• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.142-148
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• 2013

Safety is a major concern in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Piping systems in NPPs are very complex and composed of many components such as tees, elbows, expanders and straight pipes. The high pressure and high temperature water flows inside piping components. As high speed water flows inside piping, the pipe wall thinning occurs in various reasons such as FAC (Flow Accelerated Corrosion), LDIE (Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion) and Flashing. To inspect the wall thinning phenomenon and protect the piping from damages, piping components are checked by UT measurement in every overhaul. During every overhaul, approximately 200~300 components (40,000~60,000 UT data) are examined in NPPs. There are some methods from EPRI for evaluating wear rate of components. However, only few studies have been conducted to find out the raw data reliability for the wear rate evaluation. Securing the reliable raw data is the key factor for a reasonable evaluation. This paper suggests the reliability analysis method for the repeatedly measured data for wear rate evaluation.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

A huge number of carbon steel piping components installed in the secondary system of nuclear power plants are exposed to aging mechanisms such as FAC (Flow-Accelerated Corrosion), Cavitation, Flashing, and LDIE (Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion). Those aging mechanisms can lead to thinning of the piping components. To manage the wall thinning degradation, most of utilities in the world predict the wall thinning rate based on the computational program such as CHECWORKS, COMSY, and BRT-CICERO, evaluate the UT (Ultrasonic Test) data, and determine next inspection timing, repair or replacement, if needed. There are several evaluation methods, such as band, blanket, and strip methods, commonly used for determining the wear of piping components from single UT inspection data. It has been identified that those single UT evaluation methods not only do not consider the manufacturing features of pipes, but also may exclude the data of the most thinned point when determining the representative wear rate of piping components. This paper describes a newly developed single UT evaluation method, E-Cross method, for solving above problems and introduces application examples for several pipes and elbows. It was identified that the E-Cross method using the length and width of UT data excluded the most thinned points appropriate as the single UT evaluation method for thinned piping components.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.337-352
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• 2013

Seismic performance of critical facilities has been focused on the structural components over the past decade. However, most earthquake damages were observed to the nonstructural components during and after the earthquakes. The primary objective of this research was to develop the seismic fragility of the piping system incorporating the nonlinear Tee-joint finite element model in the full scale piping configuration installed in critical facilities. The procedure for evaluating fragility curves corresponding to the first damage state was considered the effects of the top floor acceleration sensitivities for 5, 10, 15, and 20 story linear RC and steel building systems subjected to 22 selected ground motions as a function of ground motion uncertainties. The result of this study revealed that the conditional probability of failure of the piping system on the top floor in critical facilities did not increase with increased level of story height and in fact, story level in buildings can tune the fragilities between the building and the piping system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.16-39
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• 2017

This paper reviewed and summarized the experimental studies conducted during last three decades to evaluate the structural integrity and to establish the acceptance criteria for piping system of nuclear power plants (NPPs) under seismic loading condition. These experimental studies contain the results of large-scale piping system tests under excessive seismic loading as well as standard specimen tests, simplified piping specimen tests, and piping components tests under simplified dynamic and cyclic loading. These would be useful as a basis for establishing integrity assessment procedure and acceptance criteria for piping systems of NPPs under beyond design basis earthquake (BDBE) conditions, and also could be used in planing the scope and direction of further related researches.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.1588-1596
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• 2022

In the nuclear power plants, stainless steel is widely used for fabrication of various components such as piping and pipe fittings. These piping components are subjected to cyclic loading due to start up and shut down of the nuclear power plants. The application of cyclic loading may lead to initiation of crack at stress raiser locations such as nozzle to piping connection, crown of piping bends etc. of the piping system. Crack initiation can also take place from the flaws which have gone unnoticed during manufacturing. Therefore, prediction of crack initiation life would help in decision making with respect to plant operational life. The primary objective of the present study is to compile various analytical models to predict the crack initiation life of the pipes with notch. Here notch simulates the stress raisers in the piping system. As a part of the study, Coffin-Manson equations have been benchmarked to predict the crack initiation life of pipe with notch. Analytical models proposed by Zheng et al. [1], Singh et al. [2], Yang Dong et al. [25], Masayuki et al. [33] and Liu et al. [3] were compiled to predict the crack initiation life of SA312 Type 304LN stainless steel pipe with notch under fatigue loading. Tensile and low cycle fatigue properties were evaluated for the same lot of SA312 Type 304LN stainless steel as that of pipe test. The predicted crack initiation lives by different models were compared with the experimental results of three pipes under different frequencies and loading conditions. It was observed that the predicted crack initiation life is in very good agreement with experimental results with maximum difference of ±10.0%.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.316-321
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• 2001

