• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.80-87
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• 2014

The pipelines are apt to erosion or corrosion because of the high-speed flow of water and steam with high temperatures or high pressures. This study was carried out a finite element analysis (FEA) and an experimental for the fracture behavior of T-joint pipes with local wall thinning under internal pressure. Local wall thinning was machined on the pipes in order to simulate erosion and corrosion of the metal. The configurations of the eroded area included an eroded ratio of d/t=0.80~0.963 and an eroded length of l=25 mm, 50 mm, and 102 mm. Three-dimensional elastic-plastic analyses were also carried out using FEA, which accurately simulates failure behaviors. In regards to the relationship between pressure and eroded, the criterion that indicates what can be used safely under operating pressure and design pressure were obtained from FEA. The FEA results were in relatively good agreement with that of the experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.242-246
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• 2004

Effects of circumferentially local wall thinning on the fracture behavior of pipes were investigated by monotonic four-point bending. Local wall thinning was machined on the pipes in order to simulate erosion/corrosion metal loss. The configurations of the eroded area included an eroded ratio of d/t= 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8, and an eroded length of I = 10 mm, 25 mm, and 120 mm. Fracture type could be classified into ovalization, local buckling, and crack initiation depending on the eroded length and eroded ratio. Three-dimensional elasto-plastic analyses were also carried out using the finite element method, which is able to accurately simulate fracture behaviors excepting failure due to cracking. It was possible to predict the crack initiation point by estimating true fracture ductility under multi-axial stress conditions at the center of the eroded area.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1017-1024
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• 2007

This study performed a series of burst tests at ambient temperature using real-scale elbow specimen containing a local wall-thinning defect at it's intrados or extrados and evaluated failure pressure of locally wall-thinned elbows. In the experiment, a 90-degree 100A, Sch. 80 standard elbow was employed, and various wall-thinning geometries, such as length, depth, and circumferential angle, were considered. From the results of experiment, the dependences of failure pressure of wall-thinned elbows on the defect geometries and locations were investigated. In addition, the reliability of existing models was examined by comparing the tests data with the results predicted from existing failure pressure evaluation models for locally wall-thinned elbow.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.2017-2022
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• 2004

There are multistage preheaters in the power generation plan to improve the thermal efficiency of the plant and to prevent the components from the thermal shock. The energy source of these heaters comes from the extracted two phase fluid of working system. These two-phase fluid can cause the so-called Flow Accelerated Corrosion(FAC) in the extracting piping and the bubble plate of the heater for example, in case of point Beach Nuclear Power Plant and in the Wolsung Nuclear Power Plant. The FAC is due to the mass transport of the thin oxide layer by the convection. FAC is dependent on many parameters such as the operation temperature, void fraction, the fluid velocity and pH of fluid and so on. Therefore, in this paper velocity was calculated by FLUENT code in order to find out the root cause of the wall thinning of the feedwater heaters. It also includeed in the fluid mixing analysis model are around the number 5A feedwater heater shell including the extraction pipeline. To identify the relation between the local velocities and wall thinning, the local velocities according to the analysis results were compared with distribution of the shell wall thicknes by ultrasonic test.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.568-575
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• 2010

Flow Accelerated Corrosion is an active degradation mechanism of CANDU feeder. The tight bend downstream to Gray loc weld connection, close to reactor face, suffers significant wall thinning by FAC. Extensive in-service inspection of feeder wall thinning is very difficult because of the intense radiation field, complex geometry, and space restrictions. Development of a knowledge-based inspection program is important in order to guarantee that adequate wall thickness is maintained throughout the whole life of feeder. Research results and plant experiences are reviewed, and the plant inspection databases from Wolsong Units One to Four are analyzed in order to support developing such a knowledge-based inspection program. The initial thickness before wall thinning is highly non-uniform because of bending during manufacturing stage, and the thinning rate is non-uniform because of the mass transfer coefficient distributed non-uniformly depending on local hydraulics. It is obvious that the knowledge-based feeder inspection program should focus on both fastest thinning locations and thinnest locations. The feeder wall thinning rate is found to be correlated proportionately with QV of each channel. A statistical model is proposed to assess the remaining life of each feeder using the QV correlation and the measured thicknesses. W-1 feeder suffered significant thinning so that the shortest remaining life barely exceeded one year at the end of operation before replacement. W-2 feeder showed far slower thinning than W-1 feeder despite the faster coolant flow. It is believed that slower thinning in W-2 is because of higher chromium content in the carbon steel feeder material. The average Cr content of W-2 feeder is 0.051%, while that value is 0.02% for W-1 feeder. It is to be noted that FAC is reduced substantially even though the Cr content of W-2 feeder is still very low.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.28-34
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• 2003

