• 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.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.79.2-79.2
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• 2005

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.1253-1254
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• 2005

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.41-46
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• 2007

The microstructure and electrochemical analysis of welds of electric resistance welding(ERW) pipe were investigated. The direction of metal flow line in HAZ of ERW pipe shifted to the inner(or outer) surface of pipe by plastic deformation during welding. The lowest heat input welds of ERW pipe was showed crack by liquid penetrant testing. Accelerated corrosion test by constant current density of 20mA/$cm^{2}$ developed groove at the welds of ERW pipe and the measured grooving factors were about $1.2{\sim}1.5$. Corrosion potential of base metal obtained by cyclic polarization in artificial sea water(3.5wt.% NaCl solution) was 100mV higher than that of weld metal of ERW pipe.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.130-138
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• 2014

Wall thinning can be classified into three types: flow-accelerated corrosion, cavitation erosion and solid particle erosion. This article presents a study of solid particle erosion, which frequently causes damages to power plants' pipe system. Unlike previous studies, this study uses a mechanism to make solid particles in a fluid flow collide with pipe materials in underwater condition. Experiment is conducted in three cases of velocity according to solid-water ratio using the three types of the materials of A106B, SS400, and A6061. The experiments were performed for 30 days, and the surface morphology and hardness of the materials were examined for every 7 days. Based on the velocity change of the solid particles in a fluid flow, the surface changes, the change in the amount of erosion, the erosion rate and the variation in the hardness of carbon steel and aluminum family pipe materials can all be determined. In addition, factor-based erosion rates are verified and a wall-thinning relation function is suggested for the pipe materials.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.120-125
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• 2007

Put Abstract text here The strain distribution measurement for wall thinned pipe bends by ESPI is presented. Defect types observed in the steel piping in the nuclear power plants (NPP) are the crack at the weld part and the wall thinning defect in the pipe bends. Especially, the wall thinning defects in the pipe bends due to the flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) is a main type of defects observed in the carbon steel piping system. ESPI is one of the optical non-destructive testing methods and can measure the stress and the strain distribution of the object subjected by the tensile loading or the internal pressure. In this paper, the strain distribution of the wall thinned pipe bends due to the internal pressure will be measured by ESPI technique and the results are discussed. From the results, the size of the wall thinning defect can also be measured approximately.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.18-29
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• 2007

Feedwater heaters of many nuclear power plants have recently experienced severe wall thinning damage, which will increase as operating time progresses. Several nuclear power plants in Korea have experienced wall thinning damage in the area around the impingement baffle - installed downstream of the high pressure turbine extraction steam line - inside number 5A and 5B feedwater heaters. At that point, the extracted steam from the high pressure turbine is two phase fluid at high temperature, high pressure, and high speed. Since it flows in reverse direction after impinging the impingement baffle, the shell wall of the number 5 high pressure feedwater heater may be affected by flow-accelerated corrosion. This paper describes the comparisons between the numerical analysis results using the FLUENT code and the down scale experimental data in an effort to determine root causes of the shell wall thinning of the high pressure feedwater heaters. The numerical analysis and experimental data were also confirmed by actual wall thickness measured by an ultrasonic test.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.1 s.256
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• pp.1-7
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• 2007

Feedwater heaters of many nuclear power plants have recently experienced severe wall thinning damage, which will increase as operating time progresses. Several nuclear power plants in Korea have experienced wall thinning damage in the area around the impingement baffle - installed downstream of the high pressure turbine extraction steam line - inside number 5A and 5B feedwater heaters. At that point, the extracted steam from the high pressure turbine is two phase fluid at high temperature, high pressure, and high speed. Since it flows in reverse direction after impinging the impingement baffle, the shell wall of the number 5 high pressure feedwater heater may be affected by flow-accelerated corrosion. This paper describes the comparisons between the numerical analysis results using the FLUENT code and the down scale experimental data in an effort to determine root causes of the shell wall thinning of the high pressure feedwater heaters. The numerical analysis and experimental data were also confirmed by actual wall thickness measured by an ultrasonic test.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.847-852
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• 2009

Feedwater heaters of many nuclear power plants have recently experienced severe wall thinning damange, which will increase as operating time progresses. Several nuclear power plants in Korea have experienced wall thinning damage in the area around the impingement baffle inside feed-water heater installed downstream of the turbine extraction stream line. At that point, the extract steam from the turbine is two phase fluid at high temperature, high pressure, and high speed. Since it flows to reverse direction after impinging the impingement baffle, the shell wall of feedwater heaters may be affected by flow-accelerated corrosion. In this paper, to compare wall thinning range according to change entrance nozzle diameter and position with reference numerical analysis model's wall thinning range, various numerical analysis models applied. In case of changing diameter, four different diameter is applied. And a side of nozzle position, two different position-vertical type and parallel type-is applied. And then this paper describes operation of numerical analysis which is composed similar condition with real feed water heater. In conclusion, this study shows effective design for shall wall thinning by changing nozzle diameter and position.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.546-551
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• 2010

The objective of this research is to estimate the crack location and size of a carbon steel pipe by using a laser ultrasound guided wave for the wall thinning evaluation of an elbow. The wall thinning of the carbon steel pipe is one of the most serious problems in nuclear power plants, especially the wall thinning of the carbon steel elbow caused by Flow-Accelerated Corrosion (FAC). Therefore, a non-destructive inspection method of elbow is essential for the nuclear power plants to operate safely. The specimens used in this study were carbon steel elbows, which represented the main elements of real nuclear power plants. The shape of the wall thinning was an oval with a width of 120mm, a length of 80mm, and a depth of 5mm. The L(0,1) and L(0,2) modes variation of the ultrasound guided wave signal is obtained from the response of the laser generation/air-coupled detection ultrasonic hybrid system represent the characteristics of the defect. The trends of these characteristics and signal processing were used to estimate the size and location of wall thinning.