• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1049-1078
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• 2021

The review summarizes the published data on the widely applied electron-beam, laser-beam, as well as resistance upset, projection, and spot welding of zirconium alloys for nuclear applications. It provides the results of their analysis to identify common patterns in this area. Great attention has been paid to the quality requirements, the edge preparation, up-to-date equipment, process parameters, as well as post-weld treatment and processing. Also, quality control and weld repair methods have been mentioned. Finally, conclusions have been drawn about a significant gap between the capabilities of advanced welding equipment to control the microstructure and, accordingly, the properties of welded joints of the zirconium alloys and existing algorithms that enable to realize them in the nuclear industry. Considering the ever-increasing demands on the high-burnup accident tolerant nuclear fuel assemblies, great efforts should be focused on the improving the welding procedures by implementing predefined heat input cycles. However, a lot of research is required, since the number of possible combinations of the zirconium alloys, designs and dimensions of the joints dramatically exceeds the quantity of published results on the effect of the welding parameters on the properties of the welds.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.747-759
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• 2021

Built-up Double-I (BD-I) columns have been commonly used for mid-rise steel-frame structures in Iran. These columns consist of two hot rolled IPE sections which are connected by two cover plates and fillet welds. Until 2017, BD-I columns were employed in intermediate moment resisting frames (MRF) using welded flange plate (WFP) connections. To evaluate the seismic behavior of the connections, four samples were made and tested based on cyclic loading according to AISC 341-16. It was concluded that typical samples cannot satisfy the seismic provisions related to intermediate MRFs. In contrast, the proposed connections retrofitted with two-part external diaphragms were able to satisfy not only the seismic requirements related to intermediate MRFs but also those related to special MRFs according to AISC. The numerical modeling of these samples was performed using ABAQUS finite element software. This study compared the hysteresis moment-rotation curves, plastic strains, and behavior modes in both experimental samples and numerical models.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2002

A comparison of the welding performance of ship hull structural steels has been made. The weldability of steels especially designed for laser processing was compared to that of conventional hull and structural steels with plate thicknesses up to 12 mm. Autogenous laser beam welding was used to weld butt joints as well as skid and stake welded T-joints. The welds were assessed in accordance with the document "The Classification Societies" Requirements for Approval of $CO_2$ Laser Welding Procedures" Small imperfections in the weld only grew slightly in root bend tests and they only had a minor influence on the fatigue properties of laser fillet welded joints. In Charpy impact tests, the 27 J transition temperature of the weld metal and HAZ ranged from below -60 to $-50^{\circ}C$. The amount of martensite in the weld metal depended on the carbon equivalent of the steel with the highest amounts and highest hardness levels in conventional EH 36 (389 HV 5). Thermomechanically rolled steels contained less martensite and showed a correspondingly lower maximum hardness.ximum hardness.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2823-2834
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• 2023

Austenitic stainless steel welds (ASSWs) of nuclear components undergo aging-related degradations caused by high temperature and neutron radiation. Since irradiation leads to the change of material characteristics, relevant quantification is important for long-term operation, but limitations exist. Although ion irradiation is utilized to emulate neutron irradiation, its penetration depth is too shallow to measure bulk properties. In this study, a systematic approach was suggested to estimate mechanical properties of ion irradiated 308 ASSW. First of all, weld specimens were irradiated by 2 MeV proton to 1 and 10 dpa. Microstructure evolutions due to irradiation in δ-ferrite and austenite phases were characterized and micropillar compression tests were performed. In succession, dislocation density based stress-strain (S-S) relationships and quantification models of irradiation defects were adopted to define phases in finite element analyses. Resultant microscopic S-S curves were compared to verify material parameters. Finally, macroscopic behaviors were calculated by multiscale simulations using real microstructure based representative volume element (RVE). Validity of the approach was verified for the unirradiated specimens such that the estimated S-S curves and 0.2% offset yield strengths (YSs) which was 363.14 MPa were in 10% agreement with test. For irradiated specimens, the estimated YS were 917.41 MPa in 9% agreement.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.183-196
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• 2022

Reduced beam section (RBS) moment connections used in special moment resisting frames are currently limited to beam sections that are not larger than nominal depths of 920 mm, weight of 447 kg/m and flange thickness of 44 mm. Due to the higher demand for structural components with jumbo sections, which can potentially be applied in the transfer girders in long-span building structures, the newly available steel heavy members are promising. To address this issue, advanced numerical models are developed to fully evaluate the distribution of stresses and concentrations of plastic strains for such jumbo RBS connections. This paper first presents a brief overview of an experimental study on four specimens with large beam and column sections. Then, a numerical model that includes initial imperfections, residual stresses, geometric nonlinearity, and explicitly modeled welds is presented. The model is used to further explore the behavior of the test specimens, including distribution of stresses, distribution of plastic strains, stress triaxiality and potential for fracture. The results reveal that the stresses are highly non-uniform across the beam flange and, similarly, the plastic strains concentrate at the extreme fiber of the bottom flange. However, neither of these phenomena, which are primarily a function of beam flange thickness, is reflected in current design procedures.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.222-228
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• 2002

