• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 1998

In this work a method to detect the vibrational peak and to decide the vibrational mode of detected peak for core internal vibration monitoring system which is particularly concerned on the core support barrel (CSB) and fuel assemblies is developed. Flow induced vibration and aging process in the reactor internals cause unsoundness of the internal structure. In order to monitor the vibrational status of core internal, signals from the ex-core neutron detectors are transformed into frequency domain. By analyzing transformed frequency domain signal, an analyst can acquire the information on the vibrational characteristics of the structures, i.e., vibration frequencies of each component, vibrational level, modes of vibration, and the causes of the abnormal vibration, if any. This study is focused on the development of the automated monitoring system. Several methods are surveyed to define the peaks in power spectrum and fuzzy theory is used to automatic detection of the vibrational peaks. Fuzzy algorithm is adopted to define the modes of vibration using the peak values from fuzzy peak recognition, phase spectrum, and coherence spectrum.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.817-824
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• 2012

The most important component of a nuclear power plant is its nuclear reactor. Studies on the integrity of reactors have become an important part regarding the safety of a nuclear power plant. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Regulatory Guide (NRC RG) 1.20 presents a Comprehensive Vibration Assessment Program (CVAP) to be used to verify the structural integrity of the Reactor Vessel Internals (RVI) for flow-induced vibration prior to commercial operation. However, there are few published studies related to the RVI CVAP. We classified the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) RVI CVAP as a non-prototype category-2 reactor as part of an independent validation of its design. The aim of this paper is to present the results of structural response analyses of the Upper Guide Structure (UGS) assembly of the APR1400 reactor. These results show that the UGS and the Inner Barrel Assembly (IBA) meet the specified integrity levels of the design acceptance criteria. The vibration and stress analysis results in this paper will be used as basic information to select measurement locations of the vibration and stress for the APR1400 RVI CVAP.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.154-166
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• 2015

The in-core instrumentation measures core power distribution and coolant temperature in local regions of the core in pressurized water reactors. The installation types are distinguished by the designs of routing paths that exit either through reactor bottom mounted instrument nozzles or through reactor top mounted instrument nozzles. Although each type has unique advantages, it is generally known that top mounted design is more competitive with respect to emphasizing nuclear safety issues and ability to cope with severe accidents. The international nuclear vendors have provided various types of reactors with top mounted design. Nuclear power reactors in Korea, however, only have been designed to be applicable to the use of bottom mounted design, and it has been pointed out that the capabilities of Korean reactors against severe accidents should be further enhanced. The paper deals with technical issues on reactor internal and external design, in-core instrumentation, support assembly, sealing mechanism with nozzles, handling, and analytical issues in order to establish the ways of development.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.821-826
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• 2011

A basic concept for selection criteria of measuring places of RVI CVAP is to determine measuring places and sensors based on the results of the hydraulic and structural analysis for RVI CVAP in APR1400. In addition, there is the important selection criteria to determine measuring places for measurement of RVI CVAP ; the first is to choose measuring places according to U.S. NRC R.G. 1.20, the second is to select measuring places by RVI design review, the third is to option on the basis of measurement results of SYSTEM 80, the forth is to decide using review results on a design change of a reactor and the last is to determine using the review on the possibility of installation/removal of sensors and structures for the measurement. We developed selection criteria of measuring places for RVI CVAP in APR1400 and this will be directly applied to the measurement program for RVI CVAP.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

A reactor vessel internals comprehensive vibration assessment program(RVI CVAP) of an advanced power reactor 1400(APR1400) is being performed as a non-prototype category-2 type of reactor based on the US nuclear regulatory commission regulatory guide(NRC RG) 1.20. The aim of this paper is to present the results of structural response analysis and measuring locations of a upper guide structure(UGS) assembly of the APR1400 reactor. The analysis results of the UGS assembly show that the specified integrity levels meet the design acceptance criteria. Also, the measuring locations are determined by the analysis results of the UGS assembly and selection criteria of previous study. These analysis results and measuring locations will be used as a guide to design a measurement system for the APR1400 RVI CVAP.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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• pp.99-101
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• 2014

