• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.2119-2129
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• 2020

Flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC), liquid droplet impingement erosion (LDIE), cavitation and flashing can cause continuous wall-thinning in nuclear secondary pipes. In order to prevent pipe rupture events resulting from the wall-thinning, most NPPs (nuclear power plants) implement their management programs, which include periodic thickness inspection using UT (ultrasonic test). Meanwhile, it is well known in field experiences that the thickness measurement errors (or deviations) are often comparable with the amount of thickness reduction. Because of these errors, it is difficult to estimate wall-thinning exactly whether the significant thinning has occurred in the inspected components or not. In the previous study, the authors presented an approximate estimation procedure as the first step for thickness measurement deviations at each inspected component and the statistical & quantitative characteristics of the measurement deviations using plant experience data. In this study, statistical significance was quantified for the current methods used for wall-thinning determination. Also, the authors proposed new estimation procedures for determining local wall-thinning to overcome the weakness of the current methods, in which the proposed procedure is based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) method using subgrouping of measured thinning values at all measurement grids. The new procedures were also quantified for their statistical significance. As the results, it is confirmed that the new methods have better estimation confidence than the methods having used until now.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.295-303
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• 2022

Residential heating systems in South Korea are largely based on the use of ondol pipelines. Heat is transferred to the floor by passing hot water through a metal or plastic pipe buried within the concrete of the floor. Consequently, it is difficult to clean the inside of these pipes after installation. Over time, foreign substances such as scale accumulate in the pipe when the ondol heating method is used for an extended period. Therefore, in the past, pipes were cleaned by removing foreign substances attached to the inside surfaces of the pipes using high-pressure water or by disassembling the pipes and removing foreign substances with chemical agents. Recently, a method for removing foreign substances through the cavitation effect of ultrasound has been proposed. This idea might lead to the development of new technologies for cleaning pipe interiors. Consequently, this study investigated the use of ultrasound to clean pipes embedded in concrete. In this study, devices that generated ultrasonic waves with various frequencies and directions were prepared. After preparing arbitrarily contaminated pipes, the appropriate frequency, output strength, and output direction for each foreign substance were determined through repeated experiments. The results of this experiment could provide important information for future methods of cleaning the interior of ondol piping systems.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.100-107
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• 1999

In this paper, we deal with the speckle noise reduction and parameter estimation of ultrasonic NDT(non-destructive test) signals obtained during weld inspection of piping. The overall approach consists of three major steps, namely, speckle noise analysis, proposition of wavelet domain AR(autoregressive) model and flaw detection by proposed model parameter. The data are first processed whereby signals obtained using vertical and angle beam transducer. Correlation properties of speckle noise are then analyzed using multiresolution analysis in wavelet domain. The parameter estimation curve obtained using the proposed model is classified a flaw in weld region where is contaminated by severe speckle noise and also clear flaw signal is obtained through CA-CFAR threshold estimator that is a nonlinear post-processing method for removing the noise from reconstructed ultrasonic signal.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.102-105
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• 2014

In accordance with U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulatory guide(NRC RG) 1.20(Rev.3), we are writing a comprehensive vibration assessment program(CVAP) design control document(DCD) and a technical report for U.S. NRC design certification(DC) of an Advanced Power Reactor 1400(APR1400) nuclear power plant(NPP). CVAP of an APR1400 NPP for U.S. NRC DC is classified as a non-prototype category 1 type. Therefore, CVAP DCD of reactor vessel internals(RVI) and steam generator internals(SGI) consist of analysis and full inspection program. However, piping system of primary and secondary system will be described as measurement program.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.19-34
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• 1996

A review was made of fatigue failures of nuclear power plant components in Japan, which were experienced in service and during periodical inspection. No case has been recently reported of a service fatigue failure of a reactor pressure vessel itself, excluding nozzle corner cracks, that occurred many years ago. But, service fatigue failures have been occasionally experienced in piping systems, pumps, and valves, on which fatigue design seems to have been inadequately applied. The causes of fatigue failures can be divided into two categories: mechanical-vibration-induced fatigue and thermal-fluctuation-induced fatigue. Vibration-induced fatigue failure occurs more frequently than is generally thought. The lesson gleaned from the present survey is a recognition that a service fatigue failure may occur due to any one or a combination of the following factors: (1) lack of communication between designers and fabrication engineers, (2) lack of knowledge about a possibility of fatigue failure and poor consideration about the effects of residual stresses, (3) lack of consideration on possible vibration in the design and fabrication stages, and (4) lack of fusion or poor penetration in a welded joint.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.320-325
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• 2016

