Special Issue "Fire Safety Technology and Human Behavioural Science for Building Sustainability"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Hazards and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jun-Ho Choi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Architectural & Fire Protection Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Korea
Interests: built environment; fire and evacuation modelling; human behaviour and cognition science in emergency; pedestrian and evacuation dynamics; crowd control; fire protection engineering; BIM/GIS/IT-based building and urban disaster prevention
Prof. Dr. Haejun Park
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
Interests: fire protection engineering; performance based design; structural fire; heat transfer; fire and combustion test
Prof. Dr. Joon-Ho Jeon
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Architectural & Fire Protection Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan 48513, Korea
Interests: combustion; flame propagation and behaviour; fire dynamics; fire and materials; fire suppression systems; heat transfer and insulation; computational fluid dynamics; ventilation and smoke control
Prof. Dr. Young-Chan Kim
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Safety Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Dongguk University, Gyeongju 38066, Korea
Interests: built environment; human behaviour in fire; urban disaster prevention; UAV (drone) utilization; spatial informatics; risk assessment; fire and evacuation simulation; performance based design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although we have suffered numerous fire accidents so far, we hear news of disasters such as fires, explosions and collapses every morning, all over the world. In particular, new types of large fires or explosions, such as the King’s Cross Underground Fire, the September 11 Attacks, the Daegu Subway Fire, the Rhode Island Disco Fire, the Grenfell Tower Fire, the Beirut Explosions etc., continue to cause many casualties, a tragic loss of human life. So far, governments have enacted and revised laws on fire prevention and safety management, but they are always only making follow-up visits because of the uncertainty in the cause of fires and human evacuation behaviour, and due to the economic logic that safety is not an investment but a cost.

Persistent maintenance of a building’s function is also important for its sustainability. However, securing the safety of buildings and occupants can be considered the most urgent, preventing harm from disasters such as fire and explosion, which take everything away in an instant. Toward this end, it is necessary to think about what functions are required in building fire-fighting systems; how humans react and behave in fires; how fires occur and grow; how fire alarms and exit sign lights, fire extinguishing and evacuation rescue facilities should be designed; and how state-of-the-art technologies can be applied to fire safety technologies in buildings (e.g., new cutting-edge materials, artificial intelligence, building information modelling, the internet of things, applied nanotechnology).

Accordingly, this Special Issue solicits the latest research papers on fire safety technology and human behaviour for building sustainability. Through these research papers, we intend to share approaches to the safety and sustainability of buildings and their occupants. For your information, we provide some topics and keywords for the special issue below, but the Editors will not be limited to that range, and we will be waiting for precious manuscripts containing the hard work of many researchers. For example, research papers concerning cruise ships, aircrafts, wildland fires, earthquakes, floods, disaster recovery, resilience etc. are also very welcome. We sincerely thank you in advance for your interest and hard work. Stay well, and stay safe!

Prof. Jun-Ho Choi
Prof. Haejun Park
Prof. Joon-Ho Jeon
Prof. Young-Chan Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fire modelling
  • active fire systems including detection and suppression
  • passive fire protection methods
  • human behaviour in fires
  • evacuation modelling
  • building fire risk assessment
  • performance-based design
  • fire safety design
  • ventilation and smoke control
  • fire investigation
  • fire safety education
  • fire safety legislation
  • fire and evacuation simulation
  • cutting-edge fire protection technology including BIM, IoT, AI, ICT, NT, and new materials

