• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.186-192
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• 2022

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) is a type of pipe corrosion in which the pipe thickness decreases depending on the fluid flow conditions. In nuclear power plants, FAC mainly occurs in the carbon steel pipes of a secondary system. However, because the temperature of a secondary system pipe is over 150 ℃, in situ monitoring using a conventional ultrasonic non-destructive testing method is difficult. In our previous study, we developed a waveguide ultrasonic thickness measurement system. In this study, we applied a waveguide ultrasonic thickness measurement system to monitor the thinning of the pipe according to the change in pH. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute installed FAC-proof facilities, enabling the monitoring of internal fluid flow conditions, which were fixed for ~1000 h to analyze the effect of the pH. The measurement system operated without failure for ~3000 h and the pipe thickness was found to be reduced by ~10% at pH 9 compared to that at pH 7. The thickness of the pipe was measured using a microscope after the experiment, and the reliability of the system was confirmed with less than 1% error. This technology is expected to also be applicable to the thickness-reduction monitoring of other high-temperature materials.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제26권2호
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• pp.148-156
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• 2016

The paper deals with improvement of a piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer for measuring both pipe thickness and flow velocity. The transducer structure is based on the conventional transducers for measuring flow velocity by obliquely transmitting ultrasonic waves to the flow direction. The transducer invented earlier for measuring flow velocity and pipe thickness had an advantage of including only one piezoelectric disc, but for the thickness measurement the ultrasonic wave had to be reflected twice in a wedge material to be transmitted vertically to a pipe, and thus the wave signal was too weak. The transducer has been improved to transmit waves for thickness measurement vertically to a pipe without any prior reflection by electrically connecting two piezoelectric discs, one for flow velocity and the other for pipe thickness measurement. By comparing the measured results of specimen thickness with the improved transducer and conventional transducers, the accuracies of the improved one have been evaluated in the pipe thickness measurements.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제19권2호
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• pp.146-154
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• 2023

In nuclear power plants, ultrasonic test for pipe wall thickness measurement is used during periodic inspections to prevent pipe rupture due to pipe wall thinning. However, when measuring pipe wall thickness using ultrasonic test, a significant amount of measurement error occurs due to the on-site conditions of the nuclear power plant. If the maximum pipe wall thinning rate is decided by the measured pipe wall thickness containing a significant error, the pipe wall thinning rate data have significant uncertainty and systematic overestimation. This study proposes preprocessing of pipe wall thinning measurement data using support vector machine regression algorithm. By using support vector machine, pipe wall thinning measurement data can be smoothened and accordingly uncertainty and systematic overestimation of the estimated pipe wall thinning rate data can be reduced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.820-830
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• 2016

Pipe wall thinning by flow-accelerated corrosion and various types of erosion is a significant and costly damage phenomenon in secondary piping systems of nuclear power plants (NPPs). Most NPPs have management programs to ensure pipe integrity due to wall thinning that includes periodic measurements for pipe wall thicknesses using nondestructive evaluation techniques. Numerous measurements using ultrasonic tests (UTs; one of the nondestructive evaluation technologies) have been performed during scheduled outages in NPPs. Using the thickness measurement data, wall thinning rates of each component are determined conservatively according to several evaluation methods developed by the United States Electric Power Research Institute. However, little is known about the conservativeness or reliability of the evaluation methods because of a lack of understanding of the measurement error. In this study, quantitative models for UT thickness measurement deviations of nuclear pipes and fittings were developed as the first step for establishing an optimized thinning evaluation procedure considering measurement error. In order to understand the characteristics of UT thickness measurement errors of nuclear pipes and fittings, round robin test results, which were obtained by previous researchers under laboratory conditions, were analyzed. Then, based on a large dataset of actual plant data from four NPPs, a quantitative model for UT thickness measurement deviation is proposed for plant conditions.

