Field Of Safety Engineering Research Articles

Self-Reinforced Piezoelectric Response of an Electroluminescent Film for the Dual-Channel Signal Monitoring of Damaged Areas.

Organic piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) show promise for monitoring damage in mechanical equipment. However, weak interfacial bonding between the reinforcing phase and the fluorinated material limits the feedback signal from the damaged area. In this study, we developed a PENG film capable of real-time identification of the damage location and extent. By incorporating core-shell barium titanate (BTO@PVDF-HFP) nanoparticles, we achieved enhanced piezoelectric characteristics, flexibility, and processability. The composite film exhibited an expanded output voltage range, reaching 41.8 V with an increase in frequency, load, and damage depth. Additionally, the film demonstrated self-powered electroluminescence (EL) during the wear process, thanks to its inherent ferroelectric properties and the presence of luminescent ZnS:Cu particles. Unlike conventional PENG electroluminescent devices, the PENG film exhibited luminescence at the damage location over a wide temperature range. Our findings offer a novel approach for realizing modular and miniaturized real-time damage mapping systems in the field of safety engineering.

Design and Development of a Hazard Identification Tool for Laboratory Fire Risk Assessment using Delphi Technique

The prevalence of fire in laboratories is high due to the potential sources of the fire hazards, including the use of various equipment and chemicals, as well as the possibility of human error. Accordingly, this study was designed and conducted with the aim of developing a tool to identify hazards and assess laboratory fire risk. In the present study, we used the Delphi technique in three rounds in 2020 with the participation of 17 experts in the fields of safety engineering, occupational health engineering, chemistry, and chemical engineering. The scattering index of coefficient of variation (CV) was higher than 20% and the acceptance criterion for each item was considered with an average of ≥4. In addition, the validity and reliability of this tool were evaluated using content validity ratio (CVR), content validity index (CVI), and Cronbach's alpha reliability index. After three rounds of Delphi study, the hazard identification and risk assessment questionnaire for laboratory fire were developed with 45 items, including chemical materials and compounds, electricity, and fire response. The coefficient of variation (CV) in this Delphi study was equal to 0.05. The results of the validity and reliability evaluation of this tool showed that the content validity index (CVI) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were equal to 0.902 and 0.88. The questionnaire of the present study indicated an acceptable validity and reliability for identifying hazards and assessing laboratory fire risk. Therefore, this tool provided a quick, easy, and practical way to identify hazards and assess the risk of laboratory fires.

Prevention of an atmospheric storage tank bund failure

Secondary containment (bunds, drip trays, interceptors/sumps) is an integral part of many chemical, petrochemical, as well as agricultural, food and pharmaceutical facilities. Bunds are the built-in cases for accidental liquid substance spillage where there is a hazard that a substance could leak into the surroundings and the potential of health or environmental damage. The authors focus on the cases installed in large-volume atmospheric tanks storing hazardous chemicals in liquid form, where the bund failure occurred. In the first part of the study, a database of these accidents was created, numbering a total of 15 items. Attention was paid to the course of the accident, its causes and consequences. Several basic representative scenarios of bund failure have also been developed. The second part of the study is devoted mainly to the measures against the bund failure, such as risk assessment, technical and organizational measures. The aim of this study is to provide readers (including experts in the field of safety engineering, maintenance experts and building designers) with the information that can subsequently be used in the risk assessment of bund failure, possibly also for planning the construction of new bunds, or revitalization and maintenance of the existing ones.

Visual Simulation and Case Inversion of Gas Explosion in Underground Mine

To truly represent the developing changes and spatiotemporal effects of gas explosion in underground mine, this paper discussed the field modeling and visual simulation technology of mine gas explosion. Through analyzing the characteristics of various field parameters, space geometric field models, physical attribute field models, and meteorological parameter field models were established to describe mine engineering, ventilation network, and explosion disaster process, respectively. Based on the generated model class and simulation timing flow of gas explosion disaster field, OpenGL technology was adopted to visualize the model of gas explosion disaster field, which simulated the overpressure propagation process of gas explosion shockwave and dynamic spread process of disaster gas, thereby to reveal the developing changes of gas explosion parameters in time and space. Taking the gas explosion accident that occurred in a certain mine in China as an example, the disaster process was inferred to examine the availability of the mine gas explosion disaster field model. The research achievements in the paper not only embody the great engineering value of visual simulation technology in the field of safety engineering but also provide references for accident impact prediction, assessment, and emergency plan.