To perform ultrasonic testing (UT) thickness measurement of the secondary side piping installed in nuclear power plants, the insulation for preventing heat loss should be removed. The type of insulation can be divided into fixed and removable insulation. Fixed and removable insulation have their own strengths and weaknesses. Removable insulation has been installed in the components susceptible to wall thinning caused by FAC and erosion from Shin-Kori unit 1, which commenced its commercial operation in 2011. In this paper, the number of repeated inspections of components and the number of replacements of fixed insulation were estimated and a more economical way was identified based on the manufacturing and installation costs for fixed and removable insulation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2016

Current guidance considers that uniaxially loaded specimen with a deep crack is used for the determination of the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. However, reactor pressure vessel is under biaxial loading in real and the existence of deep crack is not probable through periodic in-service-inspection. The elastic stress intensity factor and the elastic-plastic J-integral which were used for crack-tip stress field and fracture mechanics assessment parameters. The difference of the loading condition and crack geometry can significantly influence on these parameters. Thus, a constraint effect caused by differences between standard specimens and a real structure can over/underestimate the fracture toughness, and it affects the results of the structural integrity assessment, consequentially. The present paper investigates the constraint effects by evaluating the master curve $T_0$ reference temperature of PCVN (Pre-cracked Charpy V-Notch) and small scale cruciform specimens which was designed to simulate biaxial loading condition with shallow crack through the fracture toughness tests and 3-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analyses. Based on the finite element analysis results, the fracture toughness values of a small scale cruciform specimen were estimated, and the geometry-dependent factors of the cruciform specimen considered in the present study were determined. Finally, the transferability of the test results of these specimens was discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.3_1spc
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• pp.518-524
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• 2013

Recently, probabilistic assessments of nuclear power plant components have generated interest in the nuclear industries, either for the efficient inspection and maintenance of older nuclear plants or for improving the safety and cost-effective design of newly constructed nuclear plants. In the present paper, the partial safety factor (PSF) of wall-thinned nuclear piping is evaluated based on a reliability index method, from which the effect of each statistical variable (assessment parameter) on a certain target probability is evaluated. In order to calculate the PSF of a wall-thinned pipe, a limit state function based on the load and resistance factor design (LRFD) concept is first constructed. As for the reliability assessment method, both the advanced first-order second moment (AFOSM) method and second-order reliability method (SORM) are employed to determine the PSF of each probabilistic variable. The present results can be used for developing maintenance strategies considering the priorities of input variables for structural integrity assessments of wall-thinned piping, and this PSF concept can also be applied to the optimal design of the components of newly constructed plants considering the target reliability levels.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.40-45
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• 2008

There exist many types of pipe and component fatigue through vibrations, thermal fatigues or shifting. In some cases of thermal stratification/thermal fatigue, pipes & components are receiving thermal stress by means of material expansion and shrinkage by continuous thermal repetitive variation. Small cracks initially occur on the inside surface by thermal stress. These cracks grow in depth the pipe wall and finally come to a rupture. Pipe parts of susceptibility to thermal stratification and thermal fatigue are now being examined by conventional UT(ultrasonic test) as volumetric examination. It is difficult to fully satisfy the code & standards requirements because 3" weldolet weldments of RCS 16" pipe to 3" branch connection lines have complex structural shape. To solve the problems of conventional UT examination, we made a realistic mock-up and UT calibration block. We performed a simulation of phased array UT utilizing CIVA as NDE(Non-Destructive Examination) simulation software. Also we designed phased array UT transducer and wedge, optimal frequency by using simulation data. We performed phased array UT experiment through mock-up including artificial flaws(notch). The phased array UT technique is finally developed to improve the reliability of ultrasonic test at RCS 16" pipe to 3" branch connection weld.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.61-66
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• 2011

The integrity of the SG(Steam Generator) tubes has been challenged by numerous factors such as flaws, operation, atmosphere, inherently degraded materials, loose parts and even human errors. Of the factors, loose parts(or foreign materials) on the secondary side of the tubes can bring about volumetric defects and even leakage from the primary to the secondary side in a short period of time. More serious concerns about the loose parts are their unknown influx path and rapid growth rate of the defects affected by the loose parts. Therefore it is imperative to detect and characterize the foreign materials and the defects. As a part of the measures for loose part detection, TTS(Top of Tubesheet) MRPC(Motorized Rotating Pancake Coils) ECT has been carried out especially to the restricted high probability area of the loose part. However, in the presence of loose parts in the other areas, wide range loose part detection techniques are required. In this study, loose part standard tube was presented as a way to accurately detect and characterize loose part signals. And the SG tube ECT bobbin coil and MRPC ISI(In-service Inspection) data of domestic OPR-1000 and Westinghouse Model F(W_F) were reviewed and consequently, comprehensive loose part detection technique is derived especially by applying bobbin coil signals