• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 2017

Material defects in the Steam Generator Tubes (SGT) of sodium cooled fast breeder reactor (PFBR) can lead to leakage of water into sodium. The water and sodium reaction will lead to major accidents. Therefore, the examination of steam generator tubes for the early detection of defects is an important requirement for safety and economic considerations. In this work, the Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) based Non Destructive Testing (NDT) technique is used to perform the defect detection process. The rectangular notch defects on the outer surface of steam generator tubes are modeled using COMSOL multiphysics 4.3a software. The obtained MFL images are de-noised to improve the integrity of flaw related information. Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) features are extracted from MFL images and taken as input parameter to train the neural network. A comparative study on characterization have been carried out using feed-forward back propagation (FFBP) and cascade-forward back propagation (CFBP) algorithms. The results of both algorithms are evaluated with Mean Square Error (MSE) as a prediction performance measure. The average percentage error for length, depth and width are also computed. The result shows that the feed-forward back propagation network model performs better in characterizing the defects.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.231-238
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• 2006

Nondestructive examination for low pressure turbine disc in standard nuclear power plant using phased array technique was studied. For this purpose, disc mockups were made and notches were machined in the mockups. Detection and length sizing by different methods are compared. Depth of deep notches could be measured by using AATT(absolute arrival time technique) or RATT(relative arrival time technique) but shallow notches that must be detected in early stage couldn't be measured by these two methods. For this case, notch depth was estimated by using signal response angle range and preyed usefulness.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.333-366
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• 2023

Rock as a mass generally exhibits discontinuities, commonly witnessed in rock slopes and underground structures like tunnels, rock pillars etc. When these discontinuities experiences loading, a new crack emerges from them which later propagates to a macro scale level of failure. The failure pattern is often influenced by the nature of discontinuity, geometry and loading conditions. The study of crack growth in rocks, namely its initiation and propagation, plays an important role in defining the true strength of rock and corresponding failure patterns. Many researchers have considered the length of the discontinuity to be fully persistent on rock or rock-like specimens by both experimental and numerical methods. However, only during recent decades, there has been a substantial growth in research interest with non-persistent discontinuities where the crack growth and its propagation phenomenon were found to be much more complex than persistent ones. The non-persistence fractures surface is generally considered to be open and closed. Compared to open flaws, there is a difference in crack growth behaviour in closed or narrow flaws due to the effect of surface closure between them. The present paper reviews the literature that has contributed towards studying the crack growth behaviour and its failure characteristics on both open and narrow flaws subjected to uniaxial and biaxial compression loading conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.62-71
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• 2018

According to own investigation conducted by Korea Gas Safety Corporation Gas Safety Research Institute in 2017, the length of underground pipes in domestic high-pressure gas pipelines is approximately 770km, of which 84% is buried in Ulsan and Yeosu industrial complexes. In particular, 56% of underground pipelines have been in operation for more than 20 years. This suggests urgent management of buried high pressure gas pipelines. PHMSA in US and EGIG in Europe, major causes of accidents in buried gas pipelines are reported as third party damage, external corrosion and loss of pipe wall thickness. Therefore, it is important to evaluate whether the defects affect the remaining life of the pipe when defects occur in the pipe. DNV and ASME have evaluated the residual strength of pipelines through the hydraulic rupture test using pipe specimens with artifact flaws. Once the operating pressure is known through the residual strength of the pipe, the wall thickness at the point at which the pipe ruptures is calculated. If we know the accurate rate of corrosion growth, we can predict the remaining life of pipe. In the study, we carried out experiments with A53 Grade.B and A106 Grade.B, which account for 80% of domestic buried pipes. In order to modify the existing model equation, specimens with a defect depth of 80% to 90% was tested, and a formula expressing the relationship between defect and residual strength was made.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 1989

Since the nuclear power plants in Korea have been operated in 1979, the nondestructive testing (NDT) of pressure vessels and/or piping welds plays an important role for maintaining the safety and integrity of the plants. Ultrasonic method is superior to the other NDT method in the viewpoint of the detectability of small flaw and accuracy to determine the locations, sizes, orientations, and shapes. As the service time of the nuclear power plants is increased, the radiation level from the components is getting higher. In order to get more quantitative and reliable results and secure the inspector from the exposure to high radiation level, automation of the ultrasonic equipments has been one of the important research and development(R & D) subject. In this research, it was attempted to visualize the shape of flaws presented inside the specimen using a Modified C-Scan technique. In order to develope Modified C-Scan technique, an automatic ultrasonic scanner and a module to control the scanner were designed and fabricated. IBM-PC/XT was interfaced to the module to control the scanner. Analog signals from the SONIC MARK II were digitized by Analog-Digital Converter(ADC 0800) for Modified C-Scan display. A computer program has been developed and has capability of automatic data acquisition and processing from the digital data, which consist of maximum amplitudes in each gate range and locations. The data from Modified C-Scan results was compared with shape from artificial defects using the developed system. Focal length of focused transducer was measured. The automatic ultrasonic equipment developed through this study is essential for more accurate, reliable, and repeatable ultrasonic experiments. If the scanner are modified to meet to appropriate purposes, it can be applied to automation of ultrasonic examination of nuclear power plants and helpful to the research on ultrasonic characterization of the materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.163-171
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• 1998

