• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2014

In this paper, structural integrity evaluation of reactor pressure vessel bottom head without penetration nozzles in core melting accident has been performed. Considering the analysis results of thermal load, weight of molten core debris and internal pressure, thermal load is the most significant factor in reactor vessel bottom head. The failure probability was evaluated according to the established failure criteria and the evaluation showed that the equivalent plastic strain results are lower than critical strain failure criteria. Thermal-structural coupled analyses show that the existence of elastic zone with a lower stress than yield strength is in the middle of bottom head thickness. As a result of analysis, the elastic zone became narrow and moved to the internal wall as the internal pressure increases, and it is evaluated that the structural integrity of reactor vessel is maintained under core melting accident.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.52-58
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• 2009

A gas turbine consists of an upstream compressor and a downstream turbine with a combustion chamber, and also the compressor and the turbine are generally coupled using a single shaft. Many casing bolts are used to assemble two horizontally separated casings, the gas turbine casing and the compressor casing, in both of axial and vertical directions. Because drilled holes for casing bolts in vertical direction are often too close to drilled holes for casing bolts in axial direction, one can observe cracks in the area frequently during operations of a gas turbine. In this study of the root cause analysis for the cracking initiating from the drilled holes of the casings of a gas turbine, the finite element analysis(FEA) was applied to evaluate the thermal and mechanical characteristics of the casings. By applying the field operation data recorded from combined cycle power plants for FEA, thermal and thermo-mechanical characteristics of a gas turbine are analyzed. The crack is initiated at the geometrical weak point, but it is found that the maximum stress is relieved when the same type of cracks is introduced on purpose during FEA. So, it is verified that the local fracture could be delayed by machining the same type of defects near the hole for casing flange bolts of the gas turbine, where the crack is initiated.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.359-381
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• 2020

Within the framework of DECOVALEX-2019 Task D, full-scale engineered barriers experiment (FEBEX) at Grimsel Test Site was numerically simulated to investigate an applicability of implemented Barcelona basic model (BBM) into TOUGH2-MP/FLAC3D simulator, which was developed for the prediction of the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of bentonite buffer. And the calculated heater power, temperature, relative humidity, total stress, saturation, water content and dry density were compared with in situ data monitored in the various sections. In general, the calculated heater power and temperature provided a fairly good agreement with experimental observations, however, the difference between power of heater #1 and that of heater #2 could not captured in the numerical analysis. It is necessary to consider lamprophyre with low thermal conductivity around heater #1 and non-simplified installation progresses of bentonite blocks in the tunnel for better modeling results. The evolutions and distributions of relative humidity were well reproduced, but hydraulic model needs to be modified because the re-saturation process was relatively fast near the heaters. In case of stress evolutions due to the thermal and hydraulic expansions, the computed stress was in good agreement with the data. But, the stress is slightly higher than the measured in situ data at the early stage of the operation, because gap between rock mass and bentonite blocks have not been considered in the numerical simulations. The calculated distribution of saturation, water content, and dry density along the radial distance showed good agreement with the observations after the first and final dismantling. The calculated dry density near the center of the FEBEX tunnel and heaters were overestimated compared with the observations. As a result, the saturation and water content were underestimated with the measurements. Therefore, numerical model of permeability is needed to modify for the production of better numerical results. It will be possible to produce the better analysis results and more realistically predict the coupled THM behavior in the bentonite blocks by performing the additional studies and modifying the numerical model based on the results of this study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.12-23
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• 2016

For a successful accomplishment of Carbon Capture Sequestration (CCS) projects, appropriate injection conditions should be designed and optimized for site specific geological conditions. In this study, we evaluated the effect of injection conditions such as injection temperature and injection rate on the geomechanical stability of CCS system in terms of TOUGH-FLAC simulator, which is one of the well-known T-H-M coupled analysis methods. The stability of the storage system was assessed by a shear slip potential of the pre-existing fractures both in a reservoir and caprock, expressed by mobilized friction angle and Mohr stress circle. We demonstrated that no tensile fracturing was induced even in the cold CO2 injection, where the injected CO2 temperature is much lower than that of the reservoir and tensile thermal stress is generated, but shear slip of the fractures in the reservoir may occur. We also conducted a scenario analysis by varying injected CO2 volume per unit time, and found out that it was when the injection rate was decreasing in a step-wise that showed the least potential of a shear slip.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.661-678
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• 2015

Buckling Restrained Braces (BRB) have been widely used in the construction industry as they utilize the most desirable properties of both constituent materials, i.e., steel and concrete. They present excellent structural qualities such as high load bearing capacity, ductility, energy-absorption capability and good structural fire behaviour. The effects of size and type of filler material in the existed gap at the steel core-concrete interface as well as the element's cross sectional shape, on BRB's fire resistance capacity was investigated in this paper. A nonlinear sequentially-coupled thermal-stress three-dimensional model was presented and validated by experimental results. Variation of the samples was described by three groups containing, the steel cores with the same cross section areas and equal yield strength but different materials (metal and concrete) and sizes for the gap. Responses in terms of temperature distribution, critical temperature, heating elapsed time and contraction level of BRB element were examined. The study showed that the superior fire performance of BRB was obtained by altering the filler material in the gap from metal to concrete as well as by increasing the size of the gap. Also, cylindrical BRB performed better under fire conditions compared to the rectangular cross section.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.53-59
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• 2022

