• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.2019-2029
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• 2001

Up to now a wide variety of researches on inpipe inspection robots have been introduced, but it still seems to be difficult to construct a robot providing mobility sufficient to navigate inside the complicated configuration of underground pipelines. This paper introduces a robot called MRINSPECT IV(Multifunctional Robotic Crawler for inpipe inSPECTion IV) for the inspection of urban gas pipelines with a nominal 4-inch inside diameter. The proposed robot can freely move along the basic configuration of pipelines such as along horizontal or vertical pipelines. Moreover it can travel along reducers, elbows, and steer in the branches by modulating the speeds of driving modules. Especially, its capability for steering in tile three-dimensional pipeline configuration has a competative edge over the other ones and provides excellent mobility in navigation. Its critical points in the design and construction are introduced and results of experiments are given.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

Recently, the vibration of underground structure due to high speed railway loads has been increased substantially as compared with middle and slow speed. The buried gas pipelines under continuous impact forces and repeated loading are more influenced by the vibrational loads than another pipelines. However, the static analysis was not enough to allow for the effect of vibrations because it uses impact factors for the design or analysis process. In this study, characteristics of Pipelines was quantitatively estimated through each conditions of soil covers and train speed, and the new vibration prediction is presented about the vibrational velocity.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.357-360
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• 2013

A modified SQI method using magnetic leakage flux (MFL) signal for underground gas pipelines' defect detection and characterization is presented in this paper. Raw signals gathered using MFL signals include many unexpected noises and high frequency signals, uneven background signals, signals caused by real defects, etc. The MFL signals of defect free pipelines primarily consist of two kinds of signals, uneven low frequency signals and uncertain high frequency noises. Leakage flux signals caused by defects are added to the case of pipelines having defects. Even though the SQI (Self Quotient Image) is a useful tool to gradually remove the varying backgrounds as well as to characterize the defects, it uses the division and floating point operations. A modified SQI having low computational complexity without time-consuming division operations is presented in this paper. By using defects carved in real pipelines in the pipeline simulation facility (PSF) and real MFL data, the performance of the proposed method is compared with that of the original SQI.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.361-362
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• 2006

Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) inspection is a general non-destructive testing (NDT) method to detect the corrosion of natural gas pipelines. Currently, it is subjectively analyzed by trained analysts. In spite of investing much time and human resources, the inspection results may be different according to the analysts' expertise. So, many gas suppliers are keenly interested in the automation of the interpretation process. This paper presents a Gaussian variance filtering method of MFL signals, which is taken from MFL pigging of underground pipelines. In the proposed algorithm the original MFL signals are filtered by multiple Gaussians with different variance. Experimental results show that this approach does not need to align bias and to use explicit noise reduction algorithm.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2000.07d
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• pp.3169-3171
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• 2000

Most metal structures such as gas pipelines. oil pipelines, hot water pipelines and power cables etc. are buried in underground. Normally. metal structures corrode in underground by the electrochemical reaction. Then, metal structures need to be protected against corrosion. Cathodic protection is one of useful methods to protect metal structures against corrosion. In this paper we do the design of anode shape using Boundary Element Method. So we analysis the current density of anode surface and the potential distribution in the electrolyte. Therefore we seek to maximize the anode life and the safety of metal structures.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.33-38
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• 2018

Defects in piping caused by corrosion or external impact of underground piping can lead to high risk of rupture of the piping due to high pressure. Flammable gas can be immediately ignited when discharged from piping, causing a jetfire. The damage of the radiant heat not only threatens the health of the workers who work in the industry but also the health of the people living in the neighboring residential areas. It is important to prevent and prepare before an accident occurs. In this study, three types of flammable gas underground piping accident scenarios were investigated, and the ranges of influence were determined using Phast ver7.2. and finally regression models were formulated to predict the ranges using excel and Matlab.

• 한국가스학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.191-195
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• 2006

Because of the continuous growth of energy consumption and also the tendency to site gas pipeline and power line along the same route, the close proximity of power lines and buried metallic pipelines has become more and more frequent. The lightning strokes collected by an electric substation or power line tower might cause arcing through the soil to an adjacent gas pipeline. This paper gives the outline of the resistance coupling and the standards of distance between gas pipeline and tower ground.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Advanced Composite Structures
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.16-23
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• 2015

The industrialization and urbanization forced to increase the density of pipelines such as water supply, sewers, and gas pipelines. The materials used for the existing pipe lines are mostly composed of concretes and steels, but it is true that the development for more durable and efficient materials has been continued performed to produce long lasting pipe lines. Recently, underground pipes serve in diverse applications such as sewer lines, drain lines, water mains, gas lines, telephone and electrical conduits, culverts, oil lines, etc. In this paper, we present the result of investigation pertaining to the structural behavior of unplasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC-U) flexible pipes buried underground. In the investigation of structural behavior such as a ring deflection, pipe stiffness, 4-point bending test, experimental and analytical studies are conducted. In addition, pipe stiffness is determined by the parallel plate loading tests and the finite element analysis. The difference between test and analysis is about 8% although there are significant variations in the mechanical properties of the pipe material. In addition, it was found by the 4-point bending test there is no problem in the connection between the pipes by coupler.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.308-310
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• 2007

The owner of underground metallic structures (gas pipeline, oil pipeline, water pipeline, etc) has a burden of responsibility for the corrosion protection in order to prevent big accidents like gas explosion, soil pollution, leakage and so on. So far, Cathodic Protection(CP) technology have been implemented for protection of underground systems. The stray current from DC subway system in Korea has affected the cathodic protection (CP) design of the buried pipelines adjacent to the railroads. In this aspect, KERI has developed a various mitigation method, drainage system through steel bar under the rail, a stray current gathering mesh system, insulation method between yard and main line, distributed ICCP(Impressed Current Cathodic System), High speed response rectifier, restrictive drainage system, Boding ICCP system. We installed the mitigation system at the real field and test of its efficiency in Busan and Seoul, Korea. In this paper, the results of field test, especially, distributed ICCP are described.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.337-343
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• 2012

This work investigates the vibrational characteristics of the underground gas pipelines. Experiments were conducted to analyze the effects of various parameters on the vibrational characteristics from the emergency detection point of view. Influences of the various types of impact exerted on the pipe, height of free fall and measuring locations were analyzed. Especially, the difference between the vibrational signal generated by the direct impact on the pipe and the ambient noise was successfully identified. To validate the experimental observation, computer simulation was also performed with constant properties(elasticity, fluid velocity and internal pressure) which are directly conjectured from the accompanying experiment with a real pipe system.