A previous feasibility study for the Korean lead plant, PLiM Phase I, showed a strong possibility of continued operation beyond the original licensed period. In 1998, PLiM Phase II study was initiated aimed at performing additional detailed evaluations on a wider range of components. The objective of this paper is to present the Korean PLiM efforts for Class 1 piping which is identified as one of the critical components with regard to long-term operation. The key findings such as typical design features, degradation mechanisms, technical issues, draft results from the lifetime evaluation for Class 1 piping of the lead plant are briefly described.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.72 no.1
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• pp.31-41
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• 2019

Structural integrity assessment of piping components is of paramount important for remaining life prediction, residual strength evaluation and for in-service inspection planning. For accurate prediction of these, a reliable fracture parameter is essential. One of the fracture parameters is stress intensity factor (SIF), which is generally preferred for high strength materials, can be evaluated by using linear elastic fracture mechanics principles. To employ available analytical and numerical procedures for fracture analysis of piping components, it takes considerable amount of time and effort. In view of this, an alternative approach to analytical and finite element analysis, a model based on relevance vector machine (RVM) is developed to predict SIF of part through crack of a piping component under fatigue loading. RVM is based on probabilistic approach and regression and it is established based on Bayesian formulation of a linear model with an appropriate prior that results in a sparse representation. Model for SIF prediction is developed by using MATLAB software wherein 70% of the data has been used for the development of RVM model and rest of the data is used for validation. The predicted SIF is found to be in good agreement with the corresponding analytical solution, and can be used for damage tolerant analysis of structural components.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.10
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• pp.3581-3590
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• 2023

High-temperature design evaluations were conducted on Type 316L stainless steel piping for a 700 ℃ large-capacity thermal energy storage verification test loop (TESET) under construction at KAERI. The hot leg piping with sodium coolant at 700 ℃ connects the main components of the loop heater, hot storage tank, and air-to-sodium heat exchanger. Currently, the design rules of ASME B31.1 and RCC-MRx provide design procedures for high-temperature piping in the creep range for Type 316L stainless steel. However, the design material properties around 700 ℃ are not available in those rules. Therefore, a number of material tests, including creep tests at various temperatures, were conducted to determine the insufficient material properties and relevant design coefficients so that high-temperature design on the 700 ℃ piping may be possible. It was shown that Type 316L stainless steel can be used in a 700 ℃ high-temperature piping system of Generation IV reactor systems or a renewable energy systems, such as thermal energy storage systems, for a limited operation time.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2013

The construction costs for nonstructural systems such as mechanical/electrical equipment, ceiling system, and piping system occupy a significant proportion of the total cost. These nonstructural systems can also cause considerable economic losses and loss of life during and after an earthquake. Therefore, reduction of seismic risk of nonstructural components has been emerging as a key aspect of research in recent year. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the seismic performance of a single-story and multi-story piping system installed in low-rise building and to identify the seismic vulnerability of the current piping systems. The seismic performance evaluation of the piping systems was conducted with 5 different earthquakes to account for the ground motion uncertainty and the preliminary results demonstrated that the maximum displacements of each floor in the multi-story piping system increased linearly with increasing floor level in the building system. This study revealed that the current design piping systems are significantly sensitive to the effect of floor height, which stress the necessity to improve the seismic performance of the current piping systems by, for example, strengthening with seismic sway bracing using transverse/longitudinal bracing cables or hangers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.1-11
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• 2021

Piping systems comprising pumps and valves are essential in the power plant, oil, and defense industry. Their purpose includes a stable supply of the working fluid or ensuring the target system's safe operation. However, piping system accidents due to leakage of toxic substances, explosions, and natural disasters are prevalent In addition, with the limited maintenance personnel, it becomes difficult to detect, isolate, and reconfigure the damage of the piping system and recover the unaffected area. An autonomous recovery piping system can play a vital role under such circumstances. The autonomous recovery algorithms for the piping system can be divided into low-pressure control algorithms, hydraulic resistance control algorithms, and flow inventory control algorithms. All three methods include autonomous opening/closing logic to isolate damaged areas and recovery the unaffected area of piping systems. However, because each algorithm has its strength and weakness, appropriate application considering the overall design, vital components, and operating conditions is crucial. In this regard, preliminary research on algorithm's working principle, its design procedures, and expected damage scenarios should be accomplished. This study examines the characteristics of algorithms, the design procedure, and working logic. Advantages and disadvantages are also analyzed through simulation results for a simplified piping system.