• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.167-183
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• 2021

It is essential to understand the complex thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupled behavior in the engineered barrier system and natural barrier system to secure the high-level radioactive waste repository's long-term safety. The heat from the high-level radioactive waste induces thermal pressurization and vaporization of groundwater in the repository system. Groundwater inflow affects the saturation variation in the engineered barrier system, and the saturation change influences the heat transfer and multi-phase flow characteristics in the buffer. Due to the complexity of the coupled behavior, a numerical simulation is a valuable tool to predict and evaluate the THMC interaction effect on the disposal system and safety assessment. To enhance the knowledge of THMC coupled interaction and validate modeling techniques in geological systems. DECOVALEX, an international cooperation project, was initiated in 1992, and KAERI has participated in the projects since 2008 in Korea. In this study, we introduced the main contents of all tasks in the DECOVALEX-2023, the current DECOVALEX phase, to the rock mechanics and geotechnical researchers in Korea.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.175-186
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• 2023

The buffer materials in disposal hole are exposed to the decay heat from spent nuclear fuels and groundwater inflow through adjacent rockmass. Since understanding of thermal-hydro-mechanical-chemical (T-H-M-C) interaction in buffer material is crucial for predicting their long-term performance and safety of disposal repository, it is necessary to investigate the heating-hydration characteristics and consequent T-H-M-C behavior of the buffer materials under disposal conditions considering geochemical factors. In response, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute developed a laboratory-scale 'Lab.THMC' experiment system, which characterizes the T-H-M behavior of buffer materials under different geochemical conditions by analyzing heating-hydration process and stress changes. This technical report introduces the detail design of the Lab.THMC system, summarizes preliminary experimental results, and outlines future research plans.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.374-377
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• 2008

Due to the environmental concerns, especially the greenhouse effect and GWP (Global Warming Potential), the carbon dioxide was investigated as an alternative natural refrigerant to replace HFCs (HydroFluoroCarbons) in refrigerator or air conditioning systems. Because new compressor with carbon dioxide is going to be operated under the high pressure, the tribology of sliding surfaces in the compressor becomes very important. To improve of wear resistance in compressor parts, especially rotary type, the friction and wear characteristics of improved sliding surfaces between vane and flange were evaluated in this paper. The method of reformed sliding surface, such as micro-dimple processes, was applied on surfaces in order to improve the tribological characteristics, and their performances were evaluated experimentally. The vane-on-flange type lubricated sliding tests were performed with a high pressure wear tester using carbon dioxide. Test results showed that the reformed surfaces were very effective to reduce the friction and the wear amounts of vane surfaces. The method of improved surfaces showed good tribological properties at vane and flange.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.150-161
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• 2017

Effective data exchange among the diverse stakeholders participating in a process plant project is an important issue. ISO 15926 is an international standard to support sharing and integrating of process plant data. iRINGTools is an ISO 15926-based tool used to exchange plant data. To exchange plant data using iRINGTools, the mapping between the data model of a commercial system and ISO 15926 should be preceded. To accomplish this, types and properties of equipment and materials used for plant design should be predefined and these data should be represented as user-defined reference data complying with ISO 15926. Besides, the user-defined reference data should be serviced by a reference data server such that iRINGTools searches reference data from the server and utilizes the data for the model mapping. In this paper, we present a method to construct a reference data server and use it for the model mapping in iRINGTools. The proposed method is verified through experiments of exchanging specifications data of equipment and materials using iRINGTools.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.117-131
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• 2006

A coupled T-H-M(Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical) analysis was carried out for KENTEX (KAERI Engineering-scale T-H-M Experiment for Engineered Barrier System), which is a facility for validating the coupled T-H-M behavior in the engineered barrier system of the Korean reference HLW(high-level waste) disposal system. The changes of temperature, water saturation, and stress were estimated based on the coupled T-H-M analysis, and the influence of the types of mechanical constitutive material laws was investigated by using elastic model, poroelastic model, and poroelastic-plastic model. The analysis was done using ABAQUS, which is a commercial finite element code for general purposes. From the analysis, it was observed that the temperature in the bentonite increased sharply for a couple of days after heating the heater and then slowly increased to a constant value. The temperatures at all locations were nearly at a steady state after about 37.5 days. In the steady state, the temperature was maintained at $90^{\circ}C$ at the interface between the heater and the bentonite and at about $70^{\circ}C$ at the interface between the bentonite and the confining cylinder. The variation of the water saturation with time in bentonite was almost same independent of the material laws used in the coupled T-H-M processes. By comparing the saturation change of T-H-M and that of H-M(Hydro-Mechanical) processes using elastic and poroelastic material mod31 respectively, it was found that the degree of saturation near the heater from T-H-M calculation was higher than that from the coupled H-M calculation mainly because of the thermal flux, which seemed to speed up the saturation. The stresses in three cases with different material laws were increased with time. By comparing the stress change in H-M calculation using poroelasetic and poroelasetic-plastic model, it was possible to conclude that the influence of saturation on the stress change is higher than the influence of temperature. It is, therefore, recommended to use a material law, which can model the elastic-plastic behavior of buffer, since the coupled T-H-M processes in buffer is affected by the variation of void ratio, thermal expansion, as well as swelling pressure.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.183-202
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• 2019

