• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.10-17
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• 2020

Securing the integrity of steam generator tubes is an essential requirement for safe operation of nuclear power plants. Therefore, tubes that do not satisfy integrity requirements are no longer usable and must be repaired according to the related requirements. In general, the repair criterion is that the damage depth is more than 40% of the tube wall thickness. However, the plugging limit can be changed and be applied, provided a technical proof is given that integrity can be secured against specific degradation at a specific plants and that approval can be obtained from a regulatory agency. A typical example is alternative repair criteria for defects within the tube sheet or tube support plates. In this paper, a background of establishing the plugging limit for steam generator tubes and changes in maintenance criteria are reviewed as examples.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2003년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.1186-1191
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• 2003

The 40% of wall criterion, which is generally used for the plugging of steam generator tubes, may be applied only to a single crack. In the previous study, a total of 9 failure models were introduced to estimate the local failure of the ligament between cracks and the optimum coalescence model of multiple collinear cracks was determined among these models. It is, however, known that parallel axial cracks are more frequently detected during an in-service inspection than collinear axial cracks. The objective of this study is to determine the plastic collapse model which can be applied to the steam generator tube containing two parallel axial through-wall cracks. Nine previously proposed local failure models were selected as the candidates. Subsequently interaction effects between two adjacent cracks were evaluated to screen them. Plastic collapse tests for the plate with two parallel through-wall cracks and finite element analyses were performed for the determination of the optimum plastic collapse model. By comparing the test results with the prediction results obtained from the candidate models, a plastic zone contact model was selected as an optimum model.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제28권11호
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• pp.1813-1821
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• 2004

Until now, the 40% of wall thickness criterion, which is generally used for the plugging of steam generator tubes, has been applied only to a single cracked geometry. In the previous study by the authors, a total number of 9 local failure prediction models were introduced to estimate the coalescence load of two collinear through-wall cracks and, then, the reaction force model and plastic zone contact model were selected as the optimum ones. The objective of this study is to estimate the coalescence load of two collinear through-wall cracks in steam generator tube by using the optimum local failure prediction models. In order to investigate the applicability of the optimum local failure prediction models, a series of plastic collapse tests and corresponding finite element analyses for two collinear through-wall cracks in steam generator tube were carried out. Thereby, the applicability of the optimum local failure prediction models was verified and, finally, a coalescence evaluation diagram which can be used to determine whether the adjacent cracks detected by NDE coalesce or not has been developed.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제20권9호
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• pp.2894-2900
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• 1996

The stream generator tubes represent an integral part of a major barrier against the fission product release to the environment. So, the rupture of these tubes could permit flow of reactor coolant into the secondary system and injure the safety of reactor coolant system. Therefore, if the crack was detected during In-Service Inspection of tubes the cracked tube should be evaluated by the pulgging criteria and plugged or not. In this study, the fracture mechanics evaluation is carried out on the thru-wall axial crack due to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking in the roll transition aone of steam generator tube to help the assurence the integrity of tubes and estabilish the plugging criteria. Due to the Inconel which is used as tube material is more ductile than others, the plastic instability repture theory was used to calculate the critical and allowable crack length. Based on Leak Before Break concept the leak rate for the critical crack length and the allowable leak rate are compared and the safety of tubes was given.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제28권11호
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• pp.1741-1751
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• 2004

It is commonly requested that the steam generator tubes wall-thinned in excess of 40% should be plugged. However, the plugging criterion is known to be too conservative for some locations and types of defects and its application is limited to a single crack in spite of the fact that the occurrence of multiple through-wall cracks is more common in general. The objective of this research is to propose the optimum failure prediction models for two adjacent through-wall cracks in steam generator tubes. The conservatism of the present plugging criteria was reviewed using the existing failure prediction models for a single crack, and six new failure prediction models for multiple through-wall cracks have been introduced. Then, in order to determine the optimum ones among these new local or global failure prediction models, a series of plastic collapse tests and corresponding finite element analyses for two adjacent through-wall cracks in thin plate were carried out. Thereby, the reaction force model, plastic zone contact model and COD (Crack-Opening Displacement) base model were selected as the optimum ones for assessment of steam generator tubes with multiple through-wall cracks. The selected optimum failure prediction models, finally, were used to estimate the coalescence pressure of two adjacent through-wall cracks in steam generator tubes.

• 대한용접접합학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한용접접합학회 2006년 추계학술발표대회 개요집
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• pp.38-40
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• 2006

Nuclear power plants are urged to reduce operating and maintaining costs to remain competitive as well as to increase the safety preventing the radioactive material to the atmosphere. To reduce the cost and to increase the safety, the inspection of balance-of-plant heat exchanger becomes important. However, there are some problems for plugging the heat exchanger tubes since the criterion and its basis are not clearly described. The codes and standards related to show the tube plugging criteria may not exist currently. In this paper, a method to establish the tube plugging criteria of BOP heat exchangers is introduced and the tube plugging criteria for the non-regenerative heat exchanger in the steam generator blow-down system of nuclear power plant. This method relies on the similar method used to establish the plugging criteria for the steam generator tubes.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제30권12호
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• pp.1618-1625
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• 2006

During the last two decades, several guidelines have been developed and used for assessing the integrity of a defective steam generator (SG) tube that is generally caused by stress corrosion cracking or wall-thinning phenomenon. However, as some of SG tubes are also failed due to fretting and so on, alternative failure estimation schemes are required for relevant defects. In this paper, parametric three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses are carried out under internal pressure condition to simulate the failure behavior of SG tubes with different defect configurations; elliptical wear, tapered and flat wear type defects. Maximum pressures based on material strengths are obtained from more than a hundred FE results to predict the failure of SG tube. After investigating the effect of key parameters such as defect depth, defect length and wrap angle, simplified failure estimation equations are proposed in relation to the equivalent stress at the deepest point in wear region. Comparison of failure pressures predicted by the proposed estimation scheme with corresponding burst test data showed a good agreement.