• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.403-415
• /
• 1998

The CANDU 6 reactor assembly consists of an array of 380 pressure tubes, which are installed horizontally in a large cylindrical vessel, the Calandria, containing the low pressure heavy water moderator. The pressure tube is located inside the calandria tube and the annulus between these tubes, which forms a closed loop with $CO_2$ gas recirculating, is called the Annulus Gas System(AGS). It is designed to give an alarm to the operator even for a small pressure tube leak by a very sensitive dew point meter so that he can take a preventive action for the pressure tube rupture incident. To judge whether the operator action time is enough or not in the design of Wolsong 2,3 & 4, the Leak Before Break(LBB) assessment is required for the analysis of the pressure tube failure accident. In order to provide the required data for the LBB assessment of Wolsong Units 2, 3, 4, a series of leak detection capability tests was performed by injecting controlled rates of heavy water vapour. The data of increased dew point and rates of rise were measured to determine the alarm set point for the dew point rate of rise of Wolsong Unit 2. It was found that the response of the dew point depends on the moisture injection rate, $CO_2$ gas flow rate and the leak location. The test showed that CANDU 6 AGS can detect the very small leaks less than few g/hr and dew point rate of rise alarm can be the most reliable alarm signal to warn the operator. Considering the present results, the first response time of dew point to the AGS $CO_2$ flow rate is approximated.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.25 no.10
• /
• pp.1528-1534
• /
• 2001

In order to improve Leak-Be(ore-Break methodology, more precisely the crack growth evaluation, a round robin analysis was proposed by the CEA Saclay. The aim of this analysis was to evaluate the crack initiation life, penetration life and shape of through wall crack under cyclic bending loads. The proposed round robin analysis is composed of three main topic; fatigue crack initiation, crack propagation and crack penetration. This paper deals with the first topic, crack initiation in a notched pipe under four point bending. Both elastic-plastic finite element analysis and Neuber's rule were used to estimate the crack initiation life and the finite element models were verified by mesh-refinement, stress distribution and global deflection. In elastic-plastic finite element analysis, crack initiation life was determined by strain amplitude at the notch tip and strain-life curve of the material. In the analytical method, Neuber's rule with the consideration of load history and mean stress effect, was used for the life estimation. The effect of notch tip radius, strain range, cyclic hardening rule were examined in this study. When these results were compared with the experimental ones, the global deformation was a good agreement but the crack initiation cycle was higher than the experimental result.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2013

A probabilistic assessment code, PRO-LOCA ver. 3.7 which was developed in an international co-operative research program, PARTRIDGE was evaluated by conducting sensitivity analysis. The effect of some variables such as simulation methods (adaptive sampling, iteration numbers, weld residual stress model), crack features(Poisson's arrival rate, maximum numbers of cracks, initial flaw size, fabrication flaws), operating and loading conditions(temperature, primary bending stress, earthquake strength and frequency), and inspection model(inspection intervals, detectable leak rate) on the failure probabilities of a surge line nozzle was investigated. The results of sensitivity analysis shows the remaining problems of the PRO-LOCA code such as the instability of adaptive sampling and unexpected trend of failure probabilities at an early stage.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.435-443
• /
• 1998

Leak-before-break(LBB) approach has been shown to be both cost effective and risk reductive when applied to high energy Piping in nuclear Power Plants. For the Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) development, LBB application is considered for the Main Steam Line(MSL) piping inside containment. Unlike the primary system leakages, the MSL leak detection systems must be based on principles other than radioactivity measurements. Among humidity, heat and acoustic noise currently being considered as indicators of leakage, we explored humidity as an effective one and developed ceramic-based humidity sensor which can be qualified for LBB applications. The ceramic material, sintered and annealed MgCr$_2$O$_4$-TiO$_2$, is shown to increase its electrical conductivity drastically upon water vapor adsorption over the entire temperature range of interest. With this ceramic sensor specimen, we suggested installation-inside-the-piping method by which we can detect leakage more rapidly and sensitively. In this paper, we describe the progress in the development and characterization of ceramic humidity sensor for the LBB application to the MSL of KNGR.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 1999

