• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.429-435
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• 2010

In approximately fifty utilities, including KHNP (Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power), CHECWORKS is used as a tool for predicting and managing the wall thinning of carbon steel piping; this wall thinning is caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC). It is known that CHECWORKS is only applicable to predict the wall thinning of piping with large bores. When dealing with small-bore steel piping, FAC engineers measure the thickness of the susceptible area that is selected on the basis of the experience and judgment of the engineer. This paper proposes the application of CHECWORKS for the management of wall thinning of small-bore piping. Four small-bore pipelines of a domestic nuclear power plant were analyzed from the viewpoints of FAC and fluid dynamics by using CHECWORKS and FLUENT code. Depending on the engineer's skill, CHECWORKS can also be used for the management of wall thinning of small-bore piping.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.227-232
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• 2013

A number of components installed in the secondary system of nuclear power plants are exposed to aging mechanisms such as FAC (Flow-Accelerated Corrosion), Cavitation, Flashing, and LDIE (Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion). Those aging mechanisms can lead to thinning of the components. In April 2013, one (1) inch small bore piping branched from the main steam line experienced leakage resulting from wall thinning in a 1,000 MWe Korean PWR nuclear power plant. During the normal operation, extracted steam from the main steam line goes to condenser through the small bore piping. The leak occurred in the downstream of an orifice. A control valve with vertical flow path was placed on in front of the orifice. This paper deals with UT (Ultrasonic Test) thickness data, SEM images, and numerical simulation results in order to analyze the extent of damage and the cause of leakage in the small bore piping. As a result, it is concluded that the main cause of the small bore pipe wall thinning is liquid droplet impingement erosion. Moreover, it is observed that the leak occurred at the reattachment point of the vortex flow in the downstream side of the orifice.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.58-65
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop a Half Nozzle Repair(HNR) process to prevent the leakage from welds on small bore piping in Reactor Coolant System. The Codes & Standards of tempered bead and design requirements of J-Groove welds are reviewed. Automatic machine GTAW welding and machining equipments are developed to perform HNR process. Single pass welding and overlay welding equipments are conducted in order to obtain the optimal temper bead welding process parameters with Alloy 52M filler wire. Coarse grain heat affected zone(CGHAZ) is formed by rapid cooling rate in heat affected zone after welding. Accordingly, a proper temper bead technique is required to reduce CGHAZ in 1-Layer of welds by 2- and 3-Layers. Mock-up tests show that the developed HNR process is possible to meet ASME Code & Standard requirements without any defect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2019

Unlike the welded pipes in the primary system of light water nuclear power plants being periodically inspected with in-Service inspection program, relatively small pipes with the outer diameter less than 2 inch have not been regularly inspected to date. However, after several failure reports on the occurrence of critical crack-like defects in small pipes, inspection for the small pipes has been more demanded because it could cause the provisional outage of nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, there's no particular method to examine the small pipes having access limitations for inspection due to various reasons; inaccessible area, excessive radiation exposure, hazardous surrounding, and etc. This study is to develop a reliable inspection technique using torsional and flexural modes of guided wave to detect defects that could occur in inaccessible area. The attribute of guided wave that can travel a long distance enables to inspect even isolated range of the pipe from accessible location. This paper presents a case study of the evaluation test on 3/4" small-bore pipes with guide wave method. The test result demonstrates the crack signal behavior and assures possibility to detect the crack signal in a flexural mode, which is clearly distinguishable from the symmetric structure signal in a torsional mode.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.368-375
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• 2013

Failure of small bore piping welds is a recurring problem at nuclear power plants. And the socket weld cracking in small bore piping has caused unplanned plant shutdowns for repair and high economic impact on the plants. Consequently, early crack detection, including the detection of manufacturing defects, is of the utmost importance. Until now, the surface inspection methods has been applied according to ASME Section XI requirements. But the ultrasonic inspection as a volumetric method is also applying to enforce the inspection requirement. However, the conventional manual ultrasonic inspection techniques are used to detect service induced fatigue cracks. And there was uncertainty on manual ultrasonic inspection because of limited access to the welds and difficulties with contact between the ultrasonic probe and the OD(outer diameter) surface of small bore piping. In this study, phased array ultrasonic inspection technique is applied to increase inspection speed and reliability. To achieve this object, the 3.5 MHz phased array ultrasonic transducer are designed and fabricated. The manually encoded scanner was also developed to enhance contact conditions and maintain constant signal quality. Additionally inspection system is configured and inspection procedure is developed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.9-14
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• 2018

The piping system of a nuclear power plant plays a role of transferring high energy fluid to equipment and various devices. The safety and soundness of these piping systems are very closely related to the operability of the power plant. In the case of a welded part of a small diameter pipe, it may grow as a microcrack due to a lack of penetration, and it may grow to a size that affects the safety of the pipe due to the influence of mechanical vibration and fatigue load. Resonance refers to an increase in energy as the natural frequency of an object coincides with the frequency applied to the external force. When this resonance occurs, the frequency is the resonance frequency. In this study, when defects exist in the welds of small diameter pipe, the natural frequency of the pipe changes and resonance may occur. Since these resonances are likely to cause fatigue damage to the piping, resonance frequency changes due to the size and shape of the defects are analyzed and evaluated. As a result of the vibration test, the resonance frequency tended to decrease as the depth of the defect deepened, and the influence was larger when the defect existed at the bottom of the top of the trough. Also, it was confirmed that the Transverse cracks had an effect on the resonance frequency in the presence of the cracks in the weld bead, compared to the longitudinal cracks. As a result of this study, it is expected that the cause of the defect and the condition of the pipe can be monitored because the resonance frequency tendency according to the shape of the crack is analyzed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.1285-1289
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• 2006

In a large diameter piping system, high frequency energy can produce excessive noise, high vibration, and failures of thermo-well, instrumentation, and attached small-bore piping. High frequency energy is generated by flow induced vibration like vortex shedding in orifices and valves. Once this energy is generated, amplification may occur from acoustical and/or structural resonances, resulting in high amplitude vibration and noise. At low frequencies, pipe vibration occurs laterally along the pipe's length, but at higher frequencies, the pipe shell wall vibrates radially across its cross-section. The simple beam analogy which is based on the beam mode vibration can not be applied to evaluate shell mode vibration. ASME OM3 recommends that the stress be measured directly by strain gauge and be evaluated according to the fatigue curves of the piping material. This Paper discusses the excitation and amplification mechanism relevant to high frequency energy generation in piping system, the monitoring method of the shell mode vibration in ASME OM3, the evaluation method generally used in the industry. Finally this paper presents the stress evaluation of the cavitating venturi down stream piping, where high frequency shell mode vibrations were observed during the operation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.11
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• pp.3837-3851
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• 2021

To investigate how the fabrication and repair of socket welded joints could be used to enhance fatigue resistance under vibration condition, experimental test data of installation conditions that potentially influence fatigue strength were analyzed with the S-N curve. It was found that the decreasing fatigue strength of stainless steel socket welded joints was attributed to the effect of high heat input of welding process. The effect of welding method, slip-on gap and radial-gap conditions on fatigue strength was insignificant. The test data of repair technique application, 2 × 1 leg length and of socket weld overlay, clearly showed higher fatigue strength but there was a limitation for higher stress region because of the weld toe crack.