• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.4 s.247
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• pp.420-427
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• 2006

The structural and leakage integrity of steam generator tubes should be sustained against all postulated loads even if a crack is present. During the past three decades, most of the efforts with respect to integrity evaluation of steam generator tubes have been focused on limit load solutions but, recently, the applicability of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics was examined cautiously due to its effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a testing method to estimate fracture resistance characteristics of steam generator tubes with a through-wall crack. Due to limited thickness and diameter, inevitably, the steam generator tubes themselves were tested instead of standard specimen or alternative ones. Also, a series of three dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analyses were carried out to derive closed-form estimation equations with respect to J-integral and crack extension for direct current potential drop method. Since the effectiveness of $J_{IC}$ as well as J-R curves was proven through comparison with those of standard specimens taken from pipes, it is believed that the proposed scheme can be utilized as an efficient tool for integrity evaluation of cracked steam generator tubes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.665-672
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• 2012

Interfacial cracks bonded with dissimilar transversely isotropic piezoelectric media that are subjected to combined anti-plane mechanical and in-plane electrical loading are analyzed. The problem is formulated using complex function theory, from which the Hilbert problem is derived. By solving the Hilbert problem, the general form solution is obtained. Using this solution, closed-form solutions for one or two finite cracks as well as a semi-infinite crack are obtained, for the problem in which one concentrated mechanical and electrical load is imposed on the crack surface. This solution could be used as a Green's function to generate solutions to other problems with the same geometry but different loading conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1469-1476
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• 2003

This paper provides plastic limit load solutions of cylinders with circumferential part-through surface cracks under combined axial tension, internal pressure and global bending. Such solutions are developed based on detailed three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) limit analyses using elastic-perfectly-plastic material behaviour, together with analytical solutions based on equilibrium stress fields. For the crack location, both external and internal cracks are considered. Furthermore, in terms of the crack shape, both semi-elliptical and constant-depth surface cracks are considered. The resulting limit load solutions are given in a closed form, and thus can be easily used in practical situations. Being based on detailed 3-D FE limit analysis, the present solutions are believed to most reliable, and thus to be valuable information for integrity assessment of piping.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.159-168
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• 1997

In order to investigate the effect of parameters such as orientation and surface roughness of a reinforcing material as well as the water content of the clay matrix on the stress-strain and failure behavior of reinforced clay, uniaxial compression tests were performed on clay samples reinforced with a steel inclusion Test results showed that the increase or decrease in strength of reinforced clay samples was found to depend on the orientation of a steel inclusion as well as water content of clay samples. The possible weakening mechanism induced by reinforcement in clay samples was related to the development of cracks along the tips of interface between steel inclusion and clay matrix. A theoretical interpretation of failure behavior of reinforced clay was made by using fracture mechanics theory, and the experimental results were compared with the theoretical predictions. The predicted crack propagation direction obtained from fracture criteria for a material containing a closed crack with friction agreed reasonably well with the measured values obtained from tests.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.9
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• pp.859-869
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• 2015

In this study, we analyze the problem of wedge cracks, which are geometrically unsymmetrical in transversely piezoelectric materials. A single concentrated antiplane mechanical load and inplane electrical load are applied at the point of the wedge surface, while one concentrated antiplane load is applied at the crack surface. The crack surfaces are considered as permeable thin slits, where both the normal component of electric displacement and the electric potential are assumed to be continuous across these slits. Using Mellin transform method, the problem is formulated and the Wiener-Hopf equation is derived. By solving the equation, the solution is obtained in a closed form. The intensity factors of the stress and the electric displacement are obtained for any crack length as well as inclined and wedge angles. Based on the results, the intensity factors are independent of the applied electric loads. The electric displacement intensity factor is always dependent on that of stress intensity factor, while the electric field intensity factor is zero. In addition, the energy release rate is computed. These solutions can be used as fundamental solutions which can be superposed to arbitrary electromechanical loadings.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.459-467
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• 2008