An Emergency Evacuation Behavior Simulation Method Combines Personality Traits and Emotion Contagion

Simulation emergency evacuation is an important part in the field of safety engineering, affective computing plays a vital role in the popularization of artificial intelligence, computer simulation and human-computer interaction. Inspired by this field, this paper proposes a method for simulating group interactions during emergency evacuation. First, each individual is assigned with dynamic survival needs and psychological quality based on urgent event and the external influence. Second, the emotional interaction of the group is realized based on OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) personality trait and the improved CA-SIRS (Cellular Automaton-Susceptible Infected Recovered Susceptible) model. Third, after the perception of the external environment changes, the accident experience and panic level are used as factors of emotion update. At last, the environmental familiarity and nearby flow factors are introduced to path planning process. Based on emotion contagion, this method explores individual's emotional changes in different scenarios and situations. Combined with personality traits and emotional contagion, the experimental results show that the proposed method can simulate dynamic emotional changes in emergency situations in both efficient and reasonable way and provide guidance for emergency evacuation.

Research on Teaching Reform of Fuzzy Mathematics Curriculum for Professional Degree Engineering Masters

This paper analyzes the characteristics of professional degree engineering Master, and put forward the "application practice ability" of professional degree engineering Master students as the core of cultivation. Taking the fuzzy mathematics curriculum of the professional degree of engineering degree in the field of Safety Engineering as an example, we have constructed a teaching mode for the fuzzy mathematics curriculum of professional degree engineering Masters based on the training mode of “applying practice ability”.

Content and Language Integrated Learning – functional safety study programme in English

Safety engineering has become a challenging and rewarding career field in the present day age of rapid technological and scientific advances. But how to raise student’s awareness regarding the legal and regulatory requirements introduced by safety organizations and government agencies? The aim of this paper is to show how successful cooperation between professionals in the field of safety engineering, especially functional safety and experienced university language teachers can boost student motivation and inspire them to face the social and industrial needs of changing business environments. We will try to prove that a tailor-made course provides students with efficient information about the subject, source material and vocabulary from the field of safety engineering. It will also enable students to use knowledge to respond to hazards and accidents. It will teach them to take independent decisions in emergency situations and prepare them to feel comfortable in the global business.

Fire Risk Study of Long-distance Oil and Gas Pipeline Based on QRA

Along with the development of urban construction and industry requirement, more and more long-distance oil and gas pipelines have built and served in China. The leakage of the oil and gas would be happened because of some inner or outer factors during the transportation. If the concentration of the mixture gas composed by oil/gas and air reaches the burning and/or explosion limit, the fire and/or explosion accident resulting in casualties and serious loss of property may be happened once there is a fire source in the surroundings. Therefore, the relevant research on the risk analysis and evaluation to the oil and gas pipeline has been focused on the field of safety engineering in recent years. So it is necessary to carry out the evaluation on the fire risk study to ensure the safety of long-distance oil and gas pipeline. In this paper, the character of the risk of long distance oil and gas pipeline was analysed firstly, and then the fire risk of the long-distance oil and gas pipeline was processed based on Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA). Taking a natural gas pipeline as an example, the influence area (death radius) and individual risk contour line of fire were charted based on the software CASSTQRA, For the natural gas pipeline, the death radius was 148.42m, and the areas circled by the individual risk contour line of 3×10-7 and 1×10-6 were not high density residential areas, public gathering places of high density or high sensitive areas, important targets and special high density places. The fire risk of the natural gas pipeline was acceptable. Finally, the corresponding preventing and controlling suggestions to guarantee the safety of the transportation have been proposed in this paper. The results of the study are practically significant to the risk assessment and safety management of the long distance oil and gas pipeline.

Using a Problem-Based Learning Approach to Incorporate Safety Engineering into Fundamental Subjects

AbstractSafety is considered as an important area of engineering education, but it is often not addressed adequately in an engineering curriculum. Contents of safety engineering were incorporated in an introductory statistics course through the problem-based learning (PBL) approach. Novices were learning statistical contents via PBL problems from the field of safety engineering. They were divided in two groups according to the partial assessment option they chose: a group with classical assessment and a group with assessment of an independent PBL engineering problem that was designed in accordance with a campaign coordinated by a leading safety agency. In the problem, students analyzed the quality of installation of fire extinguishers in more than 200 buildings, as well as their maintenance. The aim of this study is to find out if the assessment of such a problem can be used to assess students’ holistic statistical knowledge, if students can get new insights in the field of safety engineering, and if such...

Jet Fire Consequence Evaluation on the Natural Gas Transported by Pipelines

Along with the development of urban construction and industry requirement, more and more natural gas has been transported by pipelines. During the transportation, the leakage of the natural gas would be happened because the gas pipelines may be ruptured by the inner or outer factors. If the concentration of the mixture gas composed by natural gas and air reaches the burning and/or explosion limit, it will possibly deal to the fire and/or explosion accident resulting in casualties and serious loss of property once there is a fire source in the surroundings. Therefore the relevant research on the risk analysis and evaluation to the pipeline carrying the natural gas has been focused in the field of safety engineering in recent years. It is well recognized that the more challenging accident is a jet-fire, wherever pressurized, or pressure liquefied flammable materials are handled, so it is necessary to carry out the evaluation on the jet fire and its preventing and controlling measures. In this paper, the model of the jet fire is built firstly, and then the jet fire consequence evaluation on the natural gas pipelines is processed, and aided by the computer-assisted program MATLAB, the relevant datum have been processed and the influenced areas to person and equipment have been charted; finally, the corresponding preventing and controlling suggestions to guarantee the safety of the transportation have been proposed in this paper. The results of the study are practically significant to the risk assessment and safety management of the natural gas pipeline.