Fatigue behavior of before-and-after penetration was examined experimentally using surface pre-cracked specimens of aluminium alloy 5083-0. The fatigue crack shape before penetration is almost semicircular, and the measured aspect ratio is larger than the value obtained by calculation using K values proposed by Newman-Raju. It is found that the crack growth behavior on the back side after penetration is unique and can be divided into three stages. By using a crack propagation rule in case of long surface crack, the change in crack shape after penetration can be evaluated quantitatively.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.6 no.6
• /
• pp.827-834
• /
• 1996

The effect of pipe breaks in the secondary side is investigated as a part of the fuel assembly qualification program. Using the detailed dynamic analysis of a reactor core, peak responses for the motions induced from pipe breaks are obtained for a detailed core model. The secondary side pipe breaks such as main steam line and economizer feedwater line braksare considered because leak-before-break methodology has provided a technical basis for the elimination of double ended guillotine breaks of all high energy piping systems with a diameter of 10 inches or over in the primary side from the design basis. The dynamic responses such as fuel assembly shear force, bending moment, axial force and displacement, and spacer grid impact loads are carefully investigated. Also, the stress analysis is performed and the effect of the secondary side pipe breaks on the fuel assembly structural integrity under the faulted condition is addressed.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.50-57
• /
• 1998

The leak before break(LBB) concept is generalized on the design of LNG tanks, pressure vessels and nuclear reactor in that any leakage of containment, in whatever amount, will not result in catastropic failure. For this purpose it is necessary to determine the surface crack shape, the opening displacement and the risk of catastropic brittle fracture when it becomes a through crack. In this study the crack propagation behavior of surface flaws and the crack opening displacement of through cracks under combined membrane and bending stresses were investigated with fatigue tests and fracture toughness test of aluminium alloy A5083-O. And fracture mechanics analysis of the crack opening displacement of through cracks were made in order to develop a new model expressing the behaviors of COD under combined membrane and bending stresses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.32-41
• /
• 1999

If the Leak-Before-Break (LBB) concept is applicable to the nuclear piping design, it is not necessary to consider the dynamic effect due to pipe rupture. Therefore, the construction cost can be significantly reduced by eliminating unnecessary pipe whip restraints and jet impingement devices. The objective of this paper is to develop the Piping Evaluation Diagram (PED) for efficient application of LBB concept to piping system at an initial piping design stage. For this purpose, the 3-D finite element analyses were performed to evaluate the crack stability. And the stress-strain curve based on the pipe material tests were used to calculate the detectable leakage crack length. Finally, the present PED which was composed as a function of NOP load and allowable SSE load, was developed for an application of LBB concept to the safety injection and shutdown cooling line in Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.4 no.1 s.9
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2000

Stress intensity factor after penetration was discussed experimentally using long surface pre-cracked specimens of aluminum alloy 5083. The propagation behavior evaluation of long surface crack by equation proposed at penetration of short surface crack could be need modification to evaluate precisely because the error was high as aspect ratio is little. The modification of stress intensity factor with consideration of aspect ratio at penetration of long surface crack can be analyzed the behavior of crack penetration quantitatively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.1106-1116
• /
• 1994

Leak Before Break(LBB) design concept is applied to piping systems of newly-built Yonggwang 3, 4 nuclear generating stations as a design alternative to the provision of pipe whip restraints, in recognition of the questionable benefits of providing such restraints. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the material properties (tensile and fracture toughness) of SA312 TP316 stainless steel and their associated welds manufactured for shutdown cooling system of Yonggwang 3, 4 nuclear generating stations. Effect of various parameters such as specimen orientation, test temperature, welding on material properties were examined.