This paper describes a proposal for average crack width and immediate deflection calculation in structural concrete members. The model is mathematically derived from actual bond stressslip relationships and tension stiffening effect between reinforcement and the surrounding concrete, and the actual strains of steel and concrete are integrated respectively along the embedded length between the adjacent cracks so as to obtain the difference in the axial elongation. With these, a model for average crack width and immediate deflection in reinforced concrete flexural members are proposed utilizing difference in the axial elongation and average steel strain and moment-curvature relationship with taking account of bond characteristics. The model is applied to the test specimens available in literatures, and the crack width and deflections predicted by the proposal equation in this study are closed to the experimentally measured data compared the current code provisions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.211-219
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• 2014

Closed cracks are difficult to detect using conventional ultrasonic testing because most incident ultrasound passes completely through these cracks. Nonlinear ultrasound inspection using sub-harmonic frequencies a promising method for detecting closed cracks. To implement this method, a sub-harmonic phased array (PA) is proposed to visualize the length of closed cracks in solids. A sub-harmonic PA generally consists of a single transmitter and an array receiver, which detects sub-harmonic waves generated from closed cracks. The PA images are obtained using the total focusing method (TFM), which (with a transmitter and receiving array) employs a full matrix in the observation region to achieve fine image resolution. In particular, the receiving signals are measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) to collect PA images for both fundamental and sub-harmonic frequencies. Oblique incidence, which is used to boost sub-harmonic generation, inevitably produces various surface waves that contaminate the signals measured in the receiving transducer. Surface wave interference often degrades PA images severely, and it becomes difficult to read the closed crack's position from the images. Various methods to prevent or eliminate this interference are possible. In particular, enhancing images with signal processing could be a highly cost-effective method. Because periodic patterns distributed in a PA image are the most frequent interference induced by surface waves, spatial frequency filtering is applicable for removing these waves. Experiments clearly demonstrate that the spatial frequency filter improves PA images.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2012

This paper is about proposal of a calculation method and development of an analytical program for predicting crack width and deflection in structural concrete members. The proposed method numerically calculate stresses in steel rebar using a parabola-rectangle stress-strain curve and a modified tension stiffening factor considering the effect of the cover thickness. Based on the study results, a calculation method to predict crack width and deflection in reinforced concrete flexural members is proposed utilizing effective tension area and idealized tension chord as well as effective moment-curvature relationship considering tension stiffening effect. The calculation method was applied to the test specimens available in literatures. The study results showed that the crack width and deflections predicted by the proposed method were closed to the experimentally measured data compared the current design code provisions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.376-387
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• 2012

Based on the nonlinear spring model coupled with perturbation method, 2nd harmonic waves generated by oblique incident ultrasound on nonlinear crack interface were calculated and investigated. Reflected and transmitted waves from the interface were determined and analyzed at various angle of incidence for the cracks with different interfacial stiffness in order to estimate the 2nd harmonic generation of incident ultrasound. It was shown in computer simulation that the 2nd harmonic components changed much with the increase of incidence angle in both reflected and transmitted wave, but became very small when the incident angle approached toward 90 degree. It can be concluded that the 2nd harmonic component of reflected wave has a meaningful amplitude as much as the transmitted 2nd harmonic wave from partly closed crack.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.10 s.241
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• pp.1361-1368
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• 2005

The structural and leakage integrity of steam generator tubes should be sustained all postulated loads with appropriate margin even if a crack is present. During the past three decades, for effective integrity evaluation, several limit load solutions have been used world-widely. However, to predict accurately load carrying capacities of specific components under different conditions, the solutions have to be modified by using lots of experimental data. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new burst pressure estimation scheme based on fracture mechanics analyses for steam generator tube with an axial or circumferential through-wall crack. A series of three dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analyses were carried out and, then, closed-form estimation equations with respect to both J-integral and crack opening displacement were derived through reference stress method. The developed engineering equations were utilized for structural integrity evaluation and the resulting data were compared to the corresponding ones fiom experiments as well as limit load solutions. Thereafter, since the effectiveness was proven by promising results, it is believed that the proposed estimation scheme can be used as an efficient tool for integrity evaluation of cracked steam generator tubes.