• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.129-134
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• 2012

UT(Ultrasonic Test), one of the non-destructive tests, is the most common thickness measurement method for evaluating the wear rate in NPPs(Nuclear Power Plants). UT is used widely because it is easy and safe for use. However some amount of error inevitably occurs in attempting to measure the thickness. The error, that could make the thickness data thicker or thinner, may affect estimation of wear rate in pipes. NPPs are composed of a lot of pipes and components. Some of them are tested to check the current status during RFO(Re-Fueling Outage). Reliability analysis of UT is essential for evaluating pipe wear rate and establishing the long-term management plan in NPPs. This paper reviewed the cause of error occurrence and presented the UT data reliability analysis method. Also, this paper shows the application result of reliability analysis to the UT data acquired in NPPs.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.194-196
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• 2005

Ultrasonic guided waves are gaining increasing attention for the inspection of platelike and rodlike structures. At the same time, inspection methods that do not require contact with the test piece are being developed for advanced applications. This paper capitalizes on recent advances in the areas of guided wave ultrasonics and noncontact ultrasonics to demonstrate a superior method for the nondestructive detection of thinning defects simulating hidden corrosion in thin aluminum plates. The proposed approach uses EMAT(electro-magnetic acoustic transducer) for the noncontact generation and detection of guided plate waves. Interesting features in the dispersive behavior of selected guided modes are used for the detection of plate thinning. It is shown that mode cutoff measurements provide a qualitative detection of thinning defects. Measurement of the mode group velocity can be also used to quantify of thinning depth.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.28-34
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• 2003

In the present study, three-dimensional finite element analysis was performed to investigate the effects of internal wall thinning defect on the failure pressure of elbow in the piping system and to develop the failure pressure evaluation model. From the results of finite element analysis, the failure pressure was derived by employing local stress criteria, and the effects of thinning location, bend radius, and defect geometry on the failure pressure of internally wall thinned elbow were investigated. Also, based on these investigations and previous model developed to estimate the failure pressure of elbow with an external pitting defect, the failure pressure evaluation model to be applicable to the elbow containing an internal thinning defect was proposed and compared with the results of finite element analysis. The failure pressure calculated by the model agreed well with the results of finite element analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.39-45
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• 2003

The failure mode of a pipe due to local wall thinning is increasingly more attention in the nuclear power plant industry. To assess the integrity of locally wall thinned pipe, it is necessary to perform many simulations under various conditions. Because the modeling for locally wall thinned elbow is more complicated than that of straight pipe the efficient modeling method for finite element analysis is necessary. In this study, the more simple efficient modeling method of three-dimensional finite element analysis for locally wall thinned elbow has been suggested and verified. And using the method, the failure mode of local wall thinned elbows that have different thinning lengths and circumferential angles is evaluated. From the results, we concluded that the collapse load of elbows has been decreased by the increase of wall thinning shape factors such as thinning lengths and circumferential angles.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2014

A huge number of carbon steel piping 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 piping components. To manage the wall thinning degradation, most of utilities in the world predict the wall thinning rate based on the computational program such as CHECWORKS, COMSY, and BRT-CICERO, evaluate the UT (Ultrasonic Test) data, and determine next inspection timing, repair or replacement, if needed. There are several evaluation methods, such as band, blanket, and strip methods, commonly used for determining the wear of piping components from single UT inspection data. It has been identified that those single UT evaluation methods not only do not consider the manufacturing features of pipes, but also may exclude the data of the most thinned point when determining the representative wear rate of piping components. This paper describes a newly developed single UT evaluation method, E-Cross method, for solving above problems and introduces application examples for several pipes and elbows. It was identified that the E-Cross method using the length and width of UT data excluded the most thinned points appropriate as the single UT evaluation method for thinned piping components.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.27-31
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• 2014

This paper describes a tomographic imaging technique for evaluating the thickness reduction of a plate-like structure using a noncontact sensor network based on an electromagnetic acoustic transducer that generates shear horizontal plate waves. Because this technique is based on the effect of mode cutoff and time of flight of guided waves caused by a change in thickness, the tomographic image provides information on the presence of defects in the structure. To verify the performance of the method, artificial defects with various thickness reduction ratios were machined in an aluminum plate, and the tomographic imaging results are reported. The results show that the generated tomographic image displays the thickness reductions and can identify their locations. Therefore, the proposed technique has good potential as a tool for health monitoring of the integrity of plate-like structures.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.21 no.2 s.75
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• pp.50-59
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• 2007

Steam generator tubes are degraded from wear, stress corrosion cracking, rupture and fatigue and so on. Therefore, the failure assessment of steam generator tube is very important for the integrity of energy plants. In the steam generator tubes, sometimes, the local wall thinning may result from severe degradations such as erosion-corrosion damage and wear due to vibration. In this paper, the elasto-plastic analysis was performed by FE code ANSYS on steam generator tubes with wall thinning. Also, the four-point bending tests were performed on the wall thinned specimens, and then it was compared with the analysis results. We evaluated the failure mode, fracture strength and fracture behavior from the experiment and FE analysis. Also, it was possible to predict the crack initiation point by estimating true fracture ductility under multi-axial stress conditions at the center of the thinned area from FE analysis.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.6 s.78
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• pp.14-19
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• 2006

This study performed burst tests using real-scale pipe elbow containing simulated local wall-thinning to evaluate the effects of circumferential thinning angle and bending load on the failure pressure of wall-thinned elbow. The tests were carried out under the loading conditions of internal pressure and combined internal pressure and bending loads. Three circumferential thinning angles, ${\theta}/{\Pi}=0.125,\;0.25,\;0.5$, and different thinning locations, intrados and extrados, were considered. The test results showed that the failure pressure of wall-thinned elbow decreased with increasing circumferential thinning angle for both thinning locations. This tendency is different from that observed in the wall-thinned straight pipe. Also, the failure pressure of intrados wall-thinned elbow was higher than that of extrados wall-thinned elbow with the same thinning depth and equivalent thinning length. In addition, the effect of bending moment on the failure pressure was not obvious.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.8 s.239
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• pp.1102-1108
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• 2005

The integrity of nuclear piping systems has to be maintained sufficiently all the times during operation. In order to maintain the integrity, reliable assessment procedures including fracture mechanics analysis, etc, are required. Up to now, the integrity assessment has been performed using conventional deterministic approach even though there are lots of uncertainties to hinder a rational evaluation. In this respect, probabilistic approach is considered as an appropriate method for piping system evaluation. The objectives of this paper are to develop a probabilistic assessment program using reliability index and simulation technique and to estimate the damage probability of wall-thinned pipes in secondary systems. The probabilistic assessment program consists of three evaluation modules which are first order reliability method, second order reliability method and Monte Carlo simulation method. The developed program has been applied to evaluate damage probabilities of wall-thinned pipes subjected to internal pressure, global bending moment and combined loading. The sensitivity analysis results as well as prototypal evaluation results showed a promising applicability of the probabilistic integrity assessment program.