• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.149-165
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• 1997

A dynamic time-history analysis of the coupled internals and core in the vertical direction is performed as a part of the fuel assembly qualification program. To reflect the interaction between the fuel rods and grid cage, friction element is developed and is implemented. Also derived here is a method to calculate a hydraulic force on the reactor internals due to pipe break. Peak responses are obtained for the excitations induced from earthquake and pipe break. The dynamic responses such as fuel assembly axial forces and lift-off characteristics are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.1327-1330
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• 2004

An underwater robotic system has been developed and applied to visual inspection of reactor vessel internals. The Korea Electric Power Robot for Visual Test (KeproVt) consists of an underwater robot, a vision processor-based measuring unit, a master control station and a servo control station. The robot guided by the control station with the measuring unit can be controlled to have any motion at any position in the reactor vessel with $\pm$1 cm positioning and $\pm$2 degrees heading accuracies with enough precision to inspect reactor internals. A simple and fast installation process is emphasized in the developed system. The developed robotic system was successfully deployed at the Younggwang Nuclear Unit 1 for the visual inspection of reactor internals.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.221-226
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• 2011

The structural integrity of APR1400 reactor vessel internals has been being assessed referring the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulatory guide 1.20 comprehensive vibration assessment program. The program is composed of a vibration and stress analysis, a limited vibration measurement, and an inspection. This paper covers the vibration and stress analysis on the reactor vessel internals due to the pulsation of reactor coolant pump. 3-dimensional models to calculate the hydraulic loads and structural responses were built and the pressure distributions and the structural responses were predicted using ANSYS. The peak stress of the reactor vessel internals is much lower than the acceptance limit.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.689-698
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• 2014

Reactor internals are sensitive to dynamic loads such as earthquakes and flow induced vibration. Thus, it is essential to identify the dynamic characteristics to evaluate the seismic integrity of the structures. However, a full-sized system is too large to perform modal experiments, making it difficult to extract data on its modal characteristics. In this research, we constructed a finite element model of the APR1400 reactor internals to identify their modal characteristics. The commercial reactor was selected to reflect the actual boundary conditions. Our FE model was constructed based on scale-similarity analysis and fluid-structure interaction investigations using a fabricated scaled-down model.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 1993.04a
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• pp.165-172
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• 1993

A non-linear mathematical model has been developed for the dynamic analysis of the reactor internals. The model includes a lumped mass and stiffness with non-linear members such as gap-spring. As hydrodynamic couplings have also been considered in the model, the effect of fluid/structure interaction between internals components due to their immersion in a confining fluid can be studied for the dynamic response analysis. The reactor internals responses for seismic and pipe break excitations have been calculated for the case of with-and without-hydrodynamic couplings.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2023

This paper describes a newly-developed analysis methodology in comprehensive vibration assessment program (CVAP) of reactor internals to develop a valid-prototype for the design of nuclear power plants. The new analysis methodology developed in this study will be confirmed through a scale model testing (SMT). Based on the measurements obtained from dynamic pressure transducers in the SMT, a new non-dimensional equation is developed to apply the forcing functions at reactor internals for the prototype. In addition to the new non-dimensional equation, a computational fluid dynamics(CFD) is used to develop the application of the hydraulic loads at reactor internals for the prototype.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.743-752
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• 1995

This paper investigates the effects of fuel groupings in the coupled internals and core model on the internals and fuel responses due to pipe breaks. The 177 fuel assemblies for Korean standard nuclear power plant are grouped into several stick models and the responses of internals components are calculated. The analysis results show that the fuel model groupings in the coupled internals and core model have no significant effects on the internals and fuel responses for pipe break excitation. Also, in order to determine the feasibility of constructing a single equivalent stick representation of In or more adjacent fuel bundles, the reduced models, each of which employs a different stiffness lumping rule, are constructed. It is shown that the equivalent stiffness calculated to get the first natural frequency of the original model while preserving net gap between grouping centers gives the minimum modelling error.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1270-1275
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• 1997

This paper concerns with the finite element analysis of reactor internals with structural faults. For investigating the influence of hold-down spring faults on dynamic characteristics of CSB (core support barrel), reactor internals of Ulchin-1 nuclear power plant are modeled using finite element method and simulated with artificial defects on the hold-down springs. To prove the validity of the finite element models, the calculated natural frequencies of CSB in normal state are compared with those from the measurement results, which shows good agreement. According to results of finite element analysis, CSB beam mode natural frequency decreases by 4.5% in the case of 10% partial relaxation of hold-down springs, and decreases by 18.4% in the case of 20%. The range of shell mode natural frequency change is within 5.3%.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1358-1363
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• 2003

Due to the application of Integrated Head Assembly (IHA) in KSNP+ reactor design, an investigation of reactor internals integrity is carried out to assure that the adoption of IHA does not affect the safety of reactor operation. One of the postulated accident events is the R.V. closure head fall from 5.5m high directly above the reactor vessel that may occur during the refueling operation. The analysis model consists of lumped mass elements of the entire reactor vessel and internals. Because of extreme load, separate elastic-plastic analyses are done for the members that undergo plastic deformation. The analysis verified that the stresses of the reactor internals and the fuel assemblies are within the bound of allowable stress limits and the integrity of the fuel assemblies is maintained.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.766-775
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• 2015

The integrity assessment of reactor vessel internals should be conducted in the design process to secure the safety of nuclear power plants. Various loads such as self-weight, seismic load, flow-induced load, and preload are applied to the internals. Therefore, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code, Section III, defines the stress limit for reactor vessel internals. The present study focused on structural response analyses of the upper guide structure upper flange. The distributions of the stress intensity in the flange body were analyzed under various design load cases during normal operation. The allowable stress intensities along the expected sections of stress concentration were derived from the results of the finite element analysis for evaluating the structural integrity of the flange design. Furthermore, seismic analyses of the upper flange were performed to identify dynamic behavior with respect to the seismic and impact input. The mode superposition and full transient methods were used to perform time-history analyses, and the displacement at the lower end of the flange was obtained. The effect of the damping ratio on the response of the flange was also evaluated, and the acceleration was obtained. The results of elastic and seismic analyses in this study will be used as basic information to judge whether a flange design meets the acceptance criteria.