• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.19 no.2
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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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• v.48 no.3
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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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.25 no.8
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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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• v.49 no.7
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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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• v.14 no.1
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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.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2014.10a
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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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.170-176
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• 2012

In the nuclear industry, wall thinning defect of straight pipe occur the enormous loss in life evaluation and safety evaluation. To use non-destructive technique, we measure deformation, vibration, defect evaluation. But, this techniques are a weak that is the measurement of the wide area is difficult and the time is caught long. In the secondary side of nuclear power plants mostly used steel pipe, artificiality wall thinning defect make in the side and different thickness make to the each other, wall thinning defect part of deformation measure by using shearography. In addition, optical measurement through deformation, vibration, defect evaluation evaluate pipe and thickness defects of pressure vessel is to evaluate quantitatively. By shearography interferometry to measure the pipe's internal wall thinning defect and the variation of pressure use the proposed technique, the quantitative defect is to evaluate the thickness of the surplus. The amount of deformation use thickness of surplus prediction of the actual thickness defect and approximately 7 percent error by ensure reliability. According to pressure the amount of deformation and the thickness of the surplus through DB construction, nuclear power plant pipe use wall thinning part soundness evaluation. In this study, pressure vessel of thickness defect measure proposed nuclear pipe of wall thinning defect prediction and integrity assessment technology development. As a basic research defected theory and experiment, pressure vessel of advanced stability and soundness and maintainability is expected to contribute foundation establishment.