• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.366-372
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• 2001

The ice plugging process consists of placing liquid nitrogen around a pipe and removing heat until the water in the pipe freezes and provides a solid plug or seal against fluid movement. This technique enables us to repair or inspect a pipe system without shutdown of entire system. A set of test apparatus for investigation of the liquid freezing phenomena during ice plugging is prepared. This study shows the characteristics of the liquid freezing and the heat transfer with various pipe and freezing jacket conditions. And in case there is flow of the fluid inside the pipe, the flow rate which can be able to form the ice plug is identified with the effect of the pipe diameter and freezing jacket length on the plug formation. The permissible maximum flow rate for the complete plug formation is approximately proportional to the freezing jacket length at the same pipe diameter condition.