• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.153-160
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• 1998

A small break loss of coolant accident is postulated as a pressurized thermal shock accident in this study. From the temperature and pressure histories of coolant, distributions of the temperature and stress in a vessel wall are analytically calculated. The stress intensity factor and fracture toughness of the vessel wall are determined at the crack tip using the ASME code method and they are compared to check if cracking is expected to occur during the transient postulated. The maximum allowable reference nil-ductility transition temperatures are determined for various crack sizes and the results are discussed.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 1999

본 연구에서는 국내에서 가장 취약할 것으로 예상되는 원자력 발전소에 가압열충격 사고를 유발할 수 있는 주증기관 파단사고를 가정하여 열수력 해석과 파괴역학 해석을 수행하였다. 원전수명관리연구의 일환으로 계통열수력 해석 및 혼합열유동 해석에 의하여 구한 냉각제의 온도와 압력의 이력 및 용기의 재질성분으로부터 용기의 응력확대계수와 파괴인성치를 계산하고 이들을 비교하여 균열의 진전여부를 판단하여 형상계수가 1/6인 표면균열이 견딜 수 있는 최대 기준무연성천이온도를 결정하였다.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.441-446
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• 2001

In the integral type reactor, SMART, all the major components such as steam generators, pressurizer and pumps are located inside the single reactor pressure vessel. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity for RPV of SMART under the postulated pressurized thermal shock by applying the finite element analysis. Input data for the finite element analysis were generated using the commercial code I-DEAS, and the fracture mechanics analysis was performed using the ABAQUS. The crack configurations, the crack aspect ratio and the clad thickness were considered in the parametric study. The effects of these parameters on the reference nil-ductility transition temperature were also investigated.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.153-158
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• 2000

Nuclear reactor pressure vessel should be safety even in the case that hypothetical defects with allowable size are in vessel. Therefore, the materials should have excellent fracture resistance characteristics. The purpose of this study is to analyze the results of preirradiation baseline test of nuclear pressure vessel for Yonggwang Unit 5/6. In experiments, drop weight tests and impact tests are carried out to obtain nil-ductility transition reference temperature, $RT_{NDT}$ and static and dynamic fracture toughness tests are performed to compare with $K_{IR}$ curve in accordance with ASME Sec.III. The test results show that the materials had sufficiently fracture resistance characteristics for 40 years of design life.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.153-161
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• 1996

In this paper, theory of fracture mechanics for the pressurized thermal shock is investigated and numerical procedure for the evaluation of the pressure vessel under pressurized thermal shock is developed. For the given material properties, transient history such as temperature and pressure, and postulated flaw, the stress distribution is obtained to calculate stress intensities for a wide range of assumed crack sizes. The stress intensities are compared with the material fracture toughness values corresponding to the chemical compositions and the distribution of the nil ductility transition temperature, to determine the crack growth during the transient. Plant-specific calculations have been performed for several transients and the evaluation results are discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.693-700
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• 2004

The probabilistic fracture mechanics(PFM) is a useful analytical tool to assess the integrity of reactor pressure vessel(RPV) at the event of pressurized thermal shock(PTS). In PFM, the probabilities of flaw initiation and propagation are estimated by comparing the applied stress intensity factor with the fracture toughness calculated by the simulation of various stochastic variables. It is known that the results of PFM analyses are dependent on the choice of the stochastic parameters and assumptions. Of the various variables and assumptions, we investigated the effects of the RT$_{NDT}$ shift equations, fracture toughness curves, and flaw distributions on the PFM results for the three PTS transients. The results showed that the combined effects of the RT$_{NDT}$ shift equations and fracture toughness curves are complicated and dependent on the characteristics of the transients, the chemistry of the materials, the fast neutron fluence, and so on.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2008

In order to predict a remaining life of a plant, it is necessary to select the components that are critical to the plant life. The remaining life of those components shall be evaluated by considering the aging effect of materials used as well as numerous factors. However, when evaluating reliability of nuclear structural components, some problems are quite formidable because of lack of information such as operating history, material property change and uncertainty in damage models. Accordingly, if structural integrity and safety are evaluated by the deterministic fracture mechanics approach, it is expected that the results obtained are too conservative to perform a rational evaluation of plant life. The probabilistic fracture mechanics approaches are regarded as appropriate methods to rationally evaluate the plant life since they can consider various uncertainties such as sizes and shapes of cracks and degradation of material strength due to the aging effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structural integrity for a reactor pressure vessel under the small break loss of coolant accident by applying the deterministic and probabilistic fracture mechanics. The deterministic fracture mechanics analysis was performed using the three dimensional finite element model. The probabilistic integrity analysis was based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The selected random variables are the neutron fluence on the vessel inside surface, the content of copper, nickel, and phosphorus in the reactor pressure vessel material, and initial RTNDT.