• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.204-212
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• 1990

The SMC composite, now being considered in certain structural applications, is anticipated to experience repeated loading during service. Thus, understanding of the fatigue behavior is essential in proper use of the composite material. In this paper, using the SMC composite composed of E-glass chopped strand and unsaturated polyester resin three point bending fatigue tests are carried out to investigate the fatigue crack propagating behavior under various cyclic stresses and fatigue damage of various microcrack forms. The following results are obtained from this study; 1) Most of the total fatigue life of the SMC composite is consumed at the initial extension or the growth of the macroscopic crack. 2) A Paris' type power-law relationship between the crack propagation rate and stress intensity factor range is obtained, and the value of material constant m is much higher (m=9~11)than that of other metals. 3) In case of high cyclic stress the fatigue damage show high microcrack density and short crack length, but in case of low cyclic stress does it vice versa. 4) Fatigue damage is characterized by microcrack density, crack length and distribution of crack orientation.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.947-957
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• 2003

The pressure tube is a major component of the CANDU reactor, which supports nuclear fuel bundle. In order to complete the integrity evaluation of pressure tube, expert knowledge, iterative calculation procedures and a lot of input data are required. More over, results of integrity assessment may be different according to the evaluation method. For this reason, an integrity evaluation system, which provides efficient way of evaluation with the help of attached database, was developed. The present system was built on the basis of 3D FEM results, ASME Sec. XI, and Fitness For Service Guidelines for CANDU pressure tubes issued by the AECL (Atomic Energy Canada Limited). The present system also covers the delayed hydride cracking and the blister evaluation, which are the characteristics of pressure tube integrity evaluation. In order to verify the present system, several case studies have been performed and the results were compared with those from AECL. A good agreement was observed between those two results.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1705-1712
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• 2001

Mechanical component has striation with constant width and SEM can estimate fracture type and loading condition. SEM has benefit to fatigue fracture analysis but striation can be observed according to the kind of material and range of crack growth rate and can't. In this case, it needs AFM that can measure 3-dimensional surface profile with resolution of atomic size. In this study. to find fracture reason of torsion-mounted blade in nuclear plant, we estimate the relation between stress intensity factor range and root mean square roughness in 12% Cr steel by AFM and predict in-service loading condition of turbine blade. failure analysis is performed by finite element method and Goodman diagram on torsion-mounted blade.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.275-282
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• 2001

The reactor pressure vessel is usually cladded with stainless steel to prevent corrosion and radiation embrittlement. Number of subclad cracks may be found during an in-service-inspection due to the presence of cladding. It is specified, in ASME Sec. XI, that a subclad crack is characterized as a surface crack when the thickness of the clad is less than 40% of the crack depth. This condition is provided to keep the crack integrity evaluation conservative. In order to refine the fracture assessment procedures for such subclad cracks under a pressurized thermal shock condition, three dimensional finite element analyses are applied for various subclad cracks existing under cladding. A total of 36 crack geometries are analyzed, and the results are compared with those for surface cracks. The resulting stress intensity factors for subclad cracks are 6 to 44% less than those for surface cracks. It is proven that the flaw characterization condition as specified in ASME Sec. XI can be overly conservative for some subclad cracks.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.1 s.173
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• pp.206-214
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• 2000

The pressure tube is a major component of the CANDU reactor, which supports nuclear fuel bundle and it's containment vessel. If a flaw is found during the periodic inspection from the pressure tube s. the integrity evaluation must be carried out. and the safety requirements must be satisfied for continued service. In order to complete the integrity evaluation, complicated and iterative calculation procedures are required. Besides, a lot of data and knowledge for the evaluation are required for the entire: integrity evaluation process. For this reason. an integrity evaluation system, which provides efficient of evaluation with the help of attached databases, was developed. The developed system was built on the basis of ASME Sec. XI and FFSG(Fitness For Service Guidelines for zirconium alloy pressure tubes in operating CANDU reactors) issued by the AECL, and covers the delayed hydride cracking(DHC). This system does not only provide various databases including the 3-D finite element analysis results on pressure tubes, inspection data and design specifications but also is compatible with other commercial database software. In order to verify the developed system, several case studies have been performed and the results were compared with those from AECL. A good agreement was observed between those two results.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.127-135
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• 2008

