• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.361-367
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• 2013

Many of the nuclear power plant pipe is used in high temperature and high pressure environment. Wall thinning frequently caused by the corrosion. These wall thinning in pipe is expected gradually increase as nuclear power become superannuated. Therefore there is need to evaluate wall thinning in pipe and corrosion defect by non-destructive method to prevent the accident of the nuclear power facility due to pipe corrosion. Especially for real-time assessment of the wall thinning that occurs in nuclear power plant pipe, the laser ultrasonic technology can be measured even in hard-to-reach areas, beyond the limits of earlier existing contact methods. In this study, the optical method using laser was applied for non-destructive and non-contact evaluation. Ultrasonic signals was acquired through generating ultrasonic by pulse laser and using laser interferometer. First the ultrasonic signal was detected in no wall thinning in pipe, then a longitudinal wave velocity was measured inside of pipe. Artificial wall thinning specimen compared to 20, 30, 40 and 50% of thickness of the pipe was produced and the longitudinal wave velocity was measured. It was possible to evaluate quantitatively the wall thinning area(internal defect depth) cause it was able to calculate the thickness of each specimen using measured longitudinal wave velocity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.258-259
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• 2009

Pipe wall thinning is one of severe problems on structural safety in nuclear power plants. A guided wave can be a proper tool for the fast evaluation or monitoring. As for gradual wall thinnings, however, low sensitivity caused by the low reflection coefficient limits the use of the guided wave. In this work, instead of the guided wave reflection at the wall thinning, the variation of dispersion characteristics is concerned. SH waves were employed due to several advantages and the magnetostrictive patch transducers were used for the excitation and sensing of the SH waves. The proposed method were verified with some experiments and showed the feasibility as an effective tool for the inspection of gradual wall thinning.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.20 no.4 s.71
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• pp.17-23
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• 2006

Monotonic four-point bending tests were conducted on straight pipe specimens, 102 mm in diameter with local wall thinning, in order to investigate the effects of the depth, shape, and location of wall thinning on the deformation and failure behavior of pipes. The local wall thinning simulated natural erosion/corrosion metal loss. The deformation and fracture behavior of the straight pipes with local wall thinning was compared with that of non wall-thinning pipes. The failure modes were classifiedas local buckling, ovalization, or crack initiation, depending on the depth, shape, and location of the local wall thinning. Three-dimensional elasto-plastic analyses were carried out using the finite element method. The deformation and failure behavior, simulated by finite element analyses, coincided with the experimental results.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.82-89
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• 2011

When pipe components made of carbon steel in nuclear, fossil, and industry plants are exposed to flowing fluid, wall thinning caused by FAC(flow accelerated corrosion) can be generated and eventually ruptured at the position of pressure boundary. The aim of this study is to identify the locations at which local wall thinning occurs and to determine the turbulence coefficient related to local wall thinning. Experiment and numerical analyses for the tee sections of down scaled piping components were performed and the results were compared. In particular, flow visualization experiment which was used alkali metallic salt was performed to find actual location of local wall thinning inside tee components. In order to determine the relationship between turbulence coefficients and local wall thinning, numerical analyses were performed for tee components in the main feedwater systems. The turbulence coefficients based on the numerical analyses were compared with the local wall thinning based on the measured data. From the comparison of the results, the vertical flow velocity component(Vr) flowing to the wall after separating in the wall due to the geometrical configuration and colliding with the wall directly at an angle of some degree was analogous to the configuration of local wall thinning.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.5 s.248
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• pp.533-542
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• 2006

