• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.1365-1381
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• 2023

In this paper, a procedure for evaluating the structural integrity of the PCSG (Printed Circuit Steam Generator) unit block is presented with a simplified FE (finite element) analysis technique by applying the homogenization method. The homogenization method converts an inhomogeneous elastic body into a homogeneous elastic body with same mechanical behaviour. This method is effective when the inhomogeneous elastic body has repetitive microstructures, and thus the method was applied to the sheet assembly among the PCSG unit block components. From the method, the homogenized equivalent elastic constants of the sheet assembly were derived. The validity of the determined material properties was verified by comparing the mechanical behaviour with the reference model. Thermo-mechanical analysis was then performed to evaluate the structural integrity of the PCSG unit block, and it was found that the contact region between the steam header and the sheet assembly is a critical point where large bending stress occurs due to the temperature difference.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.85-92
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• 2022

In this paper, we propose a technique that can express low-resolution hair and fur simulations in high-resolution without noise using ConvNet and geometric images of strands in the form of lines. Pairs between low-resolution and high-resolution data can be obtained through physics-based simulation, and a low-resolution-high-resolution data pair is established using the obtained data. The data used for training is used by converting the position of the hair strands into a geometric image. The hair and fur network proposed in this paper is used for an image synthesizer that upscales a low-resolution image to a high-resolution image. If the high-resolution geometry image obtained as a result of the test is converted back to high-resolution hair, it is possible to express the elastic movement of hair, which is difficult to express with a single mapping function. As for the performance of the synthesis result, it showed faster performance than the traditional physics-based simulation, and it can be easily executed without knowing complex numerical analysis.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.24-34
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• 2022

This paper investigates the capture of a 12U-sized CubeSat space object using a spider-web structure-based space net. The structural dynamics analysis program ABAQUS is used to simulate the shock-absorbing capability of the space net with a diagonal length of 2.828 m. The space object is modelled as a rigid body, and the space net is modelled using non-linear elastic beam elements. The simulations reveal that the spider-web structure-based space net outperforms the squared space net of the same structural weight in capturing the space object. The numerical simulations are conducted to examine the successful or unsuccessful captures of the space object in various cooperative and non-cooperative motions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.347-354
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• 2009

Welding is required for a connection between two different components in the nuclear fuel of a pressurized water reactor. This work relies on a mechanical experiment and analytic results to investigate the structural integrity of nuclear fuel in a situation where some components are not welded to each other. A series of lateral vibration tests are performed in a test facility, and the test structures are examined in terms of dynamic behavior. In the tests, the displacement signal at every grid structure that sustains fuel rods is measured and processed to identify the dynamic properties. The fluid-elastic stability of the structure is also analyzed to evaluate susceptibility to a cross flow with an assumed conservative cross flow distribution. The test and analysis results confirm that the structural integrity can be maintained even in the absence of some welding connections.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.352-359
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• 2020

The effects of hydrogen precipitation on the mechanical properties of Zircaloy-4 and Zirlo alloys were examined with uniaxial tensile tests at room temperature and at 400 ℃ and accompanying microstructural changes in the Zircaloy-4 and Zirlo alloy specimens were discussed. The elastic moduli of Zircaloy-4 and Zirlo alloys decreased with increasing hydrogen concentrations. Yield strengths of both materials tended to decrease gradually. The reductions of yield stress seems to be caused by the dissipation of yield point phenomena shown in stress-strain curves. Ultimate tensile strengths (UTS) of Zircaloy-4 and Zirlo slightly increased at low hydrogen contents, and then decreased when the concentrations exceeded 500 and 700 wppm, respectively. Uniform elongations were stable until 600 wppm and drops to 0% around 1400 wppm at room temperature.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2007

This paper presents a closed-form model for evaluating the restraint effect of pressure induced bending on the opening of a circumferential through-wall crack, which is considered plastic deformation behavior. Three-dimensional finite element analyses with different crack lengths, restraint conditions, pipe geometries, magnitudes of internal pressure, and tensile properties were used to investigate the influence of each parameter on the pressure-induced bending restraint on the crack opening displacement. From these investigations, an analytical model based on elastic-perfectly plastic material was developed in terms of the crack length, symmetric restraint length, mean radius to thickness ratio, axial stress corresponding to the internal pressure, and normalized crack opening displacement evaluated from a linear-elastic crack opening condition. Finite element analyses results demonstrate that the proposed analytical model reliably estimated the restraint effect of pressure-induced bending on the plastic crack opening of a circumferential through-wall crack and properly reflected the dependence on each parameter within the range over which the analytical expression was derived.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.359-374
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• 1994

