• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.649-655
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• 2013

During welding, the dissimilar metal butt welds of nuclear piping are typically subjected to repair welding in order to eliminate defects that are found during post-weld inspection. It has been found that the repair weld can significantly increase the tensile residual stress in the weldment, and therefore, accurate estimation of the weld residual stress due to repair weld, especially for dissimilar metal welds using Ni-based alloy 82/182 in nuclear components, is of great importance in order to assess susceptibility to primary water stress corrosion cracking. In the present study, the stress distributions of dissimilar metal butt welds in nuclear reactor piping subjected to repair weld were investigated based on detailed nonlinear finite element analyses. Particular emphasis was placed on the variation of the stress distribution in the dissimilar metal butt weld according to the finite element welding analysis sequence for the repair welding process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2012

In pressurized water nuclear reactors, dissimilar metal welds are susceptible to primary water stress corrosion cracking. To access this problem, accurate estimation of welding residual stresses is important. This paper provides general welding residual stress profiles in dissimilar metal nozzle butt welds using finite element analysis. By introducing a simplified shape for dissimilar metal nozzle butt welds, changes in the welding residual stress distribution can be seen using a geometry variable. Based on the results, a welding residual stress profile for dissimilar metal nozzle butt welds is proposed that modifies the existing welding residual stress profile for austenitic pipe butt welds.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.10
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• pp.1227-1234
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• 2012

In this study, fatigue tests were carried out using real-scale pipe bend specimens with wall-thinning defects under a cyclic bending load together with a constant internal pressure of 10 MPa. The wall-thinning defect was located at the extrados and the intrados of the pipe bend specimens. A fully reversed cyclic in-plane bending displacement was applied to the specimens. For the pipe bends with wall thinning at the extrados, an axial crack occurred at the crown of the pipe bend rather than at the extrados where the defect was located. In addition, the fatigue life was longer than that of a sound pipe bend predicted from the design fatigue curve in ASME Sec.III, and it was less dependent on the axial length of the wall-thinning defect. For the pipe bends with wall thinning at the intrados, a circumferential crack occurred at the intrados. In this case, the fatigue life was much shorter than that of a sound pipe bend predicted from the design fatigue curve, and it clearly decreased with decreasing axial length of the wall-thinning defect.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.426-432
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• 1999

A plus-point eddy current test(ECT) probe was developed to examine the defects on the welds of pumps, valves, and pipings which are the major components of the electric power plants, non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for detecting and sizing the flaws were studied adapting this probe. Differential plus-point ECT probe is consists of two "I"-type coils crossed each other and has an advantage having a small influence on the sensitivity by lift-off variation to the conventional types of probe. The specimens with crack-like electro discharge machining(EDM) notches on the weld of type 304 stainless-steel were fabricated in order to evaluate the plus-point ECT probe response to the flaws. NDE techniques to detect and size the flaws and estimate the flaw type were established with this specimens.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1843-1853
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• 1996

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the crack stability of the nuclear main stresm pipes, considering the load reduction effect due to the presence of circumferential throuth-wall crack. Also, the optimization techniques are adoped tosimulate the crack effect on the elbow component of the piuping system. By using a general beam elemetn which contains a discontinuous cross-section, the piping analysis is accomplished to acquire the reduced load. Considering this reduced load, it is feasible for the LBB application in nuclear main stresm pipe. Also, by combining an optimization program and a genaral finite element analysis program, the appropriate dimensions of the simplified beam elemtn which represents the effect of crack in elbow could be successfully determined.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.741-747
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• 2001

Three-dimensional, elastic-plastic finite element analyses for circumferential through-wall cracked pipes are performed using actual tensile data of stainless steels, for two purposes. The first one is to validate the recently-proposed enhanced reference stress (ERS) method to estimate the J-integral and COD for circumferential through-wall cracked pipes. The second one is to compare those results with the GE/EPRI estimations. It is found that the J-integral and COD estimations according to the GE/EPRI method can be very sensitive to how the stress-strain data are fitted using the Ramberg-Osgood relation. Moreover, no tendency can be found regarding the most appropriate fitting range for the Ramberg-Osgood fit. On the contrary, the J-integral and COD estimations based on the ERS method give more accurate results than the GE/EPRI estimation. The present results provide confidence in applying the proposed method to the Leak-Before-Break(LBB) analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.380-385
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• 2010

