• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2019

Severe wall thinning is found on the tube of a low-pressure evaporator(LPEVA) module that is used for a heat recovery steam generator(HRSG) of a district heating system. Since wall thinning can lead to sudden failure or accidents that lead to shutdown of the operation, it is very important to investigate the main mechanism of the wall thinning. In this study, corrosion analysis associated with a typical flow-accelerated corrosion(FAC) is performed using the corroded tube connected to an upper header of the LPEVA. To investigate factors triggering the FAC, the morphology, composition, and phase of the corroded product of the tube are examined using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and x-ray diffraction. The results show that the thinnest part of the tube is in the region where gas directly contacts, revealing the typical orange peel type of morphology frequently found in the FAC. The discovery of oxide scales containing phosphate indicates that phosphate corrosion is the main mechanism that weakens the stability of the protective magnetite film and the FAC accelerates the corrosion by generating the orange peel type of morphology.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.61-71
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• 2019

Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) is a phenomenon in which a protective coating on a metal surface is dissolved by a flow of fluid in a metal pipe, leading to continuous wall-thinning. Recently, many countries have developed computer codes to manage FAC in power plants, and the FAC prediction model in these computer codes plays an important role in predictive performance. Herein, the FAC prediction model was developed by applying a machine learning method and the conventional nonlinear regression method. The random forest, a widely used machine learning technique in predictive modeling led to easy calculation of FAC tendency for five input variables: flow rate, temperature, pH, Cr content, and dissolved oxygen concentration. However, the model showed significant errors in some input conditions, and it was difficult to obtain proper regression results without using additional data points. In contrast, nonlinear regression analysis predicted robust estimation even with relatively insufficient data by assuming an empirical equation and the model showed better predictive power when the interaction between DO and pH was considered. The comparative analysis of this study is believed to provide important insights for developing a more sophisticated FAC prediction model.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.437-442
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• 2010

Flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) leads to thinning of steel pipe walls that are exposed to flowing water or wet steam. From experience, it is seen that FAC damage to piping at fossil and nuclear plants can result in outages that require expensive repairs and can affect plant reliability and safety. CHECWORKS have been utilized in domestic nuclear plants as a predictive tool to assist FAC engineers in planning inspections and evaluating the inspection data so that piping failures caused by FAC can be prevented. However, CHECWORKS may be occasionally ignore local susceptible portions when predicting FAC damage in a group of pipelines after constructing a database for all the secondary side piping in nuclear plants. This paper describes the methodologies that can complement CHECWORKS and the verifications of CHECWORKS prediction results using numerical analysis. FAC susceptible locations determined using CHECWORKS for two pipeline groups of a nuclear plant was compared with determined using the numerical-analysis-based FLUENT.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.148-163
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• 1998

Flow Induced Material Degradation (FIMD) is reviewed focusing on Flow Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) models. Several examples of FAC related incidents are described, which include nuclear and fossile power plants. Lastly, mitigation techniques such as inspection, material selection, water chemistry, temperature, and hydrodynamic factor are discussed.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.9
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• pp.3003-3011
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• 2021

A FAC (flow-accelerated corrosion) test was performed for a straight pipe composed of the SA335 Gr P22 and SA106 Gr B (SA106-SA335-SA106) types of steel with welds as a function of the flow rate in the range of 7-12 m/s at 150 ℃ and with DO < 5 ppb at pH levels ranging from 7 to 9.5 up to a cumulative test time of 7200 h using the FAC demonstration test facility. Afterward, the experimental pipe was examined destructively to investigate opposite effects as well as entrance effects. In addition, the FAC rate obtained using a pipe specimen with a 50 mm inner diameter was compared with the rate obtained from a rotating cylindrical electrode. The effects of the complicated fluid flows at the elbow and orifice of the pipeline were also evaluated using another test section designed to examine the independent effects of the orifice and the elbow depending on the distance and the combined effects on orifice and elbow. The tests were performed under the following conditions: 130-150 ℃, DO < 5 ppb, pH 7 and a flow rate of 3 m/s. The FAC rate was determined using the thickness change obtained from commercial room-temperature ultrasonic testing (UT).

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.325-330
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• 2015

Pipe wall-thinning by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) is a significant and costly damage of secondary system piping in nuclear power plants (NPPs). All NPPs have their management programs to ensure pipe integrity from wall-thinning. This study analyzed the pipe wall-thinning caused by changing the amine, which is used for adjusting the water chemistry in the secondary system of NPPs. The pH change was analyzed according to the addition of amine. Then, the wear rate calculated in two different amines was compared at the steam cycle in NPPs. As a result, increasing the pH at operating temperature (Hot pH) can reduce the rate of FAC damage significantly. Wall-thinning is affected by amine characteristics depending on temperature and quality of water.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2000

Significant wall thinning due to flow accelerated corrosion(FAC）was recently reported in main feedwater pipes in 3 Korean pressurized water reactor(PWR) plants. The main feedwater pipes in one plant were repaired using overlay weld method at the outside of pipe, while those in 2 other plants were replaced with new pipes. In this study, the effect of the wall thinning in the main feedwater pipes on piping integrity was evaluated using finite element method. Especially, the effects of both the overlay weld repair and the stress concentration in notch-type thinned area on the piping integrity were investigated. The results are as follows : (1) The piping load carrying capacity may significantly decrease due to FAC. In special, the load carrying capacity of the main feedwater pipe was reduced by about 40% during about 140 months operation in Korean PWR plants. (2) By performing overlay weld repair at the outside of pipe, the piping load carrying capacity can increase and the stress concentration level in the thinned area can be reduced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.595-604
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• 2000

Flow-Accelerated Corrosion Behavior of SA106 Gr.C steel in room temperature alkaline solution simulating the CANDU primary water condition was studied using Rotating Cylinder Electrode. Systems of RCE were set up and electrochemical parameters were applied at various rotating speeds. Corrosion current density decreased up to pH 10.4 then it increased rapidly at higher pH. This is due to the increasing tendency of cathodic and anodic exchange half-cell current. Corrosion potential shifted slightly upward with rotating velocity. Passive film was formed from pH 9.8 by the mechanism of step oxidation and the subsequent precipitation of ferrous species into hydroxyl compound. Above pH 10.4, the film formation process was active and the film became stable. Corrosion current density showed increment in pH 6.98 with the rotating velocity, while it soon saturated from 1000 rpm above pH 9.8. This seems that activation process which represents formation of passive film on the bare metal surface controls the entire corrosion process

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.255.2-255
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• 2001

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.245-252
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• 2016

The pipelines and equipments are degraded by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC), and a large-scale test facility was constructed for simulate the FAC phenomena in secondary coolant environment of PWR type nuclear power plants. Using this facility, FAC test was performed on weld pipe (carbon steel and low alloy steel) at the conditions of high velocity flow (> 10 m/s). Wall thickness was measured by high temperature ultrasonic monitoring systems (four-channel buffer rod type and waveguide type) during test period and room temperature manual ultrasonic method before and after test period. This work deals with the complex effects of flow velocity on the wall thinning in weld pipe and the test results showed that the higher flow velocity induced different increasement of wall thinning rate for the carbon steel and low alloy steel pipe.