• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2024

The core shroud of rector vessel internals (RVI) of OPR1000 and ARP1400 is made of Type 304 stainless steel (SS) by bending and welding process that may induce high deformation and residual stress in manufacturing. This work aims to evaluate the susceptibility of stress corrosion crack (SCC) initiation of bent parts of RVI in high temperature primary water environment. For SCC initiation test, tensile specimens were fabricated from the 90 degree bent plate of Type 304 SS (DT specimen), that is an archived part of a Korean APR1400. After the SCC initiation test, the specimen surface was thoroughly examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy, and compared to the specimen fabricated from the as-received plate of Type 304 SS (AR specimen). The surface observation revealed that SCC initiated on the AR specimen surface in typical intergranular (IG) mode, while SCC on the DT specimen occurred in transgrannular mode as well as IG mode. It was also found that the size and number of SCC on the DT specimen were larger than that on the AR specimen. This was attributable to a strain-hardening during the bending process. To compare the susceptibility of SCC initiation, total crack density (TCD) was calculated from the total crack length divided by the measured area of AR and DT specimens. TCD of DT specimen was 4.6 times higher than AR specimen in average, indicating that higher possibility of degradation of bent parts of RVI for a long-term operation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2012

In a material, micro-cracks can be progressively occurred, propagated and finally lead to failure when it is subjected to cyclic or periodic loading less than its ultimate strength. This phenomenon, fatigue, is usually considered in a metal, alloy and structures under repeated loading conditions. In underground structures, a static creep behavior rather than a dynamic fatigue behavior is mostly considered. However, when compressed air is stored in a rock cavern, an inner pressure is periodically changed due to repeated in- and-out process of compressed air. Therefore mechanical properties of surrounding rock mass and an inner lining system under cyclic loading/unloading conditions should be investigated. In this study, considering an underground lined rock cavern for compressed air energy storage (CAES), the mechanical properties of a lining system, that is, concrete lining and plug under periodic loading/unloading conditions were characterized through cyclic bending tests and shear tests. From these tests, the stability of the plug was evaluated and the S-N line of the concrete lining was obtained.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.10 no.3 s.36
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• pp.423-435
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• 1998

In this paper fatigue strength reduction of butt weld with penetration defect, which can be seen frequently in the steel bridge, was assessed quantitatively. S-N curves were derived and investigated through the constant amplitude fatigue test of fully or partially penetrated welded specimen made of SWS490 steel. The fracture mechanical method was applied in order to calculate the remaining fatigue life of the partially penetrated butt welds. The fatigue limit of the fully penetrated butt welds was higher than that of category A in AASHTO's fatigue design curves, and the slope of S-N curves with 5.57 was stiffer than that of other result for welded part generally accepted as 3. The fatigue strength of the partially Penetrated butt weld was strongly influenced by the size of lack of penetration, D. It decreased drastically with increasing D from 3.9 to 14.7mm. Fracture behaviour of the partially penetrated butt weld is able to be explained obviously from the beach mark test that a semi-elliptical surface crack with small a/c ratio initiates at a internal weld root and propagates through the weld metal. To estimate the fatigue life of the partially penetrated butt weld with fracture mechanics, stress intensity factors K of 3-dimensional semi-elliptical crack were calculated by appling finite elements method and fracture mechanics parameters such as C and m were derived through the fatigue test of CT-specimen. As a result, the fatigue lives obtained by using the fracture mechanical method agreed well with the experimental results. The results were applied to Sung-Su bridge collapsed due to penetration defects in butt weld of vertical member.