A Comprehensive Vibration Assessment Program (CVAP) for steam generator internals (SGI) of Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400) is being performed in accordance with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) Regulatory Guide 1.20 (RG 1.20) revision 3. This paper studies the vibration characteristics of moisture separator assembly as part of the vibration and stress analysis program for APR1400 SGI CVAP. The natural frequencies, mode shapes, and structural behavior of moisture separator assembly were investigated through modal analysis using finite element method and experimental measurement. Since the moisture separator consists of several items with complicated shape, an idealized shell model was used in the finite element analysis. Group of local modes caused by moisture separators and significant modes of shroud and separator support plate were identified. The results of this paper are to be utilized in the structural response analysis of moisture separator assembly.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.12a
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• pp.315-320
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• 2004

Swing check valves are the most common type of check valve in nuclear power plant and need to be operated property to perform their functions and to keep the valve internals stable. However, for a swing check valve disc to remain stable, the opening characteristics should be identified and the upstream flow velocity should be enough to hold the disc fully open and without motion. Thus it is necessary to develop a model for predicting the flow velocity for a given disc opening. In the present study, the disc positions with mean flow velocity were measured for 3 inch and 6 inch swing check valves. Comparison of the measurements with the existing models showed that the models underestimate the mean flow velocity for a given disc position. Therefore, the existing model for predicting swing check valve disc position was improved with the realistic disc impingement area perpendicular to the flow stream and the experimental data. The result showed that the improved model with the best estimate of kb = 0.04 predicts well the disc openings of 6 inch swing check valve, especially in the low velocity region. For better prediction of the disc opening at high flow velocity, however, it is recommended to develop a kb correlation with the disc angle.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.710-720
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• 1995

The propagation of pump-induced pressure pulsation in a reactor is important because of the potential for vibration and resultant damage of reactor internals. A hydrodynamic model has been developed to obtain the pressure fluctuation due to the operation of pumps in the annulus(between the core support barrel and reactor vessel of a pressurized water reactor) including the coolant inlet pipe. The mathematical analysis is formulated in accordance with the linearized Navier-Stokes equation by assuming a compressible, inviscid flow. Two regions are considered separately and by coupling the solutions of the inlet pipe and the annulus, the inlet nozzle pressure(pressure at pipe and annulus interface) is to be calculated without assumptions. The geometric parameter effect on the pump-induced pressure pulsation is evaluated. Comparison of predicted and measured inlet nozzle pressure values for each forcing frequency shows good order of magnitude agreement.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.234-240
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• 2007

As a reactor coolant pump (RCP) is operated in the nuclear power system for a long time, so its surface is continuously contaminated by radioactive scales. In order to maintain for RCP internals, a special chemical decontamination process should be used to reduce the radiation from the RCP surface. In this study, applicable possibility in chemical decontamination for RCP was investigated for the various stainless steels. The stainless steel (STS) 304 showed the best electrochemical properties for corrosion resistance and the lowest weight loss ratio in chemical decontamination process model 3-1 than other materials. However, the pitting corrosion was generated in both STS 415 and STS 431 with the increasing numbers of cycle. The intergranular corrosion in STS 415 was sporadically observed. The sizes of their pitting corrosion were also increased with increasing cycle numbers.

• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.155-164
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• 1997

A reactor pressure vessel, which contains fuel assemblies and reactor vessel internals, has the thermal stress resulting from the cool-down and heat-up of the vessel wall in combination with the pressure stress from system pressure resulting in large stresses. The combination of the pressure stress and thermal stress along with a decrease in fracture toughness may cause through-wall propagation of a relatively small crack. Therefore, it is necessary to define the relations between operating pressure and temperature during cool-down and heat-up. In this study, theory of fracture mechanics for a pressure/temperature limit curve is investigated and a numerical procedure for generating it is developed. Plant-specific limit curves for the Kori unit 1 plant, the oldest nuclear power plant in Korea, have been obtained for several cooling and heating rates and their results are discussed.