• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.21-26
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• 2013

Delamination of cover concrete due to re-bar corrosion is a critical damage reducing structural safety of reinforced concrete structures. Therefore, it should be detected and evaluated to provide appropriate maintenance to recover structural integrity. Impact-echo method, which utilizes thickness vibration characteristics of delaminated concrete section, is effective for detection and evaluation of small areal size delamination. However, it may not be applicable for large areal size delamination in which flexural vibration modes are dominated. In this study, applicability of vibration mode shapes of delaminated concrete section is investigated for visualization of delamination region in concrete structures. Numerical and experimental modal tests are performed to estimate mode shapes of delaminated concrete section and linear absolute summation technique is proposed for effective visualization of delamination region based on estimated mode shapes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1006-1013
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• 2004

Operating experience of steam generators shows that the tubes are degraded by stress corrosion cracking, fretting wear and so on. These defected tubes could stay in service if it is proved that the tubes have sufficient structural margin to preclude the risk of tube bursting. This paper provides detailed plastic limit pressure solutions for through-wall cracks in the steam generator tubes. These are developed based on three dimensional(3D) finite element analyses assuming elastic-perfectly plastic material behavior. Both axial and circumferential through-wall cracks in free span and in u-bend regions are considered. The resulting limit pressure solutions are given in a polynomial form, and thus can be simply used in practical integrity assessment of the steam generator tubes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.39-45
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• 2003

The failure mode of a pipe due to local wall thinning is increasingly more attention in the nuclear power plant industry. To assess the integrity of locally wall thinned pipe, it is necessary to perform many simulations under various conditions. Because the modeling for locally wall thinned elbow is more complicated than that of straight pipe the efficient modeling method for finite element analysis is necessary. In this study, the more simple efficient modeling method of three-dimensional finite element analysis for locally wall thinned elbow has been suggested and verified. And using the method, the failure mode of local wall thinned elbows that have different thinning lengths and circumferential angles is evaluated. From the results, we concluded that the collapse load of elbows has been decreased by the increase of wall thinning shape factors such as thinning lengths and circumferential angles.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1139-1146
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• 2001

The reactor pressure vessel(RPV) is usually cladded with stainless steel to prevent corrosion and radiation embrittlement, and a number of subclad cracks have been found during an in-service-inspection. These subclad cracks should be assured for a safe operation under normal conditions and faulted conditions such as pressurized thermal shock(PTS). Currently available integrity assessment procedure for an RPV, ASME Code Sec. XI, are built on the basis of linear fracture mechanics (LEFM). In PTS condition, however, thermal stress and mechanical stress give rise to high tensile stress at the cladding and elastic-plastic behavior is expected in this area. Therfore, ASME Code Sec. XI is overly conservative in assessing the structural integrity under PTS condition. In this paper, the fracture parameter (stress intensity factor, K, and RT(sub)NDT) from elastic analysis using ASME Sec. XI and finite element method were validated against 3-D elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The difference between elastic and elastic-plastic analysis became significant with increasing crack depth. Therfore, it is recommended to perform elastic-plastic analysis for the accurate assessment of subclad cracks under TPS which causes plastic deformation at the cladding.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.52-62
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• 1992

Radioactive nuclides deposited on out-of-core surface after the radiation in the core by the transport of corrosion products (CRUD) through the primary coolant system in PWR which is the major plant type in Korea, are leading sources of radiation exposure to plant maintenance personnel. Thus, the optimal chemistry operation method is required for the reduction of radiation exposure by the corrosion products. This study analysed the actual water chemistry operation data of four operating domestic PWRs. And in order to evaluate the coolant chemistry operation data, a computer code which can calculate the activity buildup in the various chemistry conditions of PWR coolant was employed. Through the analysis of comparison between the activity buildup of actual water chemistry operation mode and that of assumed Elevated Li operation mode calculated by the computer code, it was found that the out-of core radioactivity can be reduced by diminishing the deposition of corrosion products on the core in case that the Elevated Li operation mode is applied to the coolant chemistry operation of PWR. And the higher coolant pH operation was shown to have the advantage of the reduction of out-of-core activity buildup if the integrity of system structural materials and fuel cladding is guaranteed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.875-881
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• 2013

