• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2008

Difference of failure modes was studied by finite element analysis for elbows with local wall thinning area particularly at inner surface of intrados of the elbow. Longitudinal wall thinning length, minimum thickness were kept constant but circumferential wall thinning width was varied to get $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$ and $360^{\circ}$ thinning width. Elastic-plastic analysis were carried out under the combined loading conditions of internal pressure and in-plane bending moment closing the elbow. Von Mises stress were obtained from the outer surface central surface location in intrados, extrados and crown parts in elbow. The results showed that the plastic deformation and failure started from the crown location when the thinning width small ($90{\sim}180^{\circ}$). However, plastic collapse started from the intrados location when the thinning width is approaching $360^{\circ}C$. This should be reflected to assess structural integrity of elbows after wall thinning measurement is made.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.191-198
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• 2008

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) phenomenon of low alloy carbon steels in nuclear power plant has been known as one of major degradation mechanisms. It has a potential to cause nuclear pipe rupture accident which may directly impact on the plant reliability and safety. Recently, the equipotential switching direct current potential drop (ES-DCPD) method has been developed, by the present authors, as a method to monitor wall loss in a piping. This method can rapidly monitor the thinning of piping, utilizing either the wide range monitoring (WiRM) or the narrow range monitoring (NaRM) technique. WiRM is a method to monitor wide range of straight piping, whereas NaRM focuses significantly on a narrow range such as an elbow. WiRM and NaRM can improve the reliability of the current FAC screening method that is based on computer modeling on fluid flow conditions. In this paper, the measurements by ES-DCPD are performed with signal sensitivity analyses in the laboratory environment for extended period and showed the viability of ES-DCPD for real plant applications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.5 s.236
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• pp.734-742
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• 2005

The present study proposes the integrity evaluation model for a straight pipe with local wall thinning defect, which reflects the characteristics of training shape and loading condition in the Piping of nuclear power plant. For this purpose, a series of finite element analyses are performed under various defect geometries and loading conditions, and real pipe experiment data performed previously is employed. The model includes the effect of thinning length as well as thinning depth and width, and also it considers the combined loading effect between internal pressure and bending moment. The proposed model has been validated using the results of finite element analysis and pipe experiment data. The results indicate that the proposed model provides more reliable predictions of pipe failure than the current existing model, in terms of accuracy, consistency, and conservativeness of results.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.54-62
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• 2009

The feedwater heaters are Critical components in a nuclear power plant. As the operation years of heaters go by, the maintenance costs required for continuous operation increase. When the carbon steel components in nuclear make contact with running fluid, the wall thinning caused by FAC (flow accelerated corrosion) can be generated. Local wall thinning is inevitable at the area around wet steam entrance to be attacked due to the long term operation. Sometimes the shell with thinned wall is eventually ruptured. To identify the relationship between the local wall thinning and fluid behavior of the feedwater heater, the practical data of a plant, which were based on ultrasonic thickness measurement tests, were analyzed and CFD(Computed Fluid Dynamics) analyses were performed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.402-409
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• 2004

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of local wall thinning on the collapse of elbow subjected to internal pressure and bending moment. Thus, the nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analyses were performed to obtain the collapse moment of elbow containing various wall thinning defects located at intrados and extrados under two loading modes (closing and opening modes) with internal pressure. From the results of analysis, the effect of wall thinning defect on the global moment-rotation behavior of elbow was discussed, and the dependence of collapse moment of elbow on wall thinning depth, length, and circumferential angle was investigated under different loading mode and defect location.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.83-89
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• 2021

The thickness of pipe can be locally reduced during operation due to wall thinning. Due to its significance on structural integrity, many non-destructive detecting techniques and assessment methods are available. In this study, the elastic bending compliance of local wall-thinned pipe is presented in terms of the wall thinning geometry: wall thinning depth, circumferential angle and longitudinal length. Elastic finite element (FE) analysis further shows that the presented equation can be used for any wall thinning shape. The proposed solution differs from FE results by less than 6% for all cases analyzed. The bending compliance increases linearly with increasing longitudinal thinning length and non-linearly with increasing thinning angle and depth.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.134-139
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• 2002

Fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear power plant. However, effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system were not well studied. Acoustic emission(AE) has been widely used in various fields because of its extreme sensitivity, dynamic detection ability and location of growing defects. In this study, we investigated failure modes of locally wall thinned pipes and AE signals by bending test. From test results, we could be divided four types of failure modes of ovalization, crack initiation after ovalization, local buckling and crack initiation after local buckling. And fracture behaviors such as elastic region, yielding range, plastic deformation range and crack progress could be evaluated by AE counts, accumulative counts and time-frequency analysis during bending test. It is expected to be basic data that can protect a risk according to local wall thinning of pipes, as a real time test of AE.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.7 s.250
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• pp.707-714
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• 2006

A numerical analysis study has performed in terms of fluid dynamics to identify the wall thinning generated in the main feedwater isolation valve body of a nuclear power plant. To review the relations between flow characteristics and the wall thinning induced by flow accelerated corrosion (FAC), numerical analysis using FLUENT code and ultrasonic tests (UT) were performed. The local velocities according to the analysis results were compared with the distribution of the measured wall thickness by ultrasonic tests. The comparison results show that the local velocity in the x-direction had no correlation with the wall thinning but the local velocity in the y-direction and turbulence intensity had a great influence on that. These results provide a good match to those of the previous studies - locations colliding vertically against components undergo severe wall thinning. These results may be utilized to the design modification and the wall thinning management for main feedwater isolation valves for preventing the wall thinning degradation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.10 s.241
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• pp.1399-1406
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• 2005

Recently authors have proposed a new method to estimate failure strength of a pipe with local wall thinning subject to either internal pressure or global bending. The proposed method was based on the equivalent stress averaged over the minimum ligament in the locally wall thinned region, and the simple scheme to estimate the equivalent stress in the minimum ligament was proposed, based on the reference stress concept. This paper extends the new method to combined internal pressure and global bending. The proposed method is validated against FE results for various geometries of local wall thinning under combined loading. The effect of internal pressure is also investigated in the present study. Comparison of maximum moments, predicted according to the proposed method, with published full-scale pipe test data fur locally wall-thinned pipes under combined internal pressure and global bending, shows good agreement.