• 한국소음진동공학회논문집
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• 제25권8호
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• pp.559-567
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• 2015

The paper deals with an ultrasonic transducer invented for measuring both flow velocity and pipe thickness. The structure of the transducer is based on the conventional transducers for measuring flow velocity by obliquely transmitting ultrasonic waves to the flow direction. The transducer additionally generates ultrasonic waves transmitting vertically to a pipe for measuring pipe thickness. By measuring flow velocity with the invented transducer and a conventional oblique-incidence transducer and comparing their results, the accuracy of the flow velocity measurement of the invented one was evaluated. By measuring specimen thickness with the invented transducer and a conventional normal-incidence transducer and comparing their results, the accuracy of the thickness measurement of the invented one was evaluated.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권7호
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• pp.1463-1471
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• 2017

In order to monitor the pipe thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) that occurs in coolant piping systems, a shear horizontal ultrasonic pitch-catch waveguide technique was developed for accurate pipe wall thickness monitoring. A clamping device for dry coupling contact between the end of the waveguide and pipe surface was designed and fabricated. A computer program for multi-channel on-line monitoring of the pipe thickness at high temperature was also developed. Both a four-channel buffer rod pulse-echo type and a shear horizontal ultrasonic waveguide type for high-temperature thickness monitoring system were successfully installed to the test section of the FAC proof test facility. The overall measurement error can be estimated as ${\pm}10{\mu}m$ during a cycle from room temperature to $200^{\circ}C$.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

Pipe wall-thinning by flow-accelerated corrosion and various types of erosion is significant damage in secondary system piping of nuclear power plants(NPPs). All NPPs in Korea have management programs to ensure pipe integrity from degradation mechanisms. Ultrasonic test(UT) is widely used for pipe wall thickness measurement. Numerous UT measurements have been performed during scheduled outages. Wall-thinning rates are determined conservatively according to several evaluation methods developed by Electric Power Research Institute(EPRI). The issue of reliability caused by measurement error should be considered in the process of evaluation. The reliability analysis method was developed for single and multiple measurement data in the previous researches. This paper describes the application results of reliability analysis method to real measurement data during scheduled outage and proved its benefits.

• 대한기계학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한기계학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회A
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• pp.1702-1707
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• 2007

The reduction of pipe-thickness induced by flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) is one of the most serious problems on the maintenance of piping system in nuclear power plants (NNP). If the thickness of a pipe component is reduced below the critical level, it cannot sustain pressure and consequently results in leakage or rupture. For this reason, wall thinning by FAC has been inspected in secondary side piping systems in NPPs. In this research Round Robin Test (RRT) was conducted to verify confidence of wall thinning measurement system in NPP. 12 inspectors from 3 companies participated and 23 specimens were used according to standard practice in RRT. The gage R&R analysis was introduced in regard to repeatability and reproducibility that are affected to measurement system errors. Confidence intervals of thickness measurement system were obtained.

• 한국소음진동공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국소음진동공학회 2014년도 추계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.545-547
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• 2014

The portable vibration signal-based pipe wall thinning inspection device was developed in this work. Compared to wall-thinning detection using conventional ultrasonic thickness measurement gauge, the proposed device can estimate average wall thickness of wide range and be applied to in-service pipes. The measurement principle of the device was briefly described and the configrations of hardware and software were explained. It was shown that the device can gauge average wall-thickness of test specimens with high precision.

• 비파괴검사학회지
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.170-176
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• 2012

원자력 산업에 있어서 파이프의 감육결함은 수명평가 및 안전평가에 막대한 손실을 발생 할 수 있다. 비파괴검사 기법을 이용하여 변형, 진동, 결함 평가를 수행하고 있지만, 넓은 면적의 결함을 평가하는 기법이 적으며, 시간이 오래 걸리는 단점이 있다. 원자력 발전소의 2차계통에서 주로 사용되는 탄소강 배관을 대상으로 내부에 인공 감육결함을 가공하고 두께를 서로 다르게 하여 제작하여 Shearography를 이용하여 감육결함부의 변형을 측정하였다. 또한 광 계측을 통하여 변형, 진동, 결함 평가뿐만 아니라 압력용기의 결함깊이를 정량적으로 평가하고자 한다. 본 논문은 전단간섭계를 이용하여 파이프의 내부 감육 결함을 측정하고, 압력에 따른 변형을 제시한 기법을 이용하여 정량적인 결함의 잉여두께를 평가하고자 한다. 변형량을 이용하여 잉여두께 예측결과 실제 결함깊이와 약 7%의 오차로 신뢰성을 확보하였으며, 압력에 따른 변형량과 잉여두께의 DB구축을 통하여 원전 배관의 감육부 건전성 평가에 활용될 수 있을 것이다. 따라서, 본 연구에서 제안하는 압력용기 결함깊이 측정법은 원자력배관의 감육결함 예측 및 건정성 평가 기술 개발 등 이론과 실험이 결함된 기초연구로서 압력용기의 안정성, 건전성, 보수성을 증진시킬 수 있는 기반확립에 기여할 것으로 기대한다.