In the present study, three-dimensional finite element analysis was performed to investigate the effects of internal wall thinning defect on the failure pressure of elbow in the piping system and to develop the failure pressure evaluation model. From the results of finite element analysis, the failure pressure was derived by employing local stress criteria, and the effects of thinning location, bend radius, and defect geometry on the failure pressure of internally wall thinned elbow were investigated. Also, based on these investigations and previous model developed to estimate the failure pressure of elbow with an external pitting defect, the failure pressure evaluation model to be applicable to the elbow containing an internal thinning defect was proposed and compared with the results of finite element analysis. The failure pressure calculated by the model agreed well with the results of finite element analysis.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2021

The flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) is one of significant aging and degradation mechanism and can affect structural integrity of CANDU feeder pipes. Pipe burst can occur under normal operation pressure (min. 10 MPa) if wall-thinning of the feeder pipe due to FAC is accumulated. Previous studies considered simple shapes of feeder pipe with local wall-thinning in order to conservatively assess structural integrity of wall-thinned feeder pipe. In this paper, a new FE model is developed, having an actual shape of the feeder pipe (double bent) as well as the actual wall-thinning shape and location based on the in-service inspection result. Then, the burst pressure assessment of the wall-thinned feeder pipe is performed using lower bound limit load analysis considering elastic-perfectly plastic material. In addition, an improved formulation to predict the burst pressure of the wall-thinned feeder pipe is presented and the safety margin is compared with an existing assessment method.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.3 s.258
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• pp.304-312
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to develop a local failure criterion for a wall thinning defect of piping components. For this purpose, a series of tensile tests was performed using several types of simulated specimens with different stress states, including smooth round bar, notched round bar (five different notch radii), and grooved plate (three different groove radii). In addition, finite element (FE) simulations were performed on the simulated specimen tests and the results were compared with the test results. From the comparisons, the equivalent stress and strain corresponding to maximum load and final failure of notched specimens were proposed as failure criteria under tensile load. The criteria were verified by employing them to the estimation of failure of grooved plate specimens that simulate the wall thinning defect. It showed that the proposed criteria accurately estimate the maximum load and final failure of grooved plate specimen tests.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.647-657
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• 2012

Although nuclear power plant piping system is designed conforming to design specifications, the piping systems are deteriorated with increase in service life. In this study, monotonic and cyclic loading tests were carried out on TP316 stainless steel pipe specimens, and the effect of local wall thinning and cracking on failure behavior was investigated. In the tests, 0%, 35% and 75% wall thinning and cracking of initial thickness were artificially introduced to inside elbow and straight pipe specimens, and internal pressures of 20MPa were applied to simulate real operation condition. From the test results, the effect of local wall thinning and cracking on failure mode, ultimate load, number of cycle and strain energy was presented, and maximum bending moment was compared with allowable bending moment calculated by ASME code.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.230-232
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• 2006

Failure behaviors of thin cylinder with corrosion are very important for the integrity of boiler and pressure vessel system. In this study, FEM with internal pressure are conducted on 1000 mm diameter (length 3000 mm and thickness, 5.9 mm) SS400 carbon steel. Failure behaviors of locally wall thinned cylinders were calculated by elasto-plastic analysis using finite element method. The elasto-plastic analysis was performed by FE code ANSYS. We simulated various types of local wall thinning that can be occurred at cylinder surface due to corrosion. Locally wall thinned shapes were machined to be different in size along the circumferential or axial direction of straight cylinder. In case of local wall thinned length 30 mm, internal pressure, when the crack initiation and the plastic collapse occur, didn't decrease dramatically even though local wall thinned depth was deep. In 400 mm, the more local wall thinned depth is deep, the more internal pressure decreased dramatically. In degraded materials, crack is easily initiation but plastic collapse was difficult.