• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1463-1471
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• 2017

In order to monitor the pipe thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) that occurs in coolant piping systems, a shear horizontal ultrasonic pitch-catch waveguide technique was developed for accurate pipe wall thickness monitoring. A clamping device for dry coupling contact between the end of the waveguide and pipe surface was designed and fabricated. A computer program for multi-channel on-line monitoring of the pipe thickness at high temperature was also developed. Both a four-channel buffer rod pulse-echo type and a shear horizontal ultrasonic waveguide type for high-temperature thickness monitoring system were successfully installed to the test section of the FAC proof test facility. The overall measurement error can be estimated as ${\pm}10{\mu}m$ during a cycle from room temperature to $200^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.61-66
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• 2008

As the water distribution system which is one of the critical lifeline system is deteriorated and pipe failures occur frequently, the more efficient pipe monitoring system becomes a critical issue in the water industry. One of the pipe monitoring systems is called "Smart-pipe System" which is permanent, comprehensive and an automated SIM (Structural Integrity Monitoring) system and has superiorities to existing monitoring system. To implement a smart-pipe system on a water distribution system, assessment of its indirect benefit obtaining from smartpipe such as the ratio of preventing water main failures must be preceded. However, only some researches on this field have been performed. In this paper, the concept of smart-pipe system is compared with the current monitoring systems for a water distribution system, and a method to quantify its benefit using the inconvenient time for customers is suggested. The suggested method was applied to a real water distribution system to estimate its applicability and benefit.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.186-192
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• 2022

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) is a type of pipe corrosion in which the pipe thickness decreases depending on the fluid flow conditions. In nuclear power plants, FAC mainly occurs in the carbon steel pipes of a secondary system. However, because the temperature of a secondary system pipe is over 150 ℃, in situ monitoring using a conventional ultrasonic non-destructive testing method is difficult. In our previous study, we developed a waveguide ultrasonic thickness measurement system. In this study, we applied a waveguide ultrasonic thickness measurement system to monitor the thinning of the pipe according to the change in pH. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute installed FAC-proof facilities, enabling the monitoring of internal fluid flow conditions, which were fixed for ~1000 h to analyze the effect of the pH. The measurement system operated without failure for ~3000 h and the pipe thickness was found to be reduced by ~10% at pH 9 compared to that at pH 7. The thickness of the pipe was measured using a microscope after the experiment, and the reliability of the system was confirmed with less than 1% error. This technology is expected to also be applicable to the thickness-reduction monitoring of other high-temperature materials.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.6 no.5_6
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• pp.545-559
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• 2010

This paper presents the results of a pilot study and verification of a concept of a novel methodology for damage detection and assessment of water distribution system. The unique feature of the proposed noninvasive methodology is the use of accelerometers installed on the pipe surface, instead of pressure sensors that are traditionally installed invasively. Experimental observations show that a sharp change in pressure is always accompanied by a sharp change of pipe surface acceleration at the corresponding locations along the pipe length. Therefore, water pressure-monitoring can be transformed into acceleration-monitoring of the pipe surface. The latter is a significantly more economical alternative due to the use of less expensive sensors such as MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) or other acceleration sensors. In this scenario, monitoring is made for Maximum Pipe Acceleration Gradient (MPAG) rather than Maximum Water Head Gradient (MWHG). This paper presents the results of a small-scale laboratory experiment that serves as the proof of concept of the proposed technology. The ultimate goal of this study is to improve upon the existing SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) by integrating the proposed non-invasive monitoring techniques to ultimately develop the next generation SCADA system for water distribution systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2022

Pipe failure due to thermal fatigue and environmental regulations are increasing the importance of pipe monitoring systems in industrial plants. Since most pipe monitoring systems are focus on external crack inspected, it is necessary to temperature and concentration measuring monitoring system inside the pipe. These systems have spatial uncertainty due to sample inspection by one-point measurement. In addition, real-time measurement is not possible due to the limitation of time delay due to contact measurement. In this study, CT-TDLAS (Computed tomography-Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy) apply to overcome the limitations of existing methods. Lasers exhibiting an absorption response at a wavelength of 1395 nm were arranged in a lattice pattern on measuring cell. It showed that the inside of the pipe changed to an unstable combustion state over time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.156-162
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• 2006

Pipe thinning is one of the major issues for the structural fracture of pipes of nuclear power plants. Therefore a method to inspect a large area of piping systems quickly and accurately is needed. In this paper, we proposed the method for monitoring pipe thinning. Our basic idea come from that a group velocity of impact wave is different as wall thickness. If the group velocity is measured, wall thickness can be estimated. To obtain the group velocity, time-frequency analysis is used. This is because an arrival time difference can be measured easily in time-frequency domain rather than time domain. To test the performance of this technique, experiments have been performed for a plate and U type pipe. Results show that the proposed technique is quite powerful in the monitoring pipe thinning.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.16 no.12 s.117
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• pp.1224-1230
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• 2006

Pipe thinning is one of the major issues for the structural fracture of pipes of nuclear power plants. Therefore a method to inspect a large area of piping systems quickly and accurately is needed. In this paper, we proposed the method for monitoring pipe thinning. Our basic idea come from that a group velocity of impact wave is different as wall thickness. If the group velocity is measured, wall thickness can be estimated. To obtain the group velocity, time -frequency analysis is used. This is because an arrival time difference can be measured easily in time-frequency domain rather than time domain. To test the performance of this technique, experiments have been performed for a plate and U type pipe. Results show that the proposed technique is quite powerful in the monitoring pipe thinning.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.6 s.171
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• pp.83-89
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• 2005

Most domestic fossil power plants have exceeded 100,000 hours of operation with the severe operating condition. Among the critical components of fossil power plant, high temperature steam pipe systems have had a many problems and damage from unstable displacement behavior because of frequent start up and shut down. In order to prevent the serious damage and failure of the critical pipe system in fossil power plants, 3-dimensional displacement measurement system was developed for the on-line monitoring. Displacement measurement system was developed with a use of a LVDT type sensor and two rotary encoder type sensors. This system was installed and operated on the real power plant successfully.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.337-348
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• 2021

Brillouin Optical Frequency Domain Analysis (BOFDA) is a distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) technique that has unique advantages for performance monitoring of piles. However, the complicated production process and harsh operating environment of offshore PHC pipe piles make it difficult to apply this method to pile load testing. In this study, sensing cables were successfully pre-installed into an offshore PHC pipe pile directly for the first time and the BOFDA technique was used for in-situ monitoring of the pile under axial load. High-resolution strain and internal force distributions along the pile were obtained by the BOFDA sensing system. A finite element analysis incorporating the Degradation and Hardening Hyperbolic Model (DHHM) was carried out to evaluate and predict the performance of the pile, which provides an improved insight into the offshore pile-soil interaction mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.10a
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• pp.292-294
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• 2021

The digital twin-based smart pipe integrated management system is an integrated solution for efficient operation and monitoring that we propose. We buried a waterway pipe underground with self-diagnostic and condition monitoring sensor functions. This pipe sends sensing data and accumulates it. Our system analyzes data to make smart decisions. The main functions of this system are remote control and monitoring. Therefore, "how to configure monitoring in real time" is a big issue. For this purpose, we designed a special real-time-based agent function. In this paper, to solve this problem, a layered architecture was proposed based on transmission points where sensor data are exchanged. An agent was placed in each layer to look at the lower layer and periodically monitor whether there were any changes in the sensor in real time. Finally, the agent system was designed and the conceptual model level was implemented to verify excellence.