• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.127-132
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• 2001

An experimental study on penetration integrity of the reactor vessel has been performed under external vessel cooling during a core melt accident. In this study a series of experiments are performed for the verification of the effects of coolant in the annulus between the ICI(In-Core Instrumentation) nozzle and the thimble tube and also the effects of external vessel cooling on the integrity of the penetration using the test section including only one penetration and $Al_{2}O_{3}$ melt as a corium simulant. The experimental results have shown that penetration is more damaged in the case of no external vessel cooling compared with the case of external vessel cooling. It is preliminarily concluded that the external vessel cooling is very effective measure for the improvement of the penetration integrity. Also it is confirmed from the experimental results that the coolant in the annulus reduces the melt penetration distance through the annulus and enhance the integrity of the reactor vessel penetration in the end.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.42-48
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• 2014

The auxiliary-feed-water pump (AFWP) used to supply water during a station black out situation at nuclear power plants should meet the seismic qualification regulations stipulated in IEEE Std 323 and 344, so as to withstand earthquakes or dangerous situations. Here, we establish a model for the estimation of the structural integrity of this type of pump. If the natural frequency that results from a modal analysis is less than 33 Hz, we adopt a dynamic analysis, instead of a static analysis. A dynamic analysis was carried out taking into consideration seismic conditions such as the floor response spectra (FRS), an operation-base earthquake (OBE), and a safe-shutdown earthquake (SSE). Finally, an analytical estimation of the structural integrity of an AFWP is made through a comparison of calculated values and allowable values. If the result is less than the allowable stress, the pump is deemed to have good structural integrity. In addition, future studies will involve a stability check for rotor accidents that may occur during the operation of the pump.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3730-3739
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• 2024

The high-temperature molten salt pump is the core equipment in the small modular molten salt reactor with media temperatures up to 700 ℃. The cantilever ratio of the molten salt pump is usually large. Excessively large cantilever ratios cause increased deformations and rotational amplitudes at the impeller, thus affecting the operational stability of the main pump; small cantilever ratios cause heavy temperature gradients, thus affecting the structural integrity evaluation. This paper used numerical simulation methods to calculate and analyze the temperature field, stress, and structural integrity, optimized the pump shaft cantilever length of the original scheme based on structural integrity using the dichotomy method, and analyzed the rotor dynamics of the optimization results. The results of this study show that the thermal expansion load caused by the temperature difference has a significant mechanical effect on the structure; the first-order critical speed of the rotor system of the optimized schemes has been improved, and the amplitude of the unbalanced response has been significantly reduced, which not only improves the operational stability of the rotor, also contributes to the compact design of the main pump of a small modular molten salt reactor.

• 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.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.593-601
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• 2012

This paper develops and analyzes a new multiple-hypothesis Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) algorithm as a candidate for future standard architecture. The proposed algorithm can handle simultaneous multiple failures as well as a single failure. It uses measurement residuals and satellite observation matrices of several consecutive epochs for Failure Detection and Exclusion (FDE). The proposed algorithm redueces the Minimum Detectable Bias (MDB) via the Relative RAIM (RRAIM) scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can detect and filter out multiple failures in tens of meters.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2000

As huge energy transfer systems like a nuclear power plant, steam power plant and petrochemical plant are operated for a long time, mechanical properties are changed by degradation. The life time of the systems can be affected by the mechanical properties. So determination of the integrity of the metallic structure is required either to en4sure that failure will not occur during the service life of the components or to evaluate the lifetime extension of the structure. An automated ball indentation(ABI) method was developed as a non-destructive technique for evaluating the integrity of such metallic components. In this paper, we would like to present the aging evaluation technique by the ABI method. The five classes of the thermally aged CF8M specimens were prepared using an artificially accelerated aging method. After holding 100, 300, 900, 1800 and 3600 hours at 43$0^{\circ}C$, the specimens were cooled down using water to room temperature respectively. The tensile test, hardness test, charpy impact test, ABI test were performed. The results of the fracture test were compared with those of ABI test and the new evaluation technique of the integrity of metallic structures was developed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.192-192
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• 2008

As the lifetime of nuclear power plants (NPPs) reaches design life, the probability for fatal accidents increases. Most of accidents are known to be caused by degradation of mechanical components. Pressure tubes are the most important components in CANDU reactor. They are subjected to various aging mechanisms such as delayed hydride cracking (DHC), irradiation and corrosion, etc. Therefore, the integrity of pressure tube is key concern in CANDU reactor. Up to recently, conventional deterministic approaches have been utilized to evaluate the integrity of components. However, there are many uncertainties to prevent a rational evaluation. The objective of this paper is to assess the failure probability of pressure tube in CANDU. To do this, probability fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is performed. For the verification of the analysis, a comparison of the PFM analysis using a commercial code and mathematical method is carried out.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.154-160
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• 2001

For major structural components periodic inspections and integrity assessments are needed for the safety. However, many flaws are undetectable because sampling inspection is carried out during in-service inspection. Probabilistic integrity assessment is applied to take into consideration of uncertainty and variance of input parameters arise due to material properties and undetectable cracks. This paper describes a Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics(PFM) analysis based on the Monte Carlo(MC) algorithms. Taking a number of sampling data of probabilistic variables such as fracture toughness value, crack depth and aspect ratio of an initial surface crack, a MC simulation of failure judgement of samples is performed. for the verification of this analysis, a comparison study of the PFM analysis using a commercial code, mathematical method is carried out and a good agreement was observed between those results.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.471-478
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• 2016

This paper describes a method to design a lightweight modular bridge for a railway infrastructure system. A lightweight design was achieved using the material selection method. Aluminum extrusions and honeycomb sandwich composites were selected as the best materials to reduce the weight of the upper structure of a conventional modular bridge made of carbon-steel material. The structural integrity of the lightweight modular bridge was evaluated under vertical and wind loads. The twisting and bending natural frequencies were also evaluated to investigate its dynamic characteristics. The results showed that the structural integrity and natural frequencies of the lightweight modular bridge, made of aluminum extrusion and sandwich composites, satisfied the design requirements. Moreover, it was found that the weight of the conventional modular bridge made of carbon steel could be reduced by a maximum of 47% using lightweight materials.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.6_spc
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• pp.697-704
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• 2016

The second shutdown drive mechanism (SSDM) that is classified into seismic category I as an active mechanical equipment shall maintain the structural integrity and its designed inherent safety functions during and/or after normal operation, anticipated operational occurrences, accidents and seismic occurrences. Therefore, not only a structural integrity assessment through numerical analyses but also a qualification test by using the prototype SSDM shall be conducted to verify the adequacy of the SSDM design. This paper describes a sort of seismic qualification test of the prototype SSDM to demonstrate that the structural integrity and operability (functionality) of SSDM are maintained during and/or after seismic excitations. From the results, this paper shows that the SSDM satisfies all design requirements without any malfunctions during and after the seismic test.