• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.932-941
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• 2021

This paper suggests a fracture simulation method for SFR metallic fuel pin under accident condition. Two major failure mechanisms - creep damage and eutectic penetration - are implemented in the suggested method. To simulate damaged element, stress-reduction concept to reduce stiffness of the damaged element is applied. Using the proposed method, the failure size of cladding can be predicted in addition to the failure time and failure site. To verify the suggested method, Whole-pin furnace (WPF) test and TREAT-M test conducted at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are simulated. In all cases, predicted results and experimental results are overall in good agreement. Based on the simulation result, the effect of eutectic-penetration depth representing failure behavior on failure size is studied.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.4522-4533
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• 2022

For severe accident assessment of reactor pressure vessel (RPV), it is important to develop an accurate model that can predict transient thermo-mechanical behavior of the RPV lower head under the given condition. The present study revisits the lower head failure with two- and three-dimensional finite element models. In particular, we aim to give clear insight regarding the effect of the three-dimensionality present in the distribution of the thickness and thermal load of the lower head. For a rigorous validation of the result, both the OLHF-1 and the OLHF-2 tests are considered in this study. The result suggests that the three-dimensional effect is not negligible as far as the failure location is concerned. The non-uniformity of the thickness distribution is found to affect the failure location and time. The thermal load, which may not be axisymmetric in general, has the most significant effect on the failure assessment. We also observe that the creep property can affect the global deformation of the lower head, depending on the applied mechanical load.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.83-97
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• 2024

It is important to make reasonable prediction about the long-term deformation of high rockfill geostructures. However, the deformation is usually underestimated using the rockfill parameters obtained from laboratory tests due to different size effects, which make it necessary to identify parameters from in-situ monitoring data. This paper proposes a novel hybrid back-analysis method with a modified objective function defined for the time-dependent back-analysis problem. The method consists of two stages. In the first stage, an improved weighted average method is proposed to quickly narrow the search region; while in the second stage, an adaptive response surface method is proposed to iteratively search for the satisfactory solution, with a technique that can adaptively consider the translation, contraction or expansion of the exploration region. The accuracy and computational efficiency of the proposed hybrid back-analysis method is demonstrated by back-analyzing the long-term deformation of two high embankments constructed for airport runways, with the rockfills being modeled by a rheological model considering the influence of stress states on the creep behavior.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.1257-1263
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• 2015

A correlation between the transient regime and steady state regime on the creep crack growth (CCG) for Grade 91 steel, which is used as the structural material for the Gen-IV reactor systems, was investigated. A series of CCG tests were performed using 1/2" CT specimens under a constant applied load and at a constant temperature of $600^{\circ}C$. The CCG rates for the transient and steady state regimes were obtained in terms of $C^*$ parameter. The transient CCG rate had a close correlation with the steady-state CCG rate, as the slope of the transient CCG data was very similar to that of the steady state data. The transient rate was slower by 5.6 times as compared to the steady state rate. It can be inferred that the steady state CCG rate, which is required for long-time tests, can be predicted from the transient CCG rate obtained from short-time tests.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2012

In a material, micro-cracks can be progressively occurred, propagated and finally lead to failure when it is subjected to cyclic or periodic loading less than its ultimate strength. This phenomenon, fatigue, is usually considered in a metal, alloy and structures under repeated loading conditions. In underground structures, a static creep behavior rather than a dynamic fatigue behavior is mostly considered. However, when compressed air is stored in a rock cavern, an inner pressure is periodically changed due to repeated in- and-out process of compressed air. Therefore mechanical properties of surrounding rock mass and an inner lining system under cyclic loading/unloading conditions should be investigated. In this study, considering an underground lined rock cavern for compressed air energy storage (CAES), the mechanical properties of a lining system, that is, concrete lining and plug under periodic loading/unloading conditions were characterized through cyclic bending tests and shear tests. From these tests, the stability of the plug was evaluated and the S-N line of the concrete lining was obtained.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.21-34
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• 2014

