• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.378-383
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• 2004

The Korean Performance Demonstration(KPD) System for the ultrasonic testing personnel, equipments and procedures applicable to the Class 1 and 2 piping examination for nuclear power plant in Korea has been established. A round robin test was conducted in order to compare the examination results by the method of Performance Demonstration(PD) with the traditional dB-drop method. The round robin test shows that the reliability of the PD method is better than that of the dB-drop method. As a result, adoption of the PD method to the in-service inspection of the nuclear power plants will improve the reliability of the ultrasonic test results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.321-329
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• 1998

Structural integrity of nuclear components is important for a safe operation of nuclear power plants. Therefore, nuclear power plants require to perform reliable, periodic inservice inspections. Korea Electric Power Company(KEPCO) operates the entire Korean nuclear power plants. Since nuclear power plant safety and the associated inservice inspection(ISI) are under the plant owner's responsibility, Korea Electric Power Research Institute(KEPRI), the R&D division of KEPCO, has established the ISI NDE Total Support system(TSS) for an efficient performance of ISI tasks, and initiated both key ISI NDE technology development program and traing & qualification system development program for an independent ISI operation. This paper describes details of these programs.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.384-389
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• 2014

In this paper, the result of an ultrasonic performance demonstration are analyzed. The requirements for an ultrasonic performance demonstration (PD) for a nuclear power plant were first described in ASME B&P Code Section XI, Appendix VIII (1989 winter addenda). In order to establish the performance demonstration scheme in Korean nuclear power plants, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd (KHNP) has developed the Korean Performance Demonstration (KPD) system for the for the ultrasonic examination of nuclear power plants. An analysis of the ultrasonic performance demonstration results from 2004 through 2013 will improve the detection of flaws in an ultrasonic examination, as well as the further development of the KPD training system.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.19-34
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• 2015

One of the main causes of a limited use of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies in bridge deck assessment is the speed of data collection and analysis. The paper describes development and implementation of the RABIT (Robotics Assisted Bridge Inspection Tool) for data collection using multiple NDE technologies. The system is designed to characterize three most common deterioration types in concrete bridge decks: rebar corrosion, delamination, and concrete degradation. It implements four NDE technologies: electrical resistivity (ER), impact echo (IE), ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and ultrasonic surface waves (USW) method. The technologies are used in a complementary way to enhance the interpretation. In addition, the system utilizes advanced vision to complement traditional visual inspection. Finally, the RABIT collects data at a significantly higher speed than it is done using traditional NDE equipment. The robotic system is complemented by an advanced data interpretation. The associated platform for the enhanced interpretation of condition assessment in concrete bridge decks utilizes data integration, fusion, and deterioration and defect visualization. This paper concentrates on the validation and field implementation of two NDE technologies. The first one is IE used in the delamination detection and characterization, while the second one is the USW method used in the assessment of concrete quality. The validation of performance of the two methods was conducted on a 9 m long and 3.6 m wide fabricated bridge structure with numerous artificial defects embedded in the deck.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.373-379
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• 2006

Vibration-based structural health monitoring is one of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for civil infrastructures. This paper presents a novel fiber optic accelerometer system to monitor civil engineering structures and a successful application of the novel sensor system for measuring ambient vibration of a real building structure. This sensor system integrates the Moire fringe phenomenon with fiber optics to achieve accurate and reliable measurements. The sensor system is immune to electromagnetic (EM) interference making it suitable for difficult applications in such environments involving strong EM fields, electrical spark-induced explosion risks, and cabling problems, prohibiting the use of conventional electromagnetic accelerometers. A prototype sensor system has been developed, together with a signal processing software. The experimental studies demonstrated the high-performance of the fiber optic sensor system. Especially, the sensor was successfully used for monitoring a real building on UCI (University of California Irvine, USA).