In this study, an enhanced first-order shear deformation theory is proposed to efficiently and accurately predict the thermo-mechanical-viscoelastic coupled behavior of laminated composite structures. To this end, transverse shearstress and displacement fields are independently assumed, and the strain-energy relationship between these fields issystematically established using the mixed variational theorem (MVT). In MVT, the transverse shear stress fields are obtained from the third-order zigzag model, whereas the displacement fields of the conventional first-order model are considered to amplify the benefits of numerical efficiency. Additionally, a transverse displacement field with a smooth parabolic distribution is introduced to accurately predict the thermal behavior of composite structures. Furthermore, the concept of Laplace transformation is newly employed to simplify the viscoelastic problem, similar to the linear-elastic problem. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed theory, the numerical results obtained herein were compared with those available in the literature.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.988-1004
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• 1996

The characteristics of flow and oxygen concentration are numerically studied in Czochralski 8" silicon crystal growing process considering radiative heat transfer. The analysis of net radiative heat flux on all relevant surfaces shows growing crystal affects the heater power. Furthermore, the variation of the radiative heat flux along the crystal surface in the growing direction is confirmed and should be a cause of thermal stress and defect of the crystal. The calculated distributions of temperature and, heat flux along the wall boundaries including melt/crystal interface, free surface and crucible wall indicate that the frequently used assumption of the thermal boundary conditions of insulated crucible bottom and constant temperature at crucible side wall is not suitable to meet the real physical boundary conditions. It is necessary, therefore, to calculate radiative heat transfer simultaneously with the melt flow in order to simulate the real CZ crystal growth. If only natural convection is considered, the oxygen concentration on the melt/crystal interface decreases and becomes uniform by the application of a cusp magnetic filed. The heater power needed also increases with increasing the magnetic field. For the case of counter rotation of the crystal and crucible, the magnetic field suppresses azimutal flow produced by the crucible rotation, which results in the higher oxygen concentration near the interface.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.159-166
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• 2022

In this study, slender reinforced concrete columns subjected to high temperatures and eccentric axial loads are evaluated by finite element analysis employing Abaqus (a finite element analysis program). Subsequently, the analysis results are compared and assessed. The sequentially coupled thermal stress analysis provided by Abaqus was employed to reflect the condition of an axially loaded column exposed to fire. First, heat transfer analysis was performed on the column cross-section. After verifying the results, another analysis was conducted: the cross-section was transformed into a three-dimensional element and then structural analyzed. In the analysis process, the column was modeled by accounting for the effects of tension stiffening and initial imperfection that could affect convergence and accuracy. The analysis results were compared with 74 experimental records, and an average error of 6% was observed based on the fire exposure and resistance. The foregoing indicates that the fire resistance performance of reinforced concrete columns can be predicted through finite element analysis.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.42-46
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• 2016

Hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC) is one of the most complicated problem in welding. Huge amount of studies have been done for decades. Based on them, various standards have been established to avoid HAC. But it is still a chronic problem in industrial field. It is well known that the main causes of the hydrogen crack are residual stress, crack susceptible micro structures and a certain critical level of hydrogen concentration. Even though the exact generating mechanism is unclear till today, it has been reported that the hydrogen level in the weld metal should be managed less than a certain amount to prevent it. Matsuda studied that the residual hydrogen level in the weld metal can be varied even if the initial hydrogen content is same. It is also insisted in this report that the residual hydrogen concentration is in stronger correlation with hydrogen crack than the initial hydrogen content. But, in practical point of view, the residual hydrogen is still hard to consider because measuring hydrogen level is time and cost consuming process. In this regard, numerical analysis is the only solution for considering the residual hydrogen content. Meanwhile, Takahashi showed the possibility of predicting the residual hydrogen by a rigorous FE analysis. But, few commercial software suitable for solving the weld metal hydrogen has been reported yet. In this study, two dimensional thermal - hydrogen coupled analysis was developed by using the commercial FE software MARC. Since the governing equation of the hydrogen diffusion is similar to the heat transfer, it is shown that the heat transfer FE analysis in association with hydrogen diffusion property can be used for hydrogen diffusion analysis. A series of simulation was performed to verify the accuracy of the model. For BOP (Bead-On-Plate) and the multi-pass butt welding simulations, remaining hydrogen contents in the weld metal is well matched with measurements which are referred from Kim and Masamitsu.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.47-54
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• 2008

Fitting process carried out in the automobile transmission assembly line is classified into three classes; heat fitting, press fitting, and their combined fitting. Heat fitting is a method that heats gear to a suitable range under the tempering temperature and squeezes it toward the outer diameter of shaft. Its stress depends on the yield strength of gear. Press fitting is a method that generally squeezes gear toward that of shaft at room temperature by a press. Another method heats warmly gear and safely squeezes it toward that of shaft. Warm shrink fitting process for the automobile transmission part is now gradually increased, but the parts (shaft/gear) assembled by this process produced dimensional changes in both the outer diameter and profile of the gear. So that it may cause noise and vibration between gears. In order to solve these problems, we need an analysis of warm shrink fitting process, in which design parameters are involved; contact pressure according to fitting interference between outer diameter of shaft and inner diameter of gear, fitting temperature, and profile tolerance of gear. In this study, an closed form equation to predict contact pressure and fitting load was proposed in order to develop an optimization technique of the warm shrink fitting process and verified its reliability through the experimental results measured in the field and FEM, that is, thermal-structural coupled field analysis. Actual loads measured in the field was in good agreements with the results obtained by the theoretical and finite element analysis.