• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.561-572
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• 2019

In the design criterion for the nuclear power plant piping system, the limit state of the piping against an earthquake is assumed to be plastic collapse. The failure of a common piping system, however, means the leakage caused by the cracks. Therefore, for the seismic fragility analysis of a nuclear power plant, a method capable of quantitatively expressing the failure of an actual piping system is required. In this study, it was conducted to propose a quantitative failure criterion for piping system, which is required for the seismic fragility analysis of nuclear power plants against critical accidents. The in-plane cyclic loading test was conducted to propose a quantitative failure criterion for steel pipe elbows in the nuclear power plant piping system. Nonlinear analysis was conducted using a finite element model, and the results were compared with the test results to verify the effectiveness of the finite element model. The collapse load point derived from the experiment and analysis results and the damage index based on the stress-strain relationship were defined as failure criteria, and seismic fragility analysis was conducted for the piping system of the BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory) - NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) benchmark model.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2728-2745
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to reduce seismic responses of an actual nuclear piping system using a tuned mass damper (TMD) device. A numerical piping model was developed and validated based on shaking table test results with actual nuclear piping. A TMD for nuclear piping was newly devised in this work. A TMD shape design suitable for nuclear piping systems was conducted, and its operating performance was verified after manufacturing. The response reduction performance of the developed TMD under earthquake loading on actual piping was investigated. Results confirmed that, on average, seismic response reduction rates of 34% in the maximum acceleration response, 41% in the root mean square acceleration response, and 57% in the spectral acceleration response were shown through the TMD application. This developed TMD operated successfully within the seismic response reduction rate of existing TMD optimum design values. Therefore, the developed TMD and dynamic interpretation help improve the nuclear piping's seismic performance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2017

Recently there have been many concerns on structural integrity of nuclear piping under seismic loadings. In terms of failure of nuclear piping due to seismic loadings, an important failure mechanism is low cycle fatigue with large cyclic displacements. To investigate the effects of seismic loading on low cycle fatigue behavior of nuclear piping, the cyclic behavior of materials and nuclear piping needs to be accurately estimated. In this paper, the non-linear finite element (FE) analyses have been carried out to evaluate the effects of three different cyclic hardening models on cyclic behavior of materials and nuclear piping, such as isotropic hardening, kinematic hardening and combined hardening.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.617-621
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• 2003

The purpose of this paper is to analyze piping failure trend of safety pipings In domestic nuclear power plants. First, database for the piping failure was constructed with 105 data fields. The database includes plant population data, event data, and service history data. 7 kinds of piping failures in domestic NPPs were investigated. Among the 7 cases, detailed root causes were investigated for 3 cases. The first one is pipe wall thinning in main feedwater pipings of Westinghouse 3 loop type plants. The root cause of the wall thinning was flow accelerated corrosion near welding area. The next one is leak event in chemical and volume control system(CVCS) due to vibration. Some cracks occurred in socket welding area. The events showed that the integrity or socket weld is very vulnerable to vibration. The last one is also a leak event in primary sampling line in Korean standard reactor due to thermal fatigue. Although the structural integrity was not maintained by the events, there was no effect on nuclear safety in the above 3 piping failure eases.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2000

Significant wall thinning due to flow accelerated corrosion(FAC）was recently reported in main feedwater pipes in 3 Korean pressurized water reactor(PWR) plants. The main feedwater pipes in one plant were repaired using overlay weld method at the outside of pipe, while those in 2 other plants were replaced with new pipes. In this study, the effect of the wall thinning in the main feedwater pipes on piping integrity was evaluated using finite element method. Especially, the effects of both the overlay weld repair and the stress concentration in notch-type thinned area on the piping integrity were investigated. The results are as follows : (1) The piping load carrying capacity may significantly decrease due to FAC. In special, the load carrying capacity of the main feedwater pipe was reduced by about 40% during about 140 months operation in Korean PWR plants. (2) By performing overlay weld repair at the outside of pipe, the piping load carrying capacity can increase and the stress concentration level in the thinned area can be reduced.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.110-114
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• 2001