For design and performance assessment of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal system, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behavior. However, in previous studies for the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS), thermal analysis was performed to determine the spacing of disposal tunnels and interval of disposition holes without consideration of the coupled THM behavior. Therefore, in this study, TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D is used to conduct THM modeling for performance assessment of the Korean Reference HLW Disposal System (KRS). The peak temperature remains below the temperature limit of $100^{\circ}C$ for the whole period. A rapid rise of temperature caused by decay heat occurs in the early years, and then temperature begins to decrease as decay heat from the waste decreases. The peak temperature at the bentonite buffer is around $96.2^{\circ}C$ after about 3 years, and peak temperature at the rockmass is $68.2^{\circ}C$ after about 17 years. Saturation of the bentonite block near the canister decreases in the early stage, because water evaporation occurs owing to temperature increase. Then, saturation of the bentonite buffer and backfill increases because of water intake from the rockmass, and bentonite buffer and backfill are fully saturated after about 266 years. The stress is calculated to investigate the effect of thermal stress and swelling pressure on the mechanical behavior of the rockmass. The calculated stress is compared to a spalling criterion and the Mohr-Coulumb criterion for investigation of potential failure. The stress at the rockmass remains below the spalling strength and Mohr-Coulumb criterion for the whole period. The methodology of using the TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator can be applied to predict the long-term behavior of the KRS under various conditions; these methods will be useful for the design and performance assessment of alternative concepts such as multi-layer and multi-canister concepts for geological spent fuel repositories.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.314-319
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• 2006

In this paper, the friction and wear characteristics of contact type sealing unit far a water turbine have been presented. The sealing unit for a small hydropower generation is to stop a leakage of circulating water from an outside of an impeller to an inside of a rolling bearing. The friction heating between a seal ring and a seal seat may radically increase a surface temperature in which increase a power loss and wear on the rubbing surface. The surface wear strongly affect to the seal life of a mechanical face seal. In this study, the hardness of a stainless steel in which is a heat-treated is 892.8 in Victors hardness and the hardness of silicone carbide of SiC is 714.1 in Victors hardness. The surface hardness of a heat-treated stainless steel is 25% high compared with that of a ceramic material of SiC. The contact modes of rubbing surfaces are a dry friction, a water film friction and a mixed friction that is contaminated by a dust, silt, and moistures, etc. These two factors of a contact rubbing modes and a material property are very important parameters on the tribological performance such as a friction and wear between a seal ring and a seal seat in primary sealing unit. The experimental result shows that the surface hardness of a seal material is very important on the friction coefficient and a wear volume. Thus, the results recommend higher hardness of a seal material, which may reduce a friction loss and increase a wear life of primary seal components.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.39.1-39.1
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• 2009

NiTi alloy is widely used innumerous biomedical applications (orthodontics, cardiovascular, orthopaedics, etc.) for its distinctive thermomechanical and mechanical properties such as shape memory effect, super elasticity, low elastic modulus and high damping capacity. However, NiTi alloy is still a controversial biomaterial because of its high Ni content which can trigger the risk of allergy and adverse reactions when Ni ion releases into the human body. In order to improve the corrosion resistance of the TiNi alloy and suppress the release of Ni ions, many surface modification techniques have been employed in previous literature such as thermal oxidation, laser surface treatment, sol-gel method, anodic oxidation and electrochemical methods. In this paper, the NiTi was electrochemically etched in various electrolytes to modify surface. The microstructure, element distribution, phase composition and roughness of the surface were investigatedby scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry(EDS), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Systematic controlling of nano and submicron surface features was achieved by altered density of hydro fluidic acid in etchant solution. Nanoscale surface topography, such as, pore density, pore width, pore height, surface roughness and surface tension were extensively analyzed as systematical variables.Importantly, bone forming cell, osteoblast adhesion was increased in high density of hydro fluidic treated surface structures, i.e., in greater nanoscale surface roughness and in high surface areas through increasing pore densities.All results delineate the importance of surface topography parameter (pores) inNiTi to increase the biocompatibility of NiTi in identical chemistry which is crucial factor for determining biomaterials.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.17 no.1 s.66
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• pp.56-65
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• 2007

A new underground LNG storage concept in the rock mass has been developed by combining underground cavern construction and new ice-ring harrier technologies with the conventional cryogenic insulation system. Technical feasibility of the storage system has been verified through construction and operation of the pilot storage cavern and a full-scale project is expected to start in the near future. One of the most important issues in the LNG storage system is the operational efficiency of the storage to minimize heat loss during a long period of operation due to the cryogenic heat transfer. This paper presents several important results of heat transfer and coupled hydro-thermal analyses by a finite element code Temp/W and Seep/W. A series of heat transfer analyses for full-scale caverns were performed to determine design parameters such as boil-off gas ratio (BOR), insulation thickness and pillar width. The result of the coupled hydro-mechanical analysis showed that BOR for underground storage system remains at about 0.04 %/day during the early stage of the operation. This value could be even much lower when the discontinuities in the rock masses are taken into consideration.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.120-126
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• 1999

;The consicErations for reminder life of transmission line is gradually higher. It is requisite for investigation of ACSR's life to test tensile load of ACSR as a fundamental data. It is vary important to analysis correlations between results of tensile load testing and elasped years. Estimation of ACSR's life can be obtained by statistics processing using mechanical experirrental results. It is a general method to use regression analysis as a statistics processing technique. In this paper, we did experiment on tensile strength of ACSR by using a new and old ACSR as sample experirrental materials. The limit of life estimation is decided by basic line using twenty percentage reduction of rate tensile strength. This basic line is like to results of Canada Ontario Hydro-research. There are $95[\textrm{mm}^2]$, $97[\textrm{mm}^2]$, $120[\textrm{mm}^2]$, $240[\textrm{mm}^2]$ ACSRs which are experimented on this study. 1be life estimation of these ACSR is presented by table 1 to be obtained through the linear regression and nonlinear regression analysis. SPSS and statistics toolbox of matlab is used for analysis.lysis.