• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4146-4158
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• 2023

This paper proposes a combined plastic and creep constitutive model of A533B1 pressure vessel steel to simulate progressive deformation of nuclear pressure vessels under severe accident conditions. To develop the model, recent tensile test data covering a wide range of temperatures (from RT to 1,100 ℃) and strain rates (from 0.001%/s to 1.0%/s) was used. Comparison with experimental data confirms that the proposed combined plastic and creep model can well reflect effects of temperature and strain rate on tensile behaviour up to failure. In the companion paper (Part II), the proposed model will be used to simulate OECD lower head failure (OLHF) test data.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2020

This paper presents a kinematic limit analysis for passive earth pressure of rigid retaining structures considering the unsaturation of the backfill. Particular emphasis in the current work is focused on the effects of the spatial change in the degree of saturation on the passive earth pressure under different steady-infiltration/evaporation conditions. The incorporation of change of effective unit weight with degree of saturation is the main contribution of this study. The problem is formulated based on the log-spiral failure model rather than the linear wedge failure model, in which both the spatial variations of suction and soil effective unit weight are taken into account. Parametric studies, which cover a wide range of flow conditions, soil types and properties, wall batter, back slope angle as well as the interface friction angle, are performed to investigate the effects of these factors on the passive pressure and the corresponding shape of potential failure surfaces in the backfill. The results reveal that the flow conditions have significant effects on the suction and unit weight of the clayey backfill, and hence greatly impact the passive earth pressure of retaining structures. It is expected that present study could provide an insight into evaluation of the passive earth pressure of retaining structures with unsaturated backfills.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4504-4517
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• 2023

After a loss of coolant accident (LOCA) in the prestressed concrete containment vessels (PCCVs) of nuclear power plants, the coupling of temperature and pressure can significantly affect the mechanical properties of the PCCVs. However, there is no consensus on how this coupling affects the failure mechanism of PCCVs. In this paper, a simplified finite element modeling method is proposed to study the effect of temperature and pressure coupling on PCCVs. The experiment results of a 1:4 scale PCCV model tested at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) are compared with the results obtained from the proposed modeling approach. Seven working conditions are set up by varying the internal and external temperatures to investigate the failure mechanism of the PCCV model under the coupling effect of temperature and pressure. The results of this paper demonstrate that the finite element model established by the simplified finite element method proposed in this paper is highly consistent with the experimental results. Furthermore, the stress-displacement curve of the PCCV during loading can be divided into four stages, each of which corresponds to the damage to the concrete, steel liner, steel rebar, and prestressing tendon. Finally, the failure mechanism of the PCCV is significantly affected by temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.512-527
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• 2004

This paper describes the finite element (FE) analysis results of a 1/4 scale model of a prestressed concrete containment vessel (PCCV) by considering the tension stiffening effect, which is a result of the bond effect between the concrete and the steel. The tension stiffening model is assumed to be an exponential form based on the relationship between the average stress and the average strain of the concrete. The objective of the present FE analysis is to evaluate the ultimate internal pressure capacity of the PCCV, as well as its failure mechanism, when the PCCV model is subjected to a monotonous internal pressure beyond is design pressure capacity. With the commercial code ABAQUS, the FE analysis used two concrete failure criteria: a 2-dimensional axi-symmetric model with modified Drucker-Prager failure criteria and a 3-dimensional model with a damaged plasticity mod디. The results of our FE analysis on the ultimate pressure capacity and failure modes of PCCV have a good agreement with the experimental data.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.13-23
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• 2019

In this study, an overtopping model experiments and three dimensional seepage characteristics at the deteriorated homogeneous reservoirs were performed to investigate the behavior of failure for embankment and spillway transitional zone due to overtopping. The failure pattern, pore water pressure, earth pressure and settlement by overtopping were compared and analyzed. The pattern of the failure by overtopping was gradually enlarged towards reservoirs crest from the spillway transition zone at initial stage. In the rapid stage and peak stage, the width and depth of failure gradually increased, and the pattern of the failure appeared irregular and several direction of the erosion. In the early stage, the pore water pressure at spillway transitional zone was more affected as its variation and failure width increased. In the peak stage, the pore water pressure was significantly increased in all locations due to the influence of seepage. The earth pressure increased gradually according to overtopping stage. The pore pressure by the numerical analysis was larger than the experimental value, and the analysis was more likely to increase steadily without any apparent variation. The horizontal and vertical displacements were the largest at the toe of slope and at the top of the dam crest, respectively. The results of this displacement distribution can be applied as a basis for determining the position of reinforcement at the downstream slope and the crest. The collapse in the overtopping stage began with erosion of the most vulnerable parts of the dam crest, and the embankment was completely collapsed as the overtopping stage increased.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1280-1289
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• 2005

