• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.596-604
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• 2001

This paper quantitatively presents the effects of important factors of the probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of safety-critical digital systems. The result which is quantified using fault tree analysis methodology shows that these factors remarkably affect the system safety. In this paper we list the factors which should be represented by the model for PSA. Based on the PSA experience, we select three important factors which are expected to dominate the system unavailability. They are the avoidance of common cause failure, the coverage of fault tolerant mechanisms and software failure probability. We Quantitatively demonstrate the effect of these three factors. The broader usage of digital equipment in nuclear power plants gives rise to the safety problems. Even though conventional PSA methods are immature for applying to microprocessor-based digital systems, practical needs force us to apply it because the result of PSA plays an important role in proving the safety of a designed system. We expect the analysis result to provide valuable feedback to the designers of digital safety- critical systems.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.166-173
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• 2002

Seismic bridge failure due to the combined effects of earthquake and local scour are examined in probabilistic perspectives. The seismic responses of multi-span continuous bridge with deep foundations are evaluated with a simplified mechanical model. The probabilistic local scour depths around the deep foundations are estimated by using the Monte Carlo simulation. From the simulation results, it is found that seismic responses of a bridge slightly increase due to the local scour effect. The effect of local scour on the global motion of the continuous bridge is found to be significant under weak seismic intensity. In addition, the duration to regain its original foundation stiffness is critical in estimating the probability of foundation failure under earthquake. Therefore, the duration in recovering the foundation stiffness should be determined reasonably and the safely of the whole bridge system should be evaluated by considering the scour effect.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.491-501
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• 2021

This paper aims to evaluate the mechanical integrity for Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) cladding under lateral loads during transportation. The evaluation process requires a conservative consideration of the degradation conditions of SNF cladding, especially the hydride effect, which reduces the ductility of the cladding. The dynamic forces occurring during the drop event are pinch force, axial force and bending moment. Among those forces, axial force and bending moment can induce transverse tearing of cladding. Our assessment of 14 × 14 PWR SNF was performed using finite element analysis considering SNF characteristics. We also considered the probabilistic procedures with a Monte Carlo method and a reliability evaluation. The evaluation results revealed that there was no probability of damage under normal conditions, and that under accident conditions the probability was small for transverse failure mode.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.126-132
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• 2010

Carbonation is the results of the interaction of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere with the alkaline hydroxides in the concrete. Reinforced steel corrosion due to concrete carbonation is one of main factors on the decrease in durability of RC structure. This study investigates the influence of carbonation on the bridges under various environment condition and quantifies the effect of carbonation various domestic field data. The failure probability of durability is evaluated on the basis of reliability concept. In addition, service life of the structures is predicted based on the intended probability of durable failure in domestic concrete specification. According to experimental results of the carbonation depth, the carbonation depth increased with structural age. It is analyzed that carbonation velocity of the structures under urban area and sea condition is 1.6-1.9 times faster than the river condition. Service life of the bridges under urban area and sea condition is decreased about 2.4-3.3 times than river condition.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.79-89
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• 2016

If scour is occurred at shallow foundation of bridge, seismic performance of the bridge will be reduced. In order to evaluate accurate seismic response of bridge according to scour depths, modeling of foundation reflecting scour effect is important. In this study, taking into account the effect of the reduction in embedment depth of the shallow foundation by scouring, the soil around the foundation is modelled as an equivalent soil spring with various stiffness. Seismic fragility analyses for 3 types of bridges subjected to 4 types of ground motions classified into Site Class A, B, C, D are evaluated according to several scour depths. From the fragility analysis results, it can be observed that the deeper the scour depth, the higher probability of exceeding damage states. Also, seismic failure probability of asymmetric bridge is higher than that of symmetric bridge.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.04b
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• pp.130-132
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• 2006