열차 운행 중인 기관사의 각성상태 분석에 관한 연구

The study for the passenger’s comfortableness of vehicles and the arousal of car drivers has been done widely. On the other hand, there are few studies for the locomotive engineers. Human error means that the mistakes made by human, recently it receives attention in the field of safety engineering and human engineering. Comparing the operating condition of train with car, because of the simplification of the visual stimulus, the arousal level on the train goes down easily . The arousal level down makes judgement down, the accident risk from human error is getting bigger. In this study, we measured bio-signals(ECG, EDA, PPG, respiration and EEG) from 6 locomotive engineers to evaluate their arousal state while they operated the train. Also we recorded the 3 axes acceleration signal showing the vibration state of train. Also, the existence of tunnels were simultaneously measured. At the station section where the train speed goes down, the size of vector"s sum decreases because of reduced vibration. Beta component in EEG tends to increase at the entering point of each station and tunnel. It is due to the arousal reaction and tension growth. The mean SCR(skin conductance response) was more increased in neutral section. As the button control movement (body movement) increases in the neutral section, it is appeared that SCR increase. RR interval tends to gradually increase during train operation for 1 hour 40 minutes. However, It tends to sharply decrease at the stop station because strong concentration needed to stop train on the exact point. The engineer’s arousal reaction can be checked through analysing the bio-signal change during train operation. Therefore, if this analysing result is adopted to the sleepiness prevention caution system, it will be useful for the safety train operation.

Identification of Competencies for Malaysian Occupational Safety and Health Professionals

Competencies of occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals have become a concern due to the significance of safety management in the field of safety engineering. The purpose of this article is to identify competencies needed by OSH professionals. These competencies are required by professionals in administrating and enforcing legislations related to OSH in Malaysia. This study used Delphi technique in three rounds of data collection. The benefits of this research approach are the use of experts in gaining opinions without time and geographical restraints. The results show 25 generic competencies with combinations of cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies and 33 functional or specific competencies including knowledge and skills needed by OSH professionals. Both generic and functional competencies are also divided into threshold and differentiating competencies that would be used to differentiate average and excellent performance of OSH professionals.

Research on 3D dynamic visualization simulation system of toxic gas diffusion based on virtual reality technology

A three-dimensional (3D) model of toxic gas diffusion was advanced based on Monte Carlo method with the presupposition that toxic gas diffusion process can be considered as random walk process of a large number of toxic gas particles. Compared to other existing models, this model includes analysis of both movement and non-movement attributes of toxic gas particles, and can well meet the need of dynamic simulation. Then, a 3D gas diffusion visualization scene management subsystem, including leak hazard source (tank), leak background (ground and sky) and surroundings near the leak area, was developed based on virtual reality (VR) technology. In this system, diffusion scene can be designed in accordance with the reality, which embodies the reunification between VR technology and engineering application. Finally, according to OpenGL particle system theory, by using Delphi and OpenGL as main programming tools, the diffusion simulation subsystem of toxic gas diffusion process and real-time concentration prediction and consequence simulation subsystem was completed. Application shows that by using VR technology in the accident consequence simulation, the whole system is of real-time, lifelike and visual characteristics, which not only embodies the great engineering value of virtual reality technology in the field of safety engineering, but also provides references for accident impact prediction, assessment and emergency plan.

Sicherheitstechnische Beurteilung von Trocknungsverfahren in der chemischen Industrie

AbstractSafety Engineering Assessment of Drying Processes in the Chemical Industry. Dried products encountered in the chemical industry are frequently flammable and susceptible to dust explosions. Moreover, some of the products to be dried contain flammable solvents. Since the two product states moist and dry co‐exist in a drying process, the dry potenially explosive solid, flammable solvent vapours, and fuel gases could all be present in a drying plant. A comprehensive safety engineering assessment of the entire drying process is therefore absolutely essential in the planning of new plant and in the examination of existing plant. The starting point and basis of safety engineering assessment is a knowledge of just a few characteristic safety data. If these are known then a decision can be made whether safety measures are necessary and if so what measures can asure safe operation of a plant. This contribution describes the approaches adopted in deciding upon such measures. Recent developments in the area of safety assessment of flammable dusts are included. An example is then presented to illustrate how the joint efforts of experts in the fields of safety engineering and drying technology can assure optimum plant safety, product quality, and cost‐effectiveness.