The integrity of components and piping of operating nuclear power plants has been identified by in-service inspection(ISI) requirements and activities commensurate with standards and codes such as KEPIC MI or ASME Code Section XI. However, the other various degradation mechanisms not considered during design stage of nuclear power plants have been checked by enhanced ISI. The requirements of enhanced ISI have been voluntarily developed by the industry itself or strickly issued by regulatory body. Even though the requirements were developed by the industry, they should be reviewed by regulatory body for their application in nuclear power plants. The enhanced ISI activities and requirements of non-destructive examination(NDE) which reflect the degradation issues in nuclear power industry will be primarily discussed in this paper.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.415-418
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• 2011

Thermal fatigue is one of the life-limiting damage mechanisms in the nuclear power plant conditions. The turbulent mixing of fluids of different temperatures induces rapid temperature changes to the pipe wall. The successive thermal transients cause varying cyclic thermal stresses. These cyclic thermal stresses cause fatigue crack nucleation and growth similar to the cyclic mechanical stresses. The aim of this study was to fulfil the need by developing an real crack manufacturing method, which would produce realistic cracks. The test material was austenitic STS 304, which is used as pipelines in the reactor coolant system of a nuclear power plants. In order to fabricate thermal fatigue crack similar to realistic crack, successive thermal transients were applied to the specimen. Thermal transient cycles were combined with heating (60sec) and cooling cycle (30sec). And, In order to identify ultrasonic characteristic, it was performed the ultrasonic reflection measuring method for the fabricated specimen. From the results of ultrasonic reflection measuring testing, it was conformed that A-scan results(average 83% of real crack depth) for the TFC reference specimen was more enhanced NDT reliability than results(average 38% of real crack depth) for the EDM notch reference specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.61-66
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• 2008

It is important to calculate the exact crack opening area in the cracked pipe subjected to axial force and bending moment. Among many solutions for obtaining the crack opening displacement, Paris-Tada's expression, which is derived from energy method, is open used in fracture analysis for piping crack problems because of its simplicity. But Paris-Tada's equation has conservativeness when radius over thickness ratio(R/t) is ten or less, for it is based on the stress intensity factor solution having a compliance function derived from a simple shell theory. In this paper we derived a new expression using a different stress intensity factor solution which is able to consider the variation of compliance through wall thickness in a cracked pipe. Conservativeness of both equations was examined and compared to finite element analysis results. Conservativeness of the new equation is decreased when R/t > 10 and increased slightly when R/t < 10 compared with Paris-Tada's. But Both equations were highly conservative when R/t < 10 compared with finite element analysis results.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.619-628
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• 2001

In building construction, openings of the story-height deep beams are usually required for accessibility and service lines such as air conditioning ducts, drain pipes and electric units. It is known that the main parameters affecting the load bearing capacity of deep beams with web openings are size, shape, location and reinforcements of openings. However, there have been no pertinent theories and national design codes for predicting ultimate shear strength of reinforced concrete deep beams with web openings. In this study, the shear behavior of simply supported reinforced concrete deep beams with web openings subject to concentrated loads has been scrutinized experimentally. A total of 34 specimens, the geometry of openings, its reinforcements and shear span to depth ratio, being taken as the experimental variables, has been cast and tested in the laboratory. The effects of these structural parameters on the shear strength and crack initiation and propagation have been carefully checked and analyzed. From the tests, it has been observed that the failures of all specimens were due to shear mechanism and the ultimate strength of specimens varies according to the location of openings, by which the formation of compression struts between the loading points and supports are deterred. All of the test results of specimens have been compared with the formulas proposed by previous researchers. The results were closely coincident with the formulas given by Ray and Kong's equation except for some X series specimens having a larger dimension of openings beyond the geometric limits of proposed equations.