• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.38-40
• /
• 2006

Nuclear power plants are urged to reduce operating and maintaining costs to remain competitive as well as to increase the safety preventing the radioactive material to the atmosphere. To reduce the cost and to increase the safety, the inspection of balance-of-plant heat exchanger becomes important. However, there are some problems for plugging the heat exchanger tubes since the criterion and its basis are not clearly described. The codes and standards related to show the tube plugging criteria may not exist currently. In this paper, a method to establish the tube plugging criteria of BOP heat exchangers is introduced and the tube plugging criteria for the non-regenerative heat exchanger in the steam generator blow-down system of nuclear power plant. This method relies on the similar method used to establish the plugging criteria for the steam generator tubes.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.10-17
• /
• 2020

Securing the integrity of steam generator tubes is an essential requirement for safe operation of nuclear power plants. Therefore, tubes that do not satisfy integrity requirements are no longer usable and must be repaired according to the related requirements. In general, the repair criterion is that the damage depth is more than 40% of the tube wall thickness. However, the plugging limit can be changed and be applied, provided a technical proof is given that integrity can be secured against specific degradation at a specific plants and that approval can be obtained from a regulatory agency. A typical example is alternative repair criteria for defects within the tube sheet or tube support plates. In this paper, a background of establishing the plugging limit for steam generator tubes and changes in maintenance criteria are reviewed as examples.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.465-476
• /
• 2000

In a nuclear power plant, steam generator tubes cover a major portion of the primary pressure-retaining boundary. Thus very conservative approaches have been taken in the light of steam generator tube integrity According to the present criteria, tubes wall-thinned in excess of 40% should be plugged whatever causes are. However, many analytical and experimental results have shown that no safety problems exist even with thickness reductions greater than 40%. The present criterion was developed about twenty years ago when wear and pitting were dominant causes for steam generator tube degradation. And it is based on tubes with single cracks regardless of the fact that the appearance of multiple cracks is more common in general. The objective of this study is to review the conservatism of the present plugging criteria of steam generator tubes and to propose a new coalescence model for two adjacent through-wall cracks existing in steam generator tubes. Using the existing failure models and experimental results, we reviewed the conservatism of the present plugging criteria. In order to verify the usefulness of the proposed new coalescence model, we performed finite element analysis and some parametric studies. Then, we developed a coalescence evaluation diagram.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
• /
• v.20 no.11
• /
• pp.1934-1941
• /
• 2006

As the operating time of heat exchangers progresses, fouling caused by water-borne deposits and the number of plugged tubes increase and thermal performance decreases. Both fouling and tube plugging are known to interfere with normal flow characteristics and to reduce thermal efficiencies of heat exchangers. The heat exchangers of Korean nuclear power plants have been analyzed in terms of heat transfer rate and overall heat transfer coefficient as a means of heat exchanger management. Except for fouling resulting from the operation of heat exchangers, all the tubes of heat exchangers have been replaced when the number of plugged tubes exceeded the plugging criteria based on design performance sheet. This paper describes a plugging margin evaluation method taking into account the fouling of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The method can evaluate thermal performance, estimate future fouling variation, and consider current fouling level in the calculation of plugging margin. To identify the effectiveness of the developed method, fouling and plugging margin evaluations were performed at a component cooling heat exchanger in a Korean nuclear power plant.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.1384-1389
• /
• 2004

As operating time of heat exchangers progresses, fouling generated by water-borne deposits and the number of plugged tubes increase and thermal performance decreases. Both fouling and tube plugging are known to interfere with normal flow characteristics and to reduce thermal efficiencies of heat exchangers. The heat exchangers of domestic nuclear power plants have been analyzed in terms of the heat flux and heat transfer coefficient at test conditions as a means of heat exchanger management. Except for the fouling level generated in operation of heat exchangers, also, all of the tubes of heat exchangers have been replaced when the number of plugged tubes exceeds the plugging criteria based on design performance sheet. This paper describes the plugging margin evaluation mettled reflected the fouling of shell-and-tube heat exchangers, which can evaluate the thermal performance for heat exchangers, estimate the future fouling variations, and reflect the current fouling level. To identify the effectiveness of the developed method, the fouling and plugging margin evaluations were performed for a component cooling heat exchanger in a nuclear power plant.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.2894-2900
• /
• 1996

The stream generator tubes represent an integral part of a major barrier against the fission product release to the environment. So, the rupture of these tubes could permit flow of reactor coolant into the secondary system and injure the safety of reactor coolant system. Therefore, if the crack was detected during In-Service Inspection of tubes the cracked tube should be evaluated by the pulgging criteria and plugged or not. In this study, the fracture mechanics evaluation is carried out on the thru-wall axial crack due to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking in the roll transition aone of steam generator tube to help the assurence the integrity of tubes and estabilish the plugging criteria. Due to the Inconel which is used as tube material is more ductile than others, the plastic instability repture theory was used to calculate the critical and allowable crack length. Based on Leak Before Break concept the leak rate for the critical crack length and the allowable leak rate are compared and the safety of tubes was given.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.719-720
• /
• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.221.1-221
• /
• 1999

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.1741-1751
• /
• 2004

It is commonly requested that the steam generator tubes wall-thinned in excess of 40% should be plugged. However, the plugging criterion is known to be too conservative for some locations and types of defects and its application is limited to a single crack in spite of the fact that the occurrence of multiple through-wall cracks is more common in general. The objective of this research is to propose the optimum failure prediction models for two adjacent through-wall cracks in steam generator tubes. The conservatism of the present plugging criteria was reviewed using the existing failure prediction models for a single crack, and six new failure prediction models for multiple through-wall cracks have been introduced. Then, in order to determine the optimum ones among these new local or global failure prediction models, a series of plastic collapse tests and corresponding finite element analyses for two adjacent through-wall cracks in thin plate were carried out. Thereby, the reaction force model, plastic zone contact model and COD (Crack-Opening Displacement) base model were selected as the optimum ones for assessment of steam generator tubes with multiple through-wall cracks. The selected optimum failure prediction models, finally, were used to estimate the coalescence pressure of two adjacent through-wall cracks in steam generator tubes.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2003.11a
• /
• pp.1186-1191
• /
• 2003

The 40% of wall criterion, which is generally used for the plugging of steam generator tubes, may be applied only to a single crack. In the previous study, a total of 9 failure models were introduced to estimate the local failure of the ligament between cracks and the optimum coalescence model of multiple collinear cracks was determined among these models. It is, however, known that parallel axial cracks are more frequently detected during an in-service inspection than collinear axial cracks. The objective of this study is to determine the plastic collapse model which can be applied to the steam generator tube containing two parallel axial through-wall cracks. Nine previously proposed local failure models were selected as the candidates. Subsequently interaction effects between two adjacent cracks were evaluated to screen them. Plastic collapse tests for the plate with two parallel through-wall cracks and finite element analyses were performed for the determination of the optimum plastic collapse model. By comparing the test results with the prediction results obtained from the candidate models, a plastic zone contact model was selected as an optimum model.