Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering

A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Computer".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 15023

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Fire Engineering, University of Zilina, Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: testing of materials used in technological processes and in building constructions, as well as with natural materials in forest fires and their impact on the safety of rescue corps in fire fighting
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Co-Guest Editor

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Co-Guest Editor
Polymer Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Interests: general physical chemistry, flammability of polymers and its modelling

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Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Security Engineering, University of Žilina, 010 08 Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: blast wave propagation; blast load; dynamic analysis; structural analysis; finite element analysis; constructions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Co-Guest Editor
Faculty of Security Engineering, Zilinska Univerzita, Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: industrial accidents; risk assessment of technological processes; risk theory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Special engineering can be seen as an engineering of emergencies. The situation where an incident occurs is regarded as a failure of the system's symmetry. The causes of a failure of the system are investigated in the field of material engineering only, not in the field of social sciences. The journal special issue could contain technical articles from two areas: the investigation of emergencies and the treatment of materials for special purposes.

  • the interplay between regular and chaotic dynamics in final systems, exceeding the limit load up to the collapse,
  • the disruption of the local symmetry (fire development, explosion, static collapse, etc.),
  • the competition between order, failure and symmetry is possible by the coexistence of different types of asymmetry leading to an emergency, a possible domino effect;
  • symmetry in nanosciences (material treatment, e.g. flame retardant treatment of combustible materials, self-extinguishing treatment, enhancement of mechanical resistance, etc.)

Dr. Makovická Osvaldová Linda
Dr. Chiara Bedon
Dr. Jozef Rychly
Dr. Lucia Figuli
Dr. Katarina Holla
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 submissions that pass pre-check are 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. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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

  • surface modification of materials
  • engineering, risk, explosion, detection, resistance
  • chemical and physical modification of materials
  • investigation and modelling of extreme conditions leading to emergencies
  • fire safety, fire performance, static collapse