A comparison of the welding performance of ship hull structural steels has been made. The weldability of steels especially designed for laser processing was compared to that of conventional hull and structural steels with plate thicknesses up to 12 mm. Autogenous laser beam welding was used to weld butt joints as well as skid and stake welded T-joints. The welds were assessed in accordance with the document "The Classification Societies′ Requirements for Approval of $CO_2$ Laser Welding Procedures". Small imperfections in the weld only grew slightly in root bend tests and they only had a minor influence on the fatigue properties of laser fillet welded joints. In Charpy impact tests, the 27 J transition temperature of the weld metal and HAZ ranged from below -60 to -5$0^{\circ}C$. The amount of martensite in the weld metal depended on the carbon equivalent of the steel with the highest amounts and highest hardness levels in conventional EH 36 (389 HV 5). Thermomechanically rolled steels contained less martensite and showed a correspondingly lower maximum hardness.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2002

This paper describes the weldability and mechanical behavior of JIS S45C medium carbon steel (corresponding to KS SM45C and SAE 1045) for machine structures in CW Nd:YAG laser welding. In general, medium carbon steels have a limited application to the industrial fields in spite of good mechanical characteristics. This is due to welding difficulty because of the high carbon contents and impurities in this material. Therefore, in this study the laser weldability of medium carbon steel with adjusted contents of S and P has been investigated in order to extend the application to medium carbon steels. Several experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted to determine the characteristics of mechanical behavior in CW Nd:YAC laser welds. The results of the simulations concur with the experiment results. From the result of this study, the application possibility of CW Nd:YAG laser welding to medium carbon steel has been confirmed. Also, the appropriateness of mechanical behavior simulation has been verified to analyze and predict the welding phenomena.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.12-17
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• 2001

With the advance of the robotic welding process, procedure optimization that selects the welding procedure and predicts bead width that will be deposited is increased. A major concern involving procedure optimization should define a welding procedure that can be shown to be the best with respect to some standard and chosen combination of process parameters, which give an acceptable balance between production rate and the scope of defects for a given situation. This paper presents a new algorithm to establish a mathematical model f3r predicting bead width through a neural network and multiple regression methods, to understand relationships between process parameters and bead width, and to predict process parameters on bead width for GMA welding process. Using a series of robotic arc welding, additional multi-pass butt welds were carried out in order to verify the performance of the neural network estimator and multiple regression methods as well as to select the most suitable model. The results show that not only the proposed models can predict the bead width with reasonable accuracy and guarantee the uniform weld quality, but also a neural network model could be better than the empirical models.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.70-75
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• 2002

The penetration potential of TIG welding in one single run is limited, though the process itself generates high quality welds with good weld cosmetics. This is one of the main reasons, which has contributed to its development in high duty applications such as those encountered in aeronautical, aerospace, nuclear & power plant applications. For these applications, stainless steels, titanium k nickel based alloys are most often used. As these materials remain very sensible to weld heat input k atmospheric pollution, stringent processing conditions are imposed. For example welding of titanium alloys requires argon shielding of weld zone and for 5 mm thick plates multi-pass runs & filler additions are required. This multi-run operation not only raises the welding cost, but also increases defect risks. In recent years, extensive interest has been raised by the possibility to increase weld penetrations through flux applications & the process is designated ATIG-activated TIG, or FBTIG-flux bounded TIG. The improved welding performance of such flux assisted TIG is related to arc constriction and surface tension effects on weld pool. The research work by authors has lead to the formulation of welding fluxes for stainless steels k titanium alloys with TIG Process. These fluxes are now commercialized & some applications in industry have already been carried out. FBTIG for aluminum has been proposed with silica application for AC mode TIG welding. The paper highlights the fundamentals of flux role in TIG welding and illustrates some industrial applications.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1924-1934
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• 2023

In this study, the probabilistic fatigue life model for Ni-base alloys was developed based on the Weibull distribution using statistical analysis of fatigue data reported in NUREG/CR-6909 and the new fatigue data of Alloy 52M/152 and 82/182. The developed Weibull model can consider right-censored data (i.e., non-failed data) and quantify the improved safety (or reliability) based on the level of failure probability. The overall margin in the current fatigue design limit model (ASME design curve + NUREG/CR-6909 F_en model) is similar to that of the Weibull model with a cumulative failure probability of approximately 2.5%. The margin in the current fatigue design limit model demonstrated inconsistencies for the Ni-base alloy weld data, whereas the Weibull model showed a consistent margin. Therefore, the Weibull model can systematically mitigate the excessive safety margin.