Near/far field length and directivity of transducers were investigated for the improvement and evaluation of the detectability of flaws in a disc. The reference block is fabricated for the disc of stage 6 in Yonggwang unit 1. The near/far field and directivity of an ultrasonic transducer with the center frequency of 5MHz were calculated for the inspection of the disc. These values showed good agreements with the experimental results. In the system composed of a wedge and a disc, those are evaluated theoretically and experimentally for the specimen with the artificial flaws of the size 2mm and 4mm and an ultrasonic transducer with the center frequency 5MHz and diameter 0.5inch. The detectability of keyway-flaw and detectable region for inspection were evaluated by using both tangential $45^{\circ}$ and $90^{\circ}$ transducers located at the distance of 53mm and 75mm from the disc hub, respectively.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.21-27
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• 2000

To develop the underfill materials which are required for the new process of semi-conductor industry, the properties of epoxy/anhydride/cobalt(II) catalyst system with two types of fused silica(1 $\mu\textrm{m}$, 8 $\mu\textrm{m}$) are studied as a function of filler fraction. According to the curing profile, the optimum catalyst amount was 1.0 wt% for full curing at the conditions of $160^{\circ}C$/l5 min., and we could conclude that the viscosity has superior effect on the real flaw through the relationship between surface tension and viscosity data. The underfills which were filled with 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ fused silica did not show good flowability, but they should be useful by improving the viscosity for a future process which has small gaps. The underfills which were filled with 8 $\mu\textrm{m}$ fused silica showed good flowability when the filler contents were 55~60 vol%. The model which was referred by Matthew can predict the real flow length only when the underfill has high viscosity and low surface tension.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 1994

Conventional ultrasonic flaw detection system uses a large amplitude narrow pulse to excite a transducer. However, these systems are limited in pulse energy. An excessively large amplitude causes a dielectric breakage of the transducer, and an excessively long pulse causes decrease of the resolution. Using the pulse compression, a long pulse of pseudorandom signal can be used without sacrificing resolution by signal correlation. In the present work, the pulse compression technique was implemented into an ultrasonic system. Golay code was used as a pseudorandom signal in this system, since pair sum of autocorrelations has no sidelobe. The equivalent input pulse of the Golay code was derived to analyze the pulse compression system. Throughout the experiment, the pulse compression technique has demonstrated for its improved SNR(signal to noise ratio) by reducing the system's white noise. And the experimental data also indicated that the SNR enhancement was propotional to the square root of the code length used. The technique seems to perform particularly well with highly energy-absorbent materials such as polymers, plastics and rubbers.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.48-55
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• 2012

Pressure vessels in vehicle industries, power plants, and chemical industries are often affected by flaw and defect generated inside the pressure vessels due to production processes or being used. It is very important to detect such internal defects of pressure vessel because they sometimes bring out serious problems. In this paper, an optical defect detection method using digital shearography is used. This method has advantages that the inspection can be performed at a real time measurement and is less sensitive to environmental noise. Shearography is a laser-based technique for full-field, non-contacting measurement of surface deformation (displacement or strain). The ultimate goal of this paper is to detect flaws in pressure vessels and to measure the lengths of the flaws by using unwrapping, phase images which are only obtained by Phase map. Through this method, we could decrease post-processing (next processing). Real length of a pixel can be calculated by comparing minimum and maximum unwrapping images with shearing angle. Through measuring several specimen defects which have different lengths and depths of defect, it can be possible to interpret quantitatively by calculating gray level.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2013

Steam turbine blades and discs of nuclear power plants are one of the most highly stressed areas of turbine rotor, and periodic inspection of the blade roots is essential for monitoring integrity and preventing turbine failure. Ultrasonic technique is applied for volumetric inspection of blade root. However, the complexity of blade root geometry imposes challenges to inspection of blades and discs. Recently, phased array ultrasonic inspection technology is being applied to numerous power generation inspection applications including turbine rotor. The phased array ultrasonic technique requires customized inspection wedges which are generally necessary to generate effectively higher incident angle. But the usage of this wedge can cause access limitation for the lower stage blades of turbine because of the wedge front length. Therefore, the shear wave phased array probe which can generate high inspection angle without wedge is essentially necessary. In this study, feasibility study is conducted for the shear wave phased array ultrasonic probe application to blade and disc inspection. As results, the experimental results show that the shear wave phased array probe can detect the flaw and measure its size with reliable accuracy. Therefore if this shear wave phased array probe is applied to field inspection of blade and disc, more reliable inspection is expected for turbine having access limitation.