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 1994

A system for EMAT, which generates ultrasound by electro-magnectic forces and performs nondestructive testing in noncontact, was established. By linking it with a 3 axis scanning system and a data acquisition and processing system the automation of EMAT testing was attempted. A EMAT sensor was fabricated and the directivity pattern of it was measured. To be suitable automation, it has a transmitter and a receiver in one case and the main beam direction of it can be controlled by the frequency of driving signal. A program which controls the EMAT system, the 3 axis scanner and the data acquisition and processing system was developed. It also processes acquired data and displays the processing results. IBM-PC/AT compatible PC was used as main controller and the stratage of the program is emulation of real devices on the PC monitor. To provide the performance of the established EMAT system, two aluminium blocks containing artificial flaws and a welded aluminium block were tested. The result of the tests were satisfactory.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.19 no.4 s.65
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• pp.21-27
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• 2005

Large welded structures, including ships and offshore structures, are normally in operation under cyclic fatigue loadings. These structures include many geometric discontinuities, as well as material discontinuities due to weld joints. The fatigue strength at these hot spots is very important for the structural performance. In the past, various Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) techniques have been developed to detect fatigue cracks and to estimate their location and size. However, an important limitation of most of the existing NDE methods is that they are off line; the normal operation of the structure has to be interrupted, and the device often has to be disassembled. This study explores the development of a structural health monitoring system, with a special interest in applying the technique to welded structural members in ship and offshore structures. In particular, the impedance based structural health monitoring technique that employs the coupling effect of piezoceramic (PZT) materials and structures is investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2015

Recently, the initiation of outside diameter stress corrosion cracking (ODSCC) at the tube support plate region of domestic steam generators (SG) with Alloy600 HTMA tubes has been increasing. As a result, SGs with Alloy600 HTMA tubes must be replaced early or are scheduled to be replaced prior to their designed lifetime. ODSCC is one of the biggest threats to the integrity of SG tubes. Therefore, the accurate evaluation of tube integrity to determine ODSCC is needed. Eddy current testing (ECT) is conducted periodically, and its results could be input as parameters for evaluating the integrity of SG tubes. The reliability of an ECT inspection system depends on the performance of the inspection technique and abilty of the analyst. The detection probability and ECT sizing error of degradation are considered to be the performance indices of a nondestructive evaluation (NDE) system. This paper introduces an optimized evaluation method for ECT, as well as the sizing error, including the analyst performance. This study was based on the results of a round robin program in which 10 inspection analysts from 5 different companies participated. The analysis of ECT sizing results was performed using a linear regression model relating the true defect size data to the measured ECT size data.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2000

In a previous paper, we have discussed the intelligent Windows 95-based data management program(IDPIN) which was developed for effective and efficient management of large amounts of pre-/in-service inspection(PSI/ISI) data of Kori nuclear power plants. The IDPIN program enables the prompt extraction of previously conducted PSI/ISI conditions and results so that the time-consuming data management, painstaking data processing and analysis of the past are avoided. In this study, the intelligent Windows based data management program(WS-IDPIN) has been developed as an effective data management of PSI/ISI data for the Wolsong nuclear power plants. The WS-IDPIN program includes the modules of comprehensive management and analysis of PSI/ISI results, statistical reliability assessment program of PSI/ISI results(depth and length sizing performance etc), standardization of UT report form and computerization of UT results. In addition, the program can be further developed as a unique PSI/ISI data management expert system which can be part of the PSI/ISI total support system for Korean nuclear power plants.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.580-585
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• 1988

In this paper, a low frequency acoustic microscope system has been built for the purpose of detecting subsurface defects in materials. The lateral resolution of acoustic microscope is studied and analyzed in order to evaluate that system performance. And a NDE technique is demonstrated by using this system. In the focused and defocused mode of operation, the acoustic microscope system showed in experiment that its lateral resolution was about 0.5 mm at a frequency of operation of 3MHz on a fused-quartz sample with seeded circular cracks ranged in size from 0.2 mm to 1.0 mm in diameter wihtin 1 mm of the surface. It also showed the acoustic image of 100 won coin with fine contrast.