In order to assess the integrity of pipes with local thinning area, the plastic strain as well as the elastic strain at the root of thinned region are required particularly when fluctuating load is applied to the pipe. For estimating elastic-plastic strain at local wall thinning area in a straight pipe under tensile load, an estimation model with idealized fully circumferential constant depth wall thinning area is proposed. Based on the compatibility and equilibrium equations a nonlinear estimation equation, from which local elastic-plastic strain can be determined as a function of pipe/defect geometry, material and the applied strain was derived. Estimation results are compared with those from detailed elastic-plastic finite element analysis, which shows good agreements. Noting that practical wall thinning in nuclear piping has not only a circular shape but also a finite circumferential length, the proposed solution for the ideal geometry is extended based on two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical analysis of pipes with circular wall thinning.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.5 s.236
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• pp.734-742
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• 2005

The present study proposes the integrity evaluation model for a straight pipe with local wall thinning defect, which reflects the characteristics of training shape and loading condition in the Piping of nuclear power plant. For this purpose, a series of finite element analyses are performed under various defect geometries and loading conditions, and real pipe experiment data performed previously is employed. The model includes the effect of thinning length as well as thinning depth and width, and also it considers the combined loading effect between internal pressure and bending moment. The proposed model has been validated using the results of finite element analysis and pipe experiment data. The results indicate that the proposed model provides more reliable predictions of pipe failure than the current existing model, in terms of accuracy, consistency, and conservativeness of results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.90-95
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• 2003

Fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear power plant. In pipes of energy plants, sometimes, the local wall thinning may result from severe erosion-corrosion (E/C) damage. However, the effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system were not well studied. In this paper, the monotonic bending tests were performed of full-scale welded and unwelded carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning. A monotonic bending load was applied to straight pipe specimens by four-point loading at ambient temperature without internal pressure. The observed failure modes were divided into four types; ovalization, crack initiation/growth after ovalization, local buckling and crack initiation/growth after local buckling. Also, the strengths of welded and unwelded piping system with local wall thinning were evaluated.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2017

This work proposes an alternative pipe wall-thinning inspection method based on change of eigenfrequencies of shell vibration modes in wall-thinned pipes. It takes much time to detect wall-thinning of pipes using ultrasonic thickness gauge and only a limited number of pipes are under regular inspection. In a pipe with locally decreased thickness, stiffness varies along circumferential direction and natural frequencies of shell vibration modes of the pipe change or frequencies of same modes bifurcate into two different values. Therefore, one can monitor pipe wall-thinning by measuring change of natural frequencies or estimate wall-thinning shape qualitatively. The feasibility of the proposed method was studied by FE vibration analysis for wall-thinned pipes. Modal testing was also carried out for the pipes with artificial wall-thinned section to verify the working performance of the suggested technique.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2003

Fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear Power Plant. In Pipes of energy Plants, sometimes, the local wall thinning may result from severe erosion-corrosion (E/C) damage. However, the effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system were not well studied. In this paper, the monotonic bending tests were performed of full-scale carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning. A monotonic bending load was applied to straight pipe specimens by four-point loading at ambient temperature without internal pressure. From the tests, fracture behaviors and fracture strength of locally thinned pipe were manifested systematically. The observed failure modes were divided into four types; ovalization. crack initiation/growth after ovalization, local buckling and crack initiation/growth after local buckling. Also, the strength and the allowable limit of piping system with local wall thinning were evaluated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.546-551
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• 2010

The objective of this research is to estimate the crack location and size of a carbon steel pipe by using a laser ultrasound guided wave for the wall thinning evaluation of an elbow. The wall thinning of the carbon steel pipe is one of the most serious problems in nuclear power plants, especially the wall thinning of the carbon steel elbow caused by Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC). Therefore, a non-destructive inspection method of elbow is essential for the nuclear power plants to operate safely. The specimens used in this study were carbon steel elbows, which represented the main elements of real nuclear power plants. The shape of the wall thinning was an oval with a width of 120mm, a length of 80mm, and a depth of 5mm. The L(0,1) and L(0,2) modes variation of the ultrasound guided wave signal is obtained from the response of the laser generation/air-coupled detection ultrasonic hybrid system represent the characteristics of the defect. The trends of these characteristics and signal processing were used to estimate the size and location of wall thinning.