A numerical analysis has been perfonned to estimate the effect of turbulent penetration and thermal stratified flow in the branch lines piping. This phenomenon of thermal stratification are usually observed in the piping lines of the safety related systems and may be identified as the source of fatigue in the piping system due to the thermal stress loading which are associated with plant operating modes. The turbulent penetration length reaches to $1^{st}$ valve in safety injection piping from reactor coolant system (RCS) at normal operation for nuclear power plant when a coolant does not leak out through valve. At the time, therefore, the thermal stratification does not appear in the piping between RCS piping and $1^{st}$ valve of safety injection piping. When a coolant leak out through the $1^{st}$ valve by any damage, however, the thermal stratification can occur in the safety injection piping. At that time, the maximum temperature difference of fluid between top and bottom in the piping is estimated about $50^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2022

Currently, there is no technical standard and regulation for seismic analysis of non-nuclear safety piping. Accordingly, ASME Sec.III ND, a standards applied to safety class 3 piping, is applied. However, the technical standard applied for other than seismic analysis is ASME B31, which leads to controversy. In this study, the feasibility of applying ASME B31E was confirmed by reviewing rulescomparing technical standards, and evaluating piping allowable stress margins. The evaluation revealed that applying ASME B31.1 as a technical standard is too conservative compared to ASME Sec.III ND. On the other hand, ASME B31E (issued at the request of the industry) clearly presents the technical standards for seismic analysis of ASME B31 piping, and shows a similar level of conservatism compared to ASME Sec.III ND. It is expected to reduce the controversy over technical standards for seismic analysis of non-nuclear safety piping by applying ASME B31E.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.243-253
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• 2021

In the dismantling process of a reactor coolant system (RCS) piping, a radiation protection plan should be established to minimize the radiation exposure doses of dismantling workers. Hence, it is necessary to estimate the individual effective dose in the RCS piping dismantling process when decommissioning a nuclear power plant. In this study, the radiation exposure doses of the dismantling workers at different positions was estimated using the MicroShield dose assessment program based on the NUREG/CR-1595 report. The individual effective dose, which is the sum of the effective dose to each tissue considering the working time, was used to estimate the radiation exposure dose. The estimations of the simulation results for all RCS piping dismantling tasks satisfied the dose limits prescribed by the ICRP-60 report. In dismantling the RCS piping of the Kori-1 or Wolsong-1 units in South Korea, the estimation and reduction method for the radiation exposure dose, and the simulated results of this study can be used to implement the radiation safety for optimal dismantling by providing information on the radiation exposure doses of the dismantling workers.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2014

The piping system accounts for a large portion of the machinery structure of a plant, and is considered as a very important mechanical structure for plant safety. Accordingly, it is used in most energy plants in the nuclear, gas, and heavy chemical industries. In particular, the piping system for a nuclear plant is generally complicated and uses the reactor and its cooling system. The piping equipment is exposed to diverse loads such as weight, temperature, pressure, and seismic load from pipes and fluids, and is used to transfer steam, oil, and gas. In ultrasound infrared thermography, which is an active thermography technology, a 15-100 kHz ultrasound wave is applied to the subject, and the resulting heat from the defective parts is measured using a thermography camera. Because this technique can inspect a large area simultaneously and detect defects such as cracks and delamination in real time, it is used to detect defects in the new and renewable energy, car, and aerospace industries, and recently, in piping defect detection. In this study, ultrasound infrared thermography is used to detect information for the diagnosis of nuclear equipment and structures. Test specimens are prepared with piping materials for nuclear plants, and the optimally designed ultrasound horn and ultrasound vibration system is used to determine damages on nuclear plant piping and detect defects. Additionally, the detected images are used to improve the reliability of the surface and internal defect detection for nuclear piping materials, and their field applicability and reliability is verified.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.237-248
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• 2013

Thermal stratification has continuously caused several piping failures in nuclear power plants since the early 1980s. However, this critical thermal effect was not considered when the old nuclear power plants were designed. Therefore, it is urgent to evaluate this unexpected thermal effect on the structural integrity of piping systems. In this paper, the thermal effects of stratified flow in two different safety injection piping systems were investigated by using a coupled CFD-FE method. Since stratified flow is generally generated by turbulent penetration and/or valve leakage, thermal stress analyses as well as CFD analyses were carried out considering these two primary causes. Numerical results show that the most critical factor governing thermal stratification is valve leakage and that temperature distribution significantly changes according to the leakage path. In particular, in-leakage has a high possibility of causing considerable structural problems in RCS piping.