• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.91-98
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• 2014

In this investigation, the effect of crack orientation on spatial randomness of fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) in friction stir welded (FSWed) 7075-T651 aluminum alloy joints has been statistically analyzed by Weibull distribution. The fatigue crack growth tests are conducted under three different constant stress intensity factor range (SIFR) control at room temperature with R = 0.1 and frequency 10Hz on compact tension (CT) specimen machined at base metal (BM) and weld metal (WM). The experimental fatigue crack growth rate data were obtained for two types of specimens having LT and TL orientations. LT specimens both base metal and weld metal showed higher fatigue crack growth rate as compared to TL specimens. In the lower SIFR region, FCGR were found to be almost 3 times higher in higher SIFR region. The shape parameter of Weibull both LT and TL orientation for FCGR was increased with increasing SIFR, the scale parameter was also increased with increasing SIFR. The smallest value of the shape parameter was shown in weld metal specimens having LT orientation at lower SIFR region.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.526-538
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• 2001

Fatigue tests in air and in room temperature water were performed to obtain comparable data and stable crack measuring conditions. In air environment, fatigue crack growth rate was increased with increasing temperature due to an increase in crack tip oxidation rate. In room temperature water, the fatigue crack growth rate was faster than in air and crack path varied on loading conditions. In simulated light water reactor (LWR) conditions, there was little environmental effect on the fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) at low dissolved oxygen or at high loading frequency conditions. While the FCGR was enhanced at high oxygen condition, and the enhancement of crack growth rate increased as loading frequency decreased to a critical value. In fractography, environmentally assisted cracks, such as semi-cleavage and secondary intergranular crack, were found near sulfide inclusions only at high dissolved oxygen and low loading frequency condition. The high crack growth rate was related to environmentally assisted crack. These results indicated that environmentally assisted crack could be formed by the Electrochemical effect in specific loading condition.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.120-128
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• 2012

The fatigue crack growth behaviors of SA508 Gr.3 Cl.2 low alloy steel in high temperature water environment were investigated. Overall, weld metal showed similar crack growth rate as that of base metal. At 0.01 Hz, fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) was higher than that in air while the difference was smaller at 0.1 Hz. Also, FCGR showed ${\Delta}K$ dependency at 0.1 Hz only, indicating that the environmental effect was much greater at slower loading frequency of 0.01 Hz. FCGR of SA508 Gr.3 Cl.2 low alloy steel was compatible to or smaller than the ASME Sec. XI fatigue reference curves in high temperature water environment.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2018

Purpose: Probabilistic safety analysis was performed to enhance the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants because traditional deterministic approach has limitations in predicting the risk of failure by crack growth. The study introduces a probabilistic approach to establish a basis for probabilistic safety assessment of passive components. Methods: For probabilistic modeling of fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR), various FCGR tests were performed either under constant load amplitude or constant ${\Delta}K$ conditions by using heat treated X-750 at low temperature with adequate cathodic polarization. Bayesian inference was employed to update uncertainties of the FCGR model using additional information obtained from constant ${\Delta}K$ tests. Results: Four steps of Bayesian parameter updating were performed using constant ${\Delta}K$ test results. The standard deviation of the final posterior distribution was decreased by a factor of 10 comparing with that of the prior distribution. Conclusion: The method for developing a probabilistic crack growth model has been designed and demonstrated, in the paper. Alloy X-750 has been used for corrosion fatigue crack growth experiments and modeling. The uncertainties of parameters in the FCGR model were successfully reduced using the Bayesian inference whenever the updating was performed.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2016

With the recent increase in size of ships and offshore structures, there are more demand for thicker plates. As the thickness increases, it is known that fatigue life of the structures decrease. To improve the fatigue life, post weld treatments techniques, such as toe grinding, TIG dressing and hammer peening, are typically employed. However, these techniques require additional construction time and production cost. Therefore, it is of crucial interest steels with longer fatigue crack growth life compared to conventional steels. This study investigates fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) behaviours of conventional EH36 steel and Ferrite-Bainite dual phase EH36 steel (F-B steel). F-B steel is known to have improved fatigue performance associated with the existence of two different phases. Ferrite-Bainite dual phase microstructures are obtained by special thermo mechanical control process (TMCP). FCGR behaviours are investigated by a series of constant stress-controlled FCGR tests. Considering all test conditions (ambient, low temperature, high stress ratio), it is shown that FCGR of F-B steel is slower than that of conventional EH36 steel. From the tensile tests and impact tests, F-B steel exhibits higher values of strength and impact energy leading to slower FCGR.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1997.05b
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• pp.123-128
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• 1997