This paper presents the effects of corrosion environments of failure pressure model for buried pipelines on failure prediction by using a failure probability. The FORM (first order reliability method) is used in order to estimate the failure probability in the buried pipelines with corrosion defects. The effects of varying distribution types of random variables such as normal, lognormal and Weibull distributions on the failure probability of buried pipelines are systematically investigated. It is found that the failure probability for the MB31G model is larger than that for the B31G model. And the failure probability is estimated as the largest for the Weibull distribution and the smallest for the normal distribution. The effect of data scattering in corrosion environments on failure probability is also investigated and it is recognized that the scattering of wall thickness and yield strength of pipeline affects the failure probability significantly. The normalized margin is defined and estimated. Furthermore, the normalized margin is used to predict the failure probability using the fitting lines between failure probability and normalized margin.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.583-594
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• 1994

One of the major elements of a natural landslide is the increase of the pore water pressure in a weakened layer. Therefore, the measurement of the pore water pressure in the layer is important. This work is a laboratory model study of the measurement of the pore water pressure with regard to the confined groundwater level, the permeability of the crack zone and the weathering degree of the weakened layer. By the model of the Tertiary period failure type and the Colluvium failure type, the reactions of the pore air pressure and the pore water pressure were measured in the weakened layer according to the permeability of the filter on the condition of the confined groundwater states. On the reaction phase of the pore pressure according to the during time, the Tertiary period failure type proved to be a step type and the Colluvium failure type turned out to be a wave type. The reaction ratios of the pore water pressure in the Tertiary period failure type are higher than the Colluvium failure type, decrease according to increasing of the weathering degree of the weakened layer.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.189-197
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• 2018

A discrete element approach is used to investigate the effects of confining stress on the shear behaviour of joint's bridge area. A punch-through shear test is used to model the concrete cracks under different shear and confining stresses. Assuming a plane strain condition, special rectangular models are prepared with dimension of $75mm{\times}100mm$. Within the specimen model and near its four corners, four equally spaced vertical notches of the same depths are provided so that the central portion of the model remains intact. The lengths of notches are 35 mm. and these models are sequentially subjected to different confining pressures ranging from 2.5 to 15 MPa. The axial load is applied to the punch through the central portion of the model. This testing and models show that the failure process is mostly governed by the confining pressure. The shear strengths of the specimens are related to the fracture pattern and failure mechanism of the discontinuities. The shear behaviour of discontinuities is related to the number of induced shear bands which are increased by increasing the confining pressure while the cracks propagation lengths are decreased. The failure stress and the crack initiation stress both are increased due to confining pressure increase. As a whole, the mechanisms of brittle shear failure changes to that of the progressive failure by increasing the confining pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.173-180
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• 2004

This paper presents the effect of varying boundary conditions such as ground subsidence, internal pressure and temperature variation for buried pipelines on failure prediction by using a failure probability model. The first order Taylor series expansion of the limit state function incorporating with von-Mises failure criteria is used in order to estimate the probability of failure mainly associated with three cases of ground subsidence. Using stresses on the buried pipelines, we estimate the probability of pipelines with von-Mises failure criterion. The effects of varying random variables such as pipe diameter, internal pressure, temperature, settlement width, load for unit length of pipelines, material yield stress and pipe thickness on the failure probability of the buried pipelines are systematically studied by using a failure probability model for the pipeline crossing ground subsidence regions which have different soil properties.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.22-28
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• 2013

It is important to begin left ventricular assist device (LVAD) treatment at appropriate time for heart failure patients who expect cardiac recovery after the therapy. In order to predict the optimal timing of LVAD implantation, we predicted pumping efficacy of LVAD according to the severity of heart failure theoretically. We used LVAD-implanted cardiovascular system model which consist of 8 Windkessel compartments for the simulation study. The time-varying compliance theory was used to simulate ventricular pumping function in the model. The ventricular systolic dysfunction was implemented by increasing the end-systolic ventricular compliance. Using the mathematical model, we predicted cardiac responses such as left ventricular peak pressure, cardiac output, ejection fraction, and stroke work according to the severity of ventricular systolic dysfunction under the treatments of continuous and pulsatile LVAD. Left ventricular peak pressure, which indicates the ventricular loading condition, decreased maximally at the 1st level heart-failure under pulsatile LVAD therapy and 2nd level heart-failure under continuous LVAD therapy. We conclude that optimal timing for pulsatile LVAD treatment is 1st level heart-failure and for continuous LVAD treatment is 2nd level heart-failure when considering LVAD treatment as "bridge to recovery".