The mission of the Forest Inventory and Analyis (FIA) program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to conduct the national forest inventory of the United States of America for purposes of estimating the area of forest land; the volume, growth, and removal of forest resources; and the health of the forest. Users of FIA data, estimates, and related products include land managers, policy and decision-makers, forest industry, environmental organizations, and university researchers. To accomplish its mission, the FIA program has established a sampling design with an intensity of approximately one permanent plot per 2,400 ha across the entire country. Depending on the region of the country, each plot is remeasured at intervals of five or 10 years. The program releases data annually and reports estimates at the county level for each state every five years. Due to budgetary constraints and natural variability among plot observations, sufficient numbers of plots cannot be measured to satisfy precision guidelines for the estimates of many variables unless the estimation process is enhanced using ancillary data. Classified satellite imagery has been demonstrated to be a source of ancillary data that can be used with stratified estimation techniques to increase the precision of estimates with little corresponding increase in costs. A crucial factor restricting the utility of FIA data is that the exact locations of inventory plots cannot be released to the public. Thus, users are generally not able to obtain estimates for small areas or for their own areas of interest if exact plot locations are required. To compensate, satellite imagery, inventory plot data, and the k-Nearest Neighbors technique are being used to construct Internet-based maps of forest attributes from which estimates for arbitrary user-defined areas of interest may be obtained.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.1139-1146
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• 2001

The reactor pressure vessel(RPV) is usually cladded with stainless steel to prevent corrosion and radiation embrittlement, and a number of subclad cracks have been found during an in-service-inspection. These subclad cracks should be assured for a safe operation under normal conditions and faulted conditions such as pressurized thermal shock(PTS). Currently available integrity assessment procedure for an RPV, ASME Code Sec. XI, are built on the basis of linear fracture mechanics (LEFM). In PTS condition, however, thermal stress and mechanical stress give rise to high tensile stress at the cladding and elastic-plastic behavior is expected in this area. Therfore, ASME Code Sec. XI is overly conservative in assessing the structural integrity under PTS condition. In this paper, the fracture parameter (stress intensity factor, K, and RT(sub)NDT) from elastic analysis using ASME Sec. XI and finite element method were validated against 3-D elastic-plastic finite element analyses. The difference between elastic and elastic-plastic analysis became significant with increasing crack depth. Therfore, it is recommended to perform elastic-plastic analysis for the accurate assessment of subclad cracks under TPS which causes plastic deformation at the cladding.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.127-132
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• 2002

Recent deepwater offshore structures in Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical because the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimating the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to S-N approach often results in very conservative assessment because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fracture mechanics and fitness for service (FFS) technology have been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves to be used and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. An attempt was made to develop set of S-N curves based on fracture mechanics approach by considering non-uniform stress distribution and a threshold stress intensity factor. Series of S-N curves generated from this approach were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02"). Similar comparison with API X′ was made for tubular joint.. These initial crack depths are larger than the limits of inspection by current Non-destructive examination (NDE) means, such as Automatic Ultrasonic Inspection (AUT). Thus a safe approach can be taken by specifying acceptance criteria that are close to limits of sizing capability of the selected NDE method. The comparison illustrates conservatism built into the S-N design curve.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5A
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• pp.649-656
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• 2008

The enhancement of the service life of damaged or cracked structures is a major issue for researchers and engineers. The hierarchic void element based on the integrals of Legendre polynomials is used to characterize the fracture behaviour of unpatched crack as well as repaired crack with bonded composite patches by computing the stress intensity factors and stress contours at the crack tip. Since the equivalent single layer approach is adopted in this study, the proposed element is necessary to represent a discontinuous crack part as a continuum body with zero stiffness. Thus the aspect ratio of this element to represent the crack should be extremely slender. The sensitivity of numerical solution with respect to energy release rate, displacement and stress has been tested to show the robustness of zero stiffness element as the aspect ratio is increased up to 2000. The stiffness derivative method and displacement extrapolation method have been applied to calculate the stress intensity factors of Mode I problem. It is noted that the proposed hierarchical void element can be one of alternatives to analyze the patched crack problems.