This paper studies the time-dependent behaviors of tunnel and surrounding ground due to tunnel deterioration. In the first part, the literature on deterioration characteristics of tunnels was reviewed. In the second part, a numerical analysis was performed to investigate the behavior of concrete lining on the typical section of Korean high-speed rail tunnel (weathered rock) after determination of input variables related to deterioration impact. The result shows that the settlement at the crown of tunnel and surface ground increased up to 7.0% and 30.2% of the total settlements during construction stage, respectively, and the internal convergence reduction of 9.0 mm for concrete linings was generated within 30 years after completion of tunnel construction. Also the loosening height increased up to 2.55 times of tunnel height within 50 years, which is higher than that of Terzaghi's recommendation on ultimate state. Due to this process of extending zones, it is found that additional loads were applied to concrete lining with the axial stress about 3.20~3.66 MPa, which accelerates tunnel deterioration. Finally the quantitative design approach to evaluate time-dependent behavior of lining and surrounding ground due to tunnel deterioration was proposed.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.127-136
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• 1996

Recently, EPS which has unit weight of only 20~30kg/m3, is used for acquiring the safety of settlement and bearing capacity, In Korea, EPS was first used in 1993 as backfill material for abutment that was constructed on soft ground in Inchon. Since then EPS has been used increasingly as backfill material. However, adequate modelling has not yet been proposed for the prediction of the behavior of EPS. Only it's design strength was proposed as the results of unconfined strength and creep test. Accordingly this paper executed triaxial compression test on EPS with various density and confining pressure. Through the analysis of test data the behavior of EPS for strainstress, tangential modulus and poisson's ratio can be expressed in functions with parameters of density and confining pressure of EPS. From these results, this paper proposed a nonliner model describing the behavior of EPS.

• Journal of Korean Society of societal Security
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.51-57
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• 2008

The long-term behaviors of prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges are considerably influenced by the time dependant material characteristics such as creep and shrinkage. This study investigated the influences of the change of relative humidity by application of the CEB-FIP model and ACI model, which are generally used in the prediction of long-term behavior of concrete structures. In case of the moment of girder, CEB-FIP model predicted a bigger effect of relative humidity change than the ACI model. Furthermore, the effect was significant. Also, the long-term behaviors between these models were different each other even under the same material condition. Therefore, the prediction of the long-term behavior should be compensated after comparative analysis with the results of material tests of each construction site and between the different models.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.249-256
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• 2008

With consideration of the ongoing construction of high-rise buildings, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to accurately predict the behavior of them on the stage of design, construction and service. Even though many researchers have developed the analysis method to predict the behavior of high-rise buildings, their studies were based on the two dimensional frame structures composed of line elements such as beams and columns. Recently the high-rise buildings with flat-plate system is widely used because of its advantages. In this study a three dimensional analysis method is developed to analyze the behavior of the high-rise buildings with flat-plate system since it is difficult to model the structural systems reasonably with the existing two dimensional analysis method. The analysis method considered the construction sequence including the temporary work such as installation of form, removal of form, installation of shore, and removal of shore. Line elements were used to describe columns, beams, and shores and plate elements were used to model slabs. The creep and drying shrinkage of concrete were also considered to account for the inelastic behavior of concrete.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.2125-2128
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• 2011

The continuous welded rail(CWR) track without the rail expansion joint has many advantages over the conventional track in a variety of fields including the speed-up and the ride comport. However, due to the excessive axial force in the CWR and the track-bridge interactive behavior, inevitably, the rail expansion joint must be installed at the vulnerable zone such as the bridge end zone, etc. In this rail expansion joint zone, the frequency of the maintenance work to repair the track irregularity is on the rise. This is because that the creep of the sleeper is occurred in the moveable zone of the rail expansion joint. In this study, among the several options for reducing the track irregularity on the rail expansion joint zone, the application and efficiency of the tied sleeper is investigated. Field test construction has been conducted, then the progress of the track irregularity and the frequency of the maintenance work are analyzed before and after the filed test construction.