• Journal of The Korean Society For Urban Railway
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.393-399
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• 2018

It is well recognized that residual stresses of the rails, generated from the manufacturing process including roller straightening and heat treatment, play an important role in determining fatigue and fracture properties of the rails. Thus, it has been a challenge to measure the residual stresses accurately. In this work, contour method was employed to evaluate the residual stresses existing in interior of the rails. The cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the rail was cut at a very slow rate using electric discharge machining (EDM), after which a laser-based flexural measuring instrument enabled us to precisely measure the flection of the cross section. The measured data were converted into the residual stresses using the commercial finite element package, ABAQUS, through a user-defined element (UEL) subroutine, and the residual stresses of the new rails (50N, KR60, UIC60) with three different specifications were compared.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.496-504
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• 2021

Background: With the increasing demand for industrial robots and the "noncontact" trend, it is an appropriate point in time to examine whether risk assessments conducted for robot operations are performed effectively to identify and eliminate the risks of injury or harm to operators. This study discusses why robot accidents resulting in harm to operators occur repetitively despite implementing control measures and proposes corrective actions for risk assessments. Methods: This study collected 369 operator-injured robot accidents in Korea over the last decade and reconstructed them into the mechanism of injury, work being undertaken, and bodily location of the injury. Then, through the techniques of Systematic Cause Analysis Technique (SCAT) and Root Cause Analysis (RCA), this study analyzed the root and direct causes of robot accidents that had occurred. Causes identified included physical hazards and complex combinations of hazards, such as psychological, organizational, and systematic errors. The requirements of risk assessments regarding robot operations were examined, and three case studies of robot-involved tasks were investigated. The three assessments presented were: camera module processing, electrical discharge machining, and a panel-flipping robot installation. Results: After conducting RCA and comparing the three assessments, it was found that two-thirds of injury-occurring from robot accidents, causative factors included psychological and personal traits of robot operators. However, there were no evaluations of the identifications of personal aspects in the three assessment cases. Conclusion: Therefore, it was concluded that personal factors of operators, which had been overlooked in risk assessments so far, need to be included in future risk assessments on robot operations.

• Composites Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2006

In this paper, parametric study was carried out to design sandwich structures for EDM machines controlling stacking sequence, stacking thickness of composites and rib configuration. Sandwich structures which are dealt with in this paper are composed of fibre reinforced composite for skin material and foam or resin concrete for core materials. The sandwich column has cruciform rib to enhance bending stiffness of the structure and the bed has several vertical ribs to resist the normal forces and vibration. The design parameters such as rib thickness and stacking sequence were controlled to enhance the system robustness. Finite element analysis was also carried out to verify the variation of static and dynamic stiffness of the structures according to the variation of the parameters. Vibration tests were performed to verify the natural frequencies and damping ratios of the manufactured composite structures. The appropriate shape and configuration conditions for micro-EDM machine structures are proposed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.374-382
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• 2009

Steam generator(SG) tube, as a barrier isolating primary to the secondary coolant system of nuclear power plants(NPP), must maintain the structural integrity far the public safety and its efficient power generation capacity. And SG tubes bearing defects must be timely detected and taken repair measures if needed. For the accomplishment of these objectives, SG tubes have been periodically examined by eddy current testing(ECT) on the basis of administrative notices and intensified SG management program(SGMP). Stress corrosion cracking(SCC) on the SG tubes is not easily detected and even missed since it has lower signal amplitude and other disturbing factors against its detection. However once SCC is developed, that can cause detrimental affects to the SG tubes due to its rapid propagation rate. Accordingly SCC is categorized as prime damage mechanism challenging the soundness of the SG tubes. In this study, reproduced EDM notch specimens are examined for the detectability and quantitative characterization of the axial ODSCC by +PT MRPC probe, containing pancake, +PT and shielded pancake coils apart in a single plane around the circumference. The results of this study are assumed to be applicable fur providing key information of engineering evaluation of SCC and improvement of confidence level of ECT on SG tubes.