Process sequence design in sheet metal forming process by the finite element method is investigated. The forming of sheet metal into a washing machine container is used to demonstrate the design of an improved process sequence which has fewer operations. The design procedure makes extensive use of the finite element method which has simulation capabilities of elastic-plastic modeling. A one-stage process to make an initial blank to the final product is simulated to obtain information on metal flow requirements. Loading simulation for a conventional method is also performed to evaluate the design criteria which are uniform thickness distribution around the finished part and maximum punch load within limit of available press capacity. The newly designed sequence has two forming operations and can achieve net-shape manufacturing, while the conventional process sequence has three forming operations. This specific case conventional process sequence has three forming operations. This specific case can be considered for application of the method and for development of the sequence design methodology in general.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Computer Information Conference
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• 2023.01a
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• pp.377-380
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• 2023

본 논문에서는 합성곱 신경망(Convolutional Neural Networks, CNN)과 탄성왜곡(Elastic Distortion) 기법을 통한 데이터 증강 기법을 활용하여 학습 데이터를 구축하는 프레임워크를 제안한다. 실제 균열 이미지는 정형화된 형태가 없고 복잡한 패턴을 지니고 있어 구하기 어려울 뿐만 아니라, 데이터를 확보할 때 위험한 상황에 노출될 우려가 있다. 이러한 데이터베이스 구축 문제점을 본 논문에서 제안하는 데이터 증강 기법을 통해 비용적, 시간적 측면에서 효율적으로 해결한다. 세부적으로는 DeepCrack의 데이터를 10배 이상 증가하여 실제 균열의 특징을 반영한 메타 데이터를 생성하여 U-net을 학습하였다. 성능을 검증하기 위해 균열 탐지 연구를 진행한 결과, IoU 정확도가 향상되었음을 확인하였다. 데이터를 증강하지 않았을 경우 잘못 예측(FP)된 경우의 비율이 약 25%였으나, 데이터 증강을 통해 3%까지 감소하였음을 확인하였다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2009

Elastic wave is one of the most useful tools for non-destructive tests in nuclear power plants. Since the elastic properties are indispensable for analyzing the behaviors of elastic waves, they should be predetermined within an acceptable accuracy. Nuclear power plants are exposed to harsh environmental conditions and hence the structures are degraded. It means that the Young's modulus becomes unreliable and in-situ measurement of Young's modulus is required from an engineering point of view. Young's modulus is estimated from the group velocity of propagating waves. Because the flexural wave of a plate is inherently dispersive, the group velocity is not clearly evaluated in temporal signal analysis. In order to overcome such ambiguity in estimation of group velocity, Wigner-Ville distribution as the time-frequency analysis technique was proposed and utilized. To verify the proposed method, experiments for steel and acryl plates were performed with accelerometers. The results show good estimation of the Young's modulus of two plates.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.838-849
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• 2017

This paper proposes penalty factor equations that take into consideration the weld strength over-match given in the classified form similar to the revised equations presented in the Code Case N-779 via cyclic elastic-plastic finite element analysis. It was found that the $K_e$ analysis data reflecting elastic follow-up can be consolidated by normalizing the primary-plus-secondary stress intensity ranges excluding the nonlinear thermal stress intensity component, $S_n$ to over-match degree of yield strength, $M_F$. For the effect of over-match on $K_n{\times}K_{\nu}$, dispersion of the $K_n{\times}K_{\nu}$ analysis data can be sharply reduced by dividing total stress intensity range, excluding local thermal stresses, $S_{p-lt}$ by $M_F$. Finally, the proposed equations were applied to the weld between the safe end and the piping of a pressurizer surge nozzle in pressurized water reactors in order to calculate a cumulative usage factor. The cumulative usage factor was then compared with those derived by the previous $K_e$ factor equations. The result shows that application of the proposed equations can significantly reduce conservatism of fatigue assessment using the previous $K_e$ factor equations.