The failure of a bolted joint owing to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) has been considered one of the most important structural integrity issues in a nuclear power plant. In this study, the failure possibility of bolting, which is used to support the steam generator of a pressurized water reactor, owing to SCC and brittle fracture was evaluated in accordance with guidelines proposed by the Electric Power Research Institute, which are called the Reference Flaw Factor method. For this evaluation, first, detailed finite element stress analyses were conducted to obtain the actual nominal stresses of bolting in which either service loads or bolt preloads were considered. Based on these nominal stresses, the structural integrity of bolting was addressed from the viewpoints of SCC and toughness. In addition, the accuracy of the EPRI Reference Flaw Factor for assessing bolting failure was investigated using finite element fracture mechanics analyses.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.951-956
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• 2011

Inconel alloys are generally used as steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants. These alloys are highnickel chromium alloys that exhibit excellent resistance to aqueous corrosion. In this paper, the effects of elevated temperatures such as an operating temperature of $320^{\circ}C$ on the fretting fatigue behavior of inconel 600 and 690. We observed that the plain and fretting fatigue limits at $320^{\circ}C$ were slightly lower than those at room temperature. The frictional forces varied depending on the number of load cycles. After each test, we studied the fretting fatigue mechanisms via SEM observations. These results can be used for structural integrity evaluations at elevated temperatures and for studying fretting damage in steam generator systems.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.215-229
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• 2023

In this study, non-destructive technologies that can be applied to evaluate the integrity of valve materials, safety against internal pressure caused by corrosion, and the blocking function of large-diameter water valves during operation without requiring specimen collection or manpower entering the inside of the valve were tested to assess the reliability of the technologies and their suitability for field application. The results showed that the condition of the graphite structure inside the valve body can be evaluated directly through the optical microscope in the field without specimen collection for large-diameter water butterfly valves, and the depth of corrosion inside the valve body can be determined by array ultrasound and the tensile strength can be measured by instrumented indentation test. The reliability of each of these non-destructive techniques is high, and they can be widely used to evaluate the condition of steel or cast iron pipes that are significantly smaller in thickness than valves. Evaluation of blocking function of the valves with mixed gas showed that it can be detected even when a very low flow rate of mixed gas passes through the disk along with the water flow. Finally, as a result of evaluating the field applicability of non-destructive technologies for three old butterfly valves installed in the US industrial water pipeline, it was found that it is possible to check the material and determine the suitability of large-diameter water valves without taking samples, and to determine the corrosion state and mechanical strength. In addition, it was possible to evaluate safety through the measurement results, and it is judged that the evaluation of the blocking function using mixed gas will help strengthen preventive response in the event of an accident.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.66-74
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• 2021

Cladding material, which can selectively obtain excellent properties of different metals, is a composite material that combines two or more types of dissimilar metals into one plate. The titanium-copper cladding material between titanium which has excellent corrosion resistance and copper which has high thermal and electrical conductivity, are highly valuable composite materials. It can be used as heat exchangers with high conductivity under severe corrosion conditions. In order to apply the clad plate to the heat exchanger, it must be manufactured in the form of a tube and additional welding is required. It is important to select the cladding material manufacturing process and the welding process. The process of manufacturing the cladding material includes extrusion, rolling, and explosive bonding. Among them, the explosive bonding process is suitable for additional welding because no heat-affected zone is formed. In this study TIG welding of the explosive-bonded dissimilar clad plates was successfully performed by butt welding. The microstructures and bonding interface of the welded part were observed, and the effect of the bonding layer at the welding interface and the intermetallic compounds on the mechanical properties and tensile plastic deformation behaviors were analyzed. And also the integrity of TIG-welded dissimilar part was evaluated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2003

Fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear Power Plant. In Pipes of energy Plants, sometimes, the local wall thinning may result from severe erosion-corrosion (E/C) damage. However, the effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system were not well studied. In this paper, the monotonic bending tests were performed of full-scale carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning. A monotonic bending load was applied to straight pipe specimens by four-point loading at ambient temperature without internal pressure. From the tests, fracture behaviors and fracture strength of locally thinned pipe were manifested systematically. The observed failure modes were divided into four types; ovalization. crack initiation/growth after ovalization, local buckling and crack initiation/growth after local buckling. Also, the strength and the allowable limit of piping system with local wall thinning were evaluated.