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1849 KiB  
Article
Evaluation Process of the Burglary Resistance When Explosives Are Used to Create an Opening in the Barriers
by Zuzana Zvakova, Martin Boros, Lucia Figuli and Andrej Velas
Symmetry 2021, 13(9), 1740; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13091740 - 18 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1788
Abstract
Burglary resistance expresses the time required to overcome the barriers to cause the damage in order to unlawfully enter a place for the purposes of stealing property or committing a felony (i.e., disruption of important assets, e.g., critical infrastructure). Damage to the object [...] Read more.
Burglary resistance expresses the time required to overcome the barriers to cause the damage in order to unlawfully enter a place for the purposes of stealing property or committing a felony (i.e., disruption of important assets, e.g., critical infrastructure). Damage to the object protection system means damage to the symmetry of the system—the balance between protection measures and security threats. Barriers are considered to be the walls of buildings or secure storage units (safe, safe, etc.), i.e., passive barriers that separate asset (protected value) from the security threat. The role of barriers in the security system is also to slow down the attack and create a time reserve for the intervention of a security service. There is no uniform approach to express the burglary resistance of such barriers using explosives; however, burglary by explosion are present. Explosives in the article are a tool that can be used by the offenders. The article uses mainly Delphi method and Saaty method. These methods have made it possible to identify and expertly evaluate scenarios for the use of explosives to break a barrier. Logical methods and interviews were also used. The result of the article is the identification and evaluation of the possibilities of using explosives to overcome barriers and expressing the blast burglary resistance of barriers. The universal assessment approach allows the inclusion of explosives to the burglary resistance protection system assessment schemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering)
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27 pages, 35345 KiB  
Article
Analytical Fragility Curves for Seismic Design of Glass Systems Based on Cloud Analysis
by Silvana Mattei and Chiara Bedon
Symmetry 2021, 13(8), 1541; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13081541 - 23 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2747
Abstract
Given the growing spread of glass as a construction material, the knowledge of structural response must be ensured, especially under dynamic accidental loads. In this regard, an increasingly popular method to probabilistically characterize the seismic response of a given structure is based on [...] Read more.
Given the growing spread of glass as a construction material, the knowledge of structural response must be ensured, especially under dynamic accidental loads. In this regard, an increasingly popular method to probabilistically characterize the seismic response of a given structure is based on the use of “fragility” or “seismic vulnerability” curves. Most existing applications, however, typically refer to construction and structural members composed of traditional building materials. The present study extends and adapts such a calculation method to innovative structural glass systems, which are characterized by specific material properties and expected damage mechanisms, restraint details, and dynamic features. Suitable Engineering Demand Parameters (EDPs) for seismic design are thus required. In this paper, a major advantage is represented by the use of Cloud Analysis in the Cornell’s reliability method, for the seismic assessment of two different case-study glass systems. Cloud Analysis is known to represent a simple and immediate tool to analytically investigate a given (glass) structure by taking into account variations in seismic motions and uncertainties of structural parameters. Such a method is exploited by means of detailed three-dimensional (3D) Finite Element (FE) numerical models and non-linear dynamic analyses (ABAQUS/Standard). Critical issues and typical failure mechanisms for in-plane seismically loaded glass systems are discussed. The validity of reference EDPs are addressed for the examined solutions. Based on a broad seismic investigation (60 records in total), fragility curves are developed from parametric results, so as to support a multi-hazard performance-based design (PBD) procedure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering)
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16 pages, 1039 KiB  
Article
Application of Chemical Monitoring and Public Alarm Systems to Reduce Public Vulnerability to Major Accidents Involving Dangerous Substances
by Zsolt Cimer, Gyula Vass, Attila Zsitnyányi and Lajos Kátai-Urbán
Symmetry 2021, 13(8), 1528; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13081528 - 19 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2312
Abstract
As a result of economic development and an increase in the volume of industrial production, the use of dangerous substances is increasing despite the fact that most industrial facilities are committed to the principles of environmental protection and sustainable development. Protection of human [...] Read more.
As a result of economic development and an increase in the volume of industrial production, the use of dangerous substances is increasing despite the fact that most industrial facilities are committed to the principles of environmental protection and sustainable development. Protection of human health and the environment is ensured at the local level by the local safety system. Major accidents typically have an off-site impact that also affects the general public. The most significant asymmetric event is when toxic substances are release into a populated area following a major accident. Early warning systems can significantly reduce the harmful consequences of major accidents that may occur. The operation of a reliable and effective chemical monitoring and public alarm system can be used as a basic device of defence. This ultimately means restoring the symmetry of the local safety system. It was an important scientific objective in Hungary to identify the facilities endangering the population where it is necessary to install chemical monitoring and early warning external protection systems. In this context, the main objective of this study was to present dangerous plant identification methodology and to analyse and evaluate the results of the application of this methodology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering)
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15 pages, 1245 KiB  
Article
Design of a Model for Risk Reduction in Project Management in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
by Anna Nagyová, Hana Pačaiová, Štefan Markulik, Renáta Turisová, Róbert Kozel and Ján Džugan
Symmetry 2021, 13(5), 763; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13050763 - 28 Apr 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4412
Abstract
In general, it can be said that a project is a means of change so that the organization or individual obtain something they do not currently have, and which, in some respects, can ensure its functioning within the system in society, in the [...] Read more.
In general, it can be said that a project is a means of change so that the organization or individual obtain something they do not currently have, and which, in some respects, can ensure its functioning within the system in society, in the market, etc. Organizations often use different tools and techniques in project implementation to help manage projects. The selection of the optimal method requires a thorough systematic analysis. The chosen method must cover the requirements of project management with regard to its size and nature. One such tool is the ISO 21500 Guidance on project management standard, which defines the basic processes and documents needed for project management. The aim of this article is to propose a model through which it would be possible to effectively manage projects in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), i.e., where generally available international methodologies for project management are not introduced. The proposed model (referred to as Model B) was verified on projects in different SMEs in Slovakia. Mathematical evaluation presented in the paper as well as the knowledge and experience from this verification were summarized and the proposed Model B was modified (referred to as SMEPM: small and medium enterprises project management) so that it can be used in the implementation of other projects in the conditions of SMEs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering)
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13 pages, 3194 KiB  
Article
Fire Behavior Prediction in Larch Forests of the Kazakhstan Altai
by Aleksandra Volokitina, Andrey Kalachev, Mikhail Korets and Tatiana Sofronova
Symmetry 2021, 13(4), 578; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13040578 - 1 Apr 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2097
Abstract
This paper considers automated fire behavior prediction in larch forests of the Kazakhstan Altai based on large-scale vegetation fuel maps (VF maps). First-time pyrological description of the Kazakhstan Altai larch forests was performed, thus facilitating VF maps’ creation using forest inventory information in [...] Read more.
This paper considers automated fire behavior prediction in larch forests of the Kazakhstan Altai based on large-scale vegetation fuel maps (VF maps). First-time pyrological description of the Kazakhstan Altai larch forests was performed, thus facilitating VF maps’ creation using forest inventory information in a geographical information system (GIS). Based on the methodological developments of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, types of primary fire carriers were identified for larch forests and other categories of sites. On the example of the Markakol Forestry area (Kazakhstan Altai), our fire growth simulation modeling system was adapted for predicting fire behavior in the mountain terrain. The developed fire simulation software helped not only identify inventory plots ready to burn, but also assess spread rate for fire parts dependent upon weather conditions, predict fire intensity and fire development, and calculate the required manpower and resources for fire suppression. The effects of each specific fire were predicted in terms of percentage of tree mortality dependent upon fire intensity, tree species, and average tree diameter. Examples of VF maps were made for different periods of a fire season and analysis was given to behavior of a simulated surface fire in the Markakol Forestry area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry Applied in Special Engineering)
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