For the reliability assessment of solenoid actuator, firstly, we analyzed the cause of major failures and the effect of each failure modes through FMEA and FTA, and decided the main test items through 2-stage QFD. And then, as a measure of life of solenoid actuator, TypeII censored five data were collected from and operation test which was performed as the life test of solenoid actuator. In this paper, we present the reliability parameters of solenoid actuator like shape parameter, scale parameter, etc., which they are produced by MINITAB analysis and marking of Weibull probability paper using the measure of life, and also present the 6 kinds of detailed failure mode analysis.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.543-554
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• 2018

A methodology has been presented for evaluating the partial safety factors on the sliding failure mode of vertical caissons of composite breakwaters and for determining the cross sections of those by Level I reliability-based design method. Especially, a mathematical model has been suggested for the sake of a consistency of code format as well as convenience of application in practical design, for which the uncertainties associated with buoyancy and its own weight can be taken into account straightforwardly. Furthermore, design criteria equation has been derived by considering accurately the effect of uplift pressure, so that the cross sections of caissons can be assessed which must be safe against the sliding failure. It has been found that cross sections estimated from partial safety factors proposed in this paper are in very good agreement with the results of Level II AFDA and Level III MCS under the same target probability of failure. However, partial safety factors of the Technical Standards and Commentaries for Port and Harbour Facilities in Japan and Coastal Engineering Manual in USA tend to estimate much bigger or smaller cross sections in comparison to the present results. Finally, many reliability re-analyses have been performed in order to conform whether the stability level of cross section estimated by Level I reliability-based design method is satisfied with the target probability of failure of partial safety factors or not.

• Composites Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.23-30
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• 2008

In this paper, the effect of the natural aging on the strength distribution and structural service life of a Filament Wound (FW) composite pressure vessel was studied. The fiber failure strain, which is varied significantly, was considered as the design random variable and the strength analysis was carried out by probabilistic numerical approach. The progressive failure analysis technique and the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) were embedded in this numerical model. As the calculation results, the probability of failure was obtained for each aging time steps and it is found that the strength degradation in FW composite pressure vessel, due to the natural aging, appears within 10 year-aging-time. As an example of the life prediction under natural aging using arbitrary laminated model, the service lifetime of 13 years was predicted based on the probability of failure of 2.5% and the design pressure of 3,250 psi.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.367-382
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• 2015

This paper aims to conduct the reliability-based assessment of the welded joint in the orthotropic steel bridge deck by use of a mesh-insensitive structural stress (MISS) method, which is an effective numerical procedure to determine the reliable stress distribution adjacent to the weld toe. Both the solid element model and the shell element model are first established to investigate the sensitivity of the element size and the element type in calculating the structural stress under different loading scenarios. In order to achieve realistic condition assessment of the welded joint, the probabilistic approach based on the structural reliability theory is adopted to derive the reliability index and the failure probability by taking into account the uncertainties inherent in the material properties and load conditions. The limit state function is formulated in terms of the structural resistance of the material and the load effect which is described by the structural stress obtained by the MISS method. The reliability index is computed by use of the first-order reliability method (FORM), and compared with a target reliability index to facilitate the safety assessment. The results achieved from this study reveal that the calculation of the structural stress using the MISS method is insensitive to the element size and the element type, and the obtained structural stress results serve as a reliable basis for structural reliability analysis.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 2022

One of the key tools in assessing the seismic vulnerability of the structures is the use of fragile functions, which is the possibility of damage from a particular damage surface for several levels of risk from the seismic movements of the earth. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of two categories of earthquake events on the fragile curve (FRC) of the steel construction system. In this study, the relative lateral displacement of the structures is considered as a damage criterion. The limits set for modifying the relative lateral position in the HAZUS instruction are used to determine the failure modes, which include: slight, moderate, extensive and complete. The results show, as time strong-motion increases, the probability of exceeding (PoE) increases (for Peak ground acceleration (PGA) less than 0.5). The increase in seismic demand increases the probability of exceeding. In other words, it increases the probability of exceeding, if the maximum earthquake acceleration increases. Also, 7-storey model in extensive mode has 20 and 26.5% PoE larger than 5- and 3-storey models, respectively.