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Article
Optimal Installation Location of Escape Route Signs at T-Type Intersections
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7903; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147903 - 15 Jul 2021
Viewed by 334
Abstract
This study analyzed the decision-making times (DMTs) of participants at T-type indoor intersections according to the horizontal/vertical installation locations and the arrow directions of escape route signs. A total of 120 university students participated in the study. We analyzed the DMTs and following [...] Read more.
This study analyzed the decision-making times (DMTs) of participants at T-type indoor intersections according to the horizontal/vertical installation locations and the arrow directions of escape route signs. A total of 120 university students participated in the study. We analyzed the DMTs and following rates (FRs) required for the participants to observe the visual stimuli of the signs installed in front of the T-type indoor intersections and then properly select a path according to the arrow direction of the signs. The results are as follows: (1) the participants exhibited shorter DMTs for the right arrow direction of the signs, (2) the Simon effect occurred when the horizontal installation location of the signs was more than 60 cm away from the center of the T-type indoor intersection on both sides, (3) the DMTs of participants increased when the vertical installation location of the signs was low. Finally, we proposed an optimal installation location of the signs to support the shortest DMTs at T-type indoor intersections. It is expected that the results of this study will provide a database of DMTs, based on the locations of the signs during emergency evacuations, and will be utilized to improve the installation guidelines and regulations of signs. Full article
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Article
Simulation of Indoor Fire Dynamics of Residential Buildings with Full-Scale Fire Test
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4897; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094897 - 27 Apr 2021
Viewed by 373
Abstract
Along with simulated firefighting training, the development of virtual training systems and associated content has recently drawn attention as an alternative method for advanced firefighting training. In particular, to develop virtual training content, it is important to understand the combustion characteristics of indoor [...] Read more.
Along with simulated firefighting training, the development of virtual training systems and associated content has recently drawn attention as an alternative method for advanced firefighting training. In particular, to develop virtual training content, it is important to understand the combustion characteristics of indoor combustible materials and appropriately simulate their behavior. In this study, seven types of building fires were selected. From these types, indoor combustible materials of residential buildings were analyzed, and combustion tests were performed for each of three types of combustible materials. Furthermore, three types of indoor spaces, determined according to the combination of indoor combustible materials they contained, were divided into full-scale compartments, and a full-scale fire test was performed using this setup. Finally, the heat release rate and smoke production release of individual combustible materials and the room test were measured over time, and a fire dynamics simulation (FDS) was performed. As a result, it was confirmed that an effective evaluation of the occurrence and spread of fire indoors in buildings is possible through full-scale fire tests and FDS simulations. It is expected that simulation can be used as firefighting training content in the future by applying indoor combustible data and implementing complex and various fire development conditions. Full article
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Article
Weighting the Attributes of Human-Related Activities for Fire Safety Measures in Historic Villages
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3236; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063236 - 15 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 375
Abstract
Recently, numerous world heritage sites have burned down or suffered minor damage due to fires. As a result, the Korean government has developed active and passive fire measures in Korean historic villages. Nevertheless, fires have not been prevented, inciting the government to direct [...] Read more.
Recently, numerous world heritage sites have burned down or suffered minor damage due to fires. As a result, the Korean government has developed active and passive fire measures in Korean historic villages. Nevertheless, fires have not been prevented, inciting the government to direct its attention toward community-based activities. This paper focuses on human-related fire safety measures and aims to identify the most efficient methods for preventing fires, as well as for minimizing damage caused by them in historic villages. It explores the preventive and response levels of residents and village organizations based on a survey of experts in the field and applies an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the weighting of the selected attributes. The study proposes that the preventive level is more important than the response level among village residents, and the response level should be prioritized over the preventive level in village organizations in order to prevent and reduce fire risk and damage in Korean historic villages. Full article
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Article
Overview of the Legal Design Basis for Passive Fire Protection in Korea and the Direction of Further Development
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1674; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041674 - 04 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 403
Abstract
The design of passive fire protection is applied to minimize the domino effect when a liquid pool fire occurs due to the facilities inside a process plant. In general, the design of passive fire protection has been applied using the API RP 2218 [...] Read more.
The design of passive fire protection is applied to minimize the domino effect when a liquid pool fire occurs due to the facilities inside a process plant. In general, the design of passive fire protection has been applied using the API RP 2218 guideline as the basis regardless of the country or owner of the process plant. However, in Korea, legal regulations dictate that explosive areas should be regarded as fireproofing zones rather than following the API RP 2218 guideline. Because liquid pool fires and explosive gas atmospheres are different concepts, it is wrong from an engineering perspective to regard them as the same. Therefore, when a liquid pool fire occurs in a process plant in Korea, it may be more dangerous than in any other countries. In this study, we investigated three categories of fire risk. Korean safety regulations for the design of passive fire protection and others that are not reasonable from an engineering perspective need to be studied and revised. Specifically, Korea needs to revise the design basis of passive fire protection based on the API RP 2218 guideline as a legal standard in accordance with global trends. Full article
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Article
Consideration of the Door Opening Process in Pedestrian Flow: Experiments on Door Opening Direction, Door Handle Type, and Limited Visibility
Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8453; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208453 - 14 Oct 2020
Viewed by 754
Abstract
The door is a section prone to bottlenecks and is an important element in the study of pedestrian flow. Therefore, characteristics of doors (e.g., width, location, and the distance between doors) have been taken into consideration in the existing literature related to doors. [...] Read more.
The door is a section prone to bottlenecks and is an important element in the study of pedestrian flow. Therefore, characteristics of doors (e.g., width, location, and the distance between doors) have been taken into consideration in the existing literature related to doors. According to several previous studies, it appears likely that the door opening process (DOP) influences pedestrian flow. However, the number of studies examining the DOP remains small. Therefore, to enhance understanding of pedestrian flow, we examined two door characteristics that could affect the DOP (opening direction (swing door: push or pull) and handle type (knob, lever, and panic bar)) and limited visibility. We conducted a walking experiment to take all variables (10 cases; 10 participants per case) into account. Statistical analysis was performed on the difference in movement times, and the results were as follows: (1) inclusion of the DOP affected pedestrian flow; (2) when visibility was limited, movement times with DOP inclusion increased significantly regardless of the door opening direction and handle type; (3) when the door opening direction was ‘push’, regardless of limited visibility and door handle type, movement times with DOP inclusion were significantly lower; and (4) the door handle type did not result in any significant difference in movement times with DOP inclusion. In addition, we calculated the delay time based on the experiment results, to include the DOP in pedestrian flow (push 1.96–2.88 s, pull 3.91–4.43 s; limited visibility: push 7.38–12.56 s, and pull 12.88–16.35 s). The results of this study could be used as basic data for the development of codes/regulations, engineering guidance, and egress models for doors. Full article
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