The effects of heat treatment on fatigue crack growth rates (FCGRs) of Inconel 690 have been investigated in terms of carbide morphology and grain size. Cycling tests in air at room temperature have shown that FCGR in low stress intensity factor range (ΔK) region can be effectively reduced by increasing the grain boundary carbide precipitate size and grain size. Decrease in FCGR is attributed to the crack tip blunting at the precipitates of grain boundary chromium carbides.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.86-93
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• 2013

This paper deals with the effects of driving force and material properties on statistical distribution of fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) for the friction stir welded joints of Al 7075-T651 aluminum plate. In this work, the statistical probability distribution of fatigue crack growth rate was analyzed by using our previous constant stress intensity factor range controlled fatigue crack growth test data. As far as this study are concerned, the statistical probability distribution of fatigue crack growth rate for the friction stir welded (FSWed) joints was found to evaluate the variability of fatigue crack growth rate for base metal (BM), heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld metal (WM) specimens. The probability distribution of fatigue crack growth rate for FSWed joints was found to follow well log-normal distribution. The shape parameter of BM and HAZ was decreased with increasing the driving force, however, the shape parameter of WM was decreased and increased with increasing the driving force. The scale parameter of BM, HAZ and WM was increased with the driving force.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.752-759
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• 2017

The fatigue crack growth behavior of Type 347 (S347) and Type 347N (S347N) stainless steel was evaluated under the operating conditions of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). These two materials showed different fatigue crack growth rates (FCGRs) according to the changes in dissolved oxygen content and frequency. Under the simulated PWR conditions for normal operation, the FCGR of S347N was lower than that of S347 and insensitive to the changes in PWR water conditions. The higher yield strength and better corrosion resistance of the nitrogen-alloyed Type 347 stainless steel might be a main cause of slower FCGR and more stable properties against changes in environmental conditions.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2015

In this paper, computational evaluation method for fatigue crack growth rate(FCGR) based on material viscoplastic-damage model is proposed. Viscoplastic-damage model expressing material constitutive behavior of 7% nickel steel is introduced and is implemented into commercial finite element analysis(FEA) code, ABAQUS, as a user defined material subroutine(UMAT) for application in the FEA environments. Verification of developed UMAT and material parameters of material model are carried out by uniaxial tensile test simulations of 7% nickel steel. Moreover, jump-in-cycles procedure and rearrangement of critical damage are employed and also implemented to the ABAQUS UMAT for fatigue damage analysis. Typical FCGR test results such as relationship between crack length and number of cycles and relationship between da/dN and ${\Delta}K$ could be obtained from FCGR test simulation using developed UMAT and these results are compared with experimental results in order to verify of proposed computational method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.304-313
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• 2021

Nickel base Alloy X-750, which is used as fastener parts in light-water reactor (LWR), has experienced many failures by environmentally assisted cracking (EAC). In order to improve the reliability of passive components for nuclear power plants (NPP's), it is necessary to study the failure mechanism and to predict crack growth behavior by developing a probabilistic failure model. In this study, The Bayesian inference was employed to reduce the uncertainties contained in EAC modeling parameters that have been established from experiments with Alloy X-750. Corrosion fatigue crack growth rate model (FCGR) was developed by fitting into Paris' Law of measured data from the several fatigue tests conducted either in constant load or constant ΔK mode. These parameters characterizing the corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior of X-750 were successfully updated to reduce the uncertainty in the model by using the Bayesian inference method. It is demonstrated that probabilistic failure models for passive components can be developed by updating a laboratory model with field-inspection data, when crack growth rates (CGRs) are low and multiple inspections can be made prior to the component failure.