Coercive pressure as a moderator of organizational structure and risk management: Empirical evidence from Malaysian construction industry

Introduction: The construction industry in Malaysia has been bedevilled by myriads of risk issues that have hampered its smooth operations in recent times. This paper is an empirical assessment that aims to examine the effect of coercive pressure on the relationship between organizational structure and construction risk management among construction industry in Malaysia. Method: Based on the proposed model, a quantitative method was employed to obtain data from G7 construction industry operating within the peninsular Malaysia. Out of the 180 copies of questionnaire, 165 copies were properly filled, returned, and used for the analysis. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: The findings of the study affirmed that specialization, centralization, and management of risk by the construction industry had positive correlation. Conclusions: As anticipated, coercive pressure had positive moderating correlation with both formalization and the management of risk by the construction industry. Similarly, it was also found that in the course of carrying out construction activities, coercive pressure made significant interactive influence on formalization, specialization, and centralization. Practical Applications: Coercive pressure reduced the frequency of accidents among workers in the process of carrying out construction works.     

Developing a CFD heat transfer model for applying high expansion foam in an LNG spill

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is widely used to cost-effectively store and transport natural gas. However, a spill of LNG can create a vapor cloud, which can potentially cause fire and explosion. High expansion (HEX) foam is recommended by the NFPA 11 to mitigate the vapor hazard and control LNG pool fire. In this study, the parameters that affect HEX foam performance were examined using lab-scale testing of foam temperature profile and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of heat transfer in vapor channels. A heat transfer model using ANSYS Fluent® was developed to estimate the minimum HEX foam height that allows the vapors from LNG spillage to disperse rapidly. We also performed a sensitivity analysis on the effect of the vaporization rate, the diameter of the vapor channel, and the heat transfer coefficient on the required minimum height of the HEX foam. It can be observed that at least 1.2 m of HEX foam in height are needed to achieve risk mitigation in a typical situation. The simulation results can be used not only for understanding the heat transfer mechanisms when applying HEX foam but also for suggesting to the LNG facility operator how much HEX foam they need for effective risk mitigation under different conditions.     

Pressure relief sizing of reactive system using DIERS simplified methods and dynamic simulation method

Incidents involving uncontrolled chemical reactions continue to result in fatality, injury and economic loss. These incidents are often the result of inadequate pressure relief system designs due to a limited knowledge of the chemical reactivity hazard. A safe process design requires knowledge of the chemical reactivity of desired as well as undesired chemical reactions due to upset conditions. Simplified, cost effective methods to relief system sizing are presented by The Design Institute of Emergency Relief Systems (DIERS). They require multiple experiments, and sizing is only valid for the system composition and thermal inertia represented by the small scale experiments. Results are often conservative, especially for gassy systems. Detailed, dynamic computer simulation is highly accurate and can be used for iterative design and multiple scenario evaluation.In this study, an accelerating rate calorimeter (ARC^®) and a low thermal inertia calorimeter (automatic pressure tracking adiabatic calorimeter – APTAC™) were used to collect chemical reactivity data for the dicumyl peroxide and toluene system. Results of the pressure relief system sizing using the dynamic simulation method are presented and compared with DIERS simplified methods.     

Research on a small-noise reduction method based on EMD and its application in pipeline leakage detection

The noise included in pipeline pressure signal is a small noise whose energy takes a small proportion of pressure signal and is concentrated on high frequency components. However, it will influence pipeline leakage identification and even cause false alarms. Thus, a small-noise reduction method based on EMD (SNR-EMD) is proposed to remove small noise from pressure signal. EMD is applied for extracting the mean envelope of the signal. Then, small fluctuations around the mean envelope are considered to be small noises. Meanwhile, end effect of SNR-EMD is restrained by extrema mirror extension (EME). The results of simulation studies with SNR-EMD show that the larger the noisy signal's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is, the better noise reduction effect becomes. And SNR-EMD considered as a low-pass filter removes or reduces the high frequency components. Furthermore, superiorities of SNR-EMD are verified by comparison studies with wavelet packet transform (WPT) and singular value decomposition (SVD). Finally, a case study of leakage identification shows that SNR-EMD can improve the performance of leakage identification and reduce the possibility of false alarms, which makes much easier and further effective to distinguish the leakage mode from other modes after removing noise from pressure signal.     

火区调压技术在煤峪口矿的实际应用

在采场均压防灭火实验室模型模拟实验的基础上 ,总结了煤峪口矿现场实施火区的调压工艺技术。该技术包括利用调压气室平衡火区风压、提高工作面风压和堵塞地表裂隙 3项调压措施 ,其防灭火效果十分显著。在这 3项措施中 ,无论是工作面升压或气室调压失效 ,此时填堵裂隙工程则会发挥重要作用     

流量可调燃气发生器压力闭环模糊控制算法

为了改进流量可调燃气发生器的调节精度,引入燃气发生器压力闭环控制,针对流量可调燃气发生器压力闭环控制特点,在压力闭环中引入了模糊积分控制,此控制算法响应速度快,超调量较小,不同工况及长时间工作下系统仍然有较好的动态特性。      

旋转接头在MBR反应器改良中的应用研究

随着MBR反应器在国内污水处理行业中的不断应用,其重要性进一步得到了业界的认可。但是,如何消减运行过程中的膜污染问题,成为制约MBR推广和应用的重要因素。文章通过实验,将旋转接头应用在MBR反应器的改良中,重点研究通过旋转接头实现膜组件的旋转运行模式对膜污染的抑制效果。     

五孔测针标定曲线数学模型的计算机控制

由于三维流场测试工作及计算量繁重 ,采用传感技术实现三维流场的自动测试 ,计算机选出最优拟合曲线与实测数据相比较 ,因而达到测试三维流场风流目的。利用回归分析原理 ,将感压元件五孔测针的一系列标定曲线建立了相应的数学模型 ,采用MATLAB语言 ,实现了对标定曲线的拟合 ,用PLOT函数实现了对拟合标定曲线的自动绘制。同时考虑高次多项式 (拟合次数n >10 )易出现振荡的特点 ,故在拟合次数n从 1～ 10可能拟合多项式中 ,选出最优多项式。通过数学模型的应用实现了由计算机控制 ,从而为有效利用传感技术对三维流场的自动化测试提供了可能性。     

A new prediction method for dust explosion venting at high static activation pressures

Venting is an effective way to prevent harmful dust explosions, but the existing prediction methods are imprecise and are suitable only for applications with low activation pressures. A new method is proposed for predicting pressures based on an analysis of energy losses at high activation pressures and verified by aluminum dust explosion experiments. Compared with the experimental results, the results of the new model are relatively stable under working conditions with different activation pressures and venting areas. Based on the analysis of energy losses, the changes in the energy loss rate, temperature, and venting velocity during venting are found to be asynchronous. The thermal energy loss, which accounts for over 80 percent of the total, is expected to be larger than the kinetic energy loss. The thermal energy loss rate changes rapidly during venting, while the kinetic energy loss rate remains relatively stable. The new model is more accurate than the NFPA68 standard, which fails to consider the thermal energy loss. Neglecting the thermal energy loss may result in an underestimation of the pressure reduction; this error increases with decreasing activation pressure.