temperature and concentration of CO in the stairwell, and reduce the height and visibility of the smoke layer; the automatic fire extinguishing system effectively suppresses the increase in the temperature of the fire smoke and the sedimentation of the smoke layer. Reasonable setting and operation of the automatic fire extinguishing system could effectively inhibit the spread of fire. Although closing fire corridor can slow down the direct upward spread of smoke through the corridor, it will force the fire smoke into the stairwell, which will seriously affect evacuation through the stairs. Therefore, in order to reduce risks, it is forbidden to close the fire doors of the firefighting corridor and stacking combustible materials in the corridor, Also, intensifying inspections and ensuring the normal operation of the automatic fire extinguishing system are indispensable. Based on the research results, the significance of installing fire-fighting facilities in the construction of high-rise apartments was discussed and proved.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.23-28
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• 2013

In order to improve extinguishing performance of water mist, many studies of additives have been conducted. In this study, viscosity agent which has the ability to improve extinguishing performance by adhering to the surface on fire was used and fluorine-free surfactant was also added to water to enhance water's wetting ability. This study aimed to verify optimal concentration of extinguishing of additives according to fire source and extinguishing performance by comparison with pure water. In case of wood crib fire, the results show that flame suppression and extinguishing time of sodium alginate 0.4 wt.% are 3.4 times and 2.2 times shorter than those of pure water in 0.2 MPa respectively. It seems that large amount of water adhere to surface on fire, thus cooling effect on surface was enhanced. Also water consumption of sodium alginate 0.4wt.% is up to 65% lower than that of pure water. In case of heptane fire, extinguishing time of cocobetaine 0.1 wt.% is 9.7 times shorter than that of pure water in 0.2 MPa. It is thought that because cocobetaine can block oxygen and suppress oil mist by making emulsion film on fire surface due to a low surface tension. On the other hand, water consumption of cocobetaine 0.1 wt.% is 92% lower than that of pure water.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.78-84
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• 2014

Viscosity agents were added to water to improve extinguishing performance of low pressure water mist suppression system on wood cribs fire, and a small scale wood cribs fire experiment was conducted to measure the extinguishing performance. CMC and agar were used for viscosity agent and as the amount of viscosity agent enlarges, it showed the increase of the viscosity of aqueous solution and the decrease of the fluidity. On wood cribs fire experiment, the extinguishing efficiency was improved with supplemental viscosity agent as it enhanced the adhesive time of aqueous solution on the wood, and therefore expanded the contact time of fire surface. The surface tension of aqueous solution was decreased with the addition of agar which to be assumed as an increase factor of extinguishing efficiency. By the extinguishing experimental result, the most effective extinguishing agent was CMC 0.6 wt.%, with the flame suppression time and the extinguishing time were reduced by 70s and 93s respectively at this concentration.