• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2483-2488
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• 2008

To mitigate the effects of cavitation and flashing, several types of orifices have been installed in the pipeline of new nuclear power plants. To review the effects of wall thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion by the types of orifices, which are cone and plate, and the relation between flow behavior and local wall thinning, experiments and numerical analyses for the downstream pipe of two types of orifices were performed. The experimental results in terms of static pressure obtained for the experimental facilities were compared with those of three-dimensional (3D) numerical analyses using the FLUENT code. As the results of review of flow-accelerated corrosion effects based on the experiment and numerical analysis, it was identified that the orifice of cone-type can be comparatively mitigated the effects of cavitation and flashing, but can not be mitigated the effect of flow-accelerated corrosion.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.1393-1400
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• 2009

The objective of this study is to validate local failure criteria, which were proposed based on the notched-bar specimen tests combining with finite element (FE) simulations, using the results of real-scale pipe failure tests. This study conducted burst test using wall-thinned pipe specimens, which were made of 4 inch Sch.80 ASTM A106 Gr.B carbon steel pipe, under simple internal pressure at ambient temperature and performed associated FE simulations. Failure pressures were estimated by applying the failure criteria to the results of FE simulations and were compared with experimental failure pressures. It showed that the local stress based criterion, given as true ultimate tensile stress of material, accurately estimated the failure pressure of wall-thinned pipe specimens. However, the local strain based criterion, which is fracture strain of material as a function of stress tri-axiality, could not predict the failure pressure. It was confirmed that the local stress based criterion is reliably applicable to estimation of failure pressure of local wall-thinned piping components.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.1175-1182
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• 2013

The lock-in mode infrared thermography (IRT) technique has been developed to improve the detection capability of defects in materials with high thermal conductivity, and it has been shown to provide better detection capability than conventional active IRT. Therefore, to investigate the application of this technique to nuclear piping components, lock-in mode IRT tests were conducted on pipe specimens containing simulated wall-thinning defects. Phase images of the wall-thinning defects were obtained from the tests, and they were compared with thermal images obtained from conventional active IRT tests. It showed that the ability to size the detected wall-thinning defects in piping components was improved by using lock-in mode IRT. The improvement was especially apparent when detecting short and narrow defects and defects with slanted edges. However, the detection capability for shallow wall-thinning defects did not improve much when using lock-in mode IRT.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.129-134
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• 2012

UT(Ultrasonic Test), one of the non-destructive tests, is the most common thickness measurement method for evaluating the wear rate in NPPs(Nuclear Power Plants). UT is used widely because it is easy and safe for use. However some amount of error inevitably occurs in attempting to measure the thickness. The error, that could make the thickness data thicker or thinner, may affect estimation of wear rate in pipes. NPPs are composed of a lot of pipes and components. Some of them are tested to check the current status during RFO(Re-Fueling Outage). Reliability analysis of UT is essential for evaluating pipe wear rate and establishing the long-term management plan in NPPs. This paper reviewed the cause of error occurrence and presented the UT data reliability analysis method. Also, this paper shows the application result of reliability analysis to the UT data acquired in NPPs.

• 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.34 no.11
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• pp.1675-1680
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• 2010

Flow Accelerated Corrosion (FAC) occurring during in-service conditions results in localized wall-thinning in the feeder pipes of CANDU. The wall-thinning of the feeder pipes is the main degradation mechanisms affecting the integrity of piping systems. In this paper, we assess the integrity of wall-thinned feeder pipes by limit load analysis. The limit loads for wall-thinning feeder pipes subjected to in-plane bending and internal pressure were determined on the basis of finte element limit analyses. The limit loads are determined from the results of limit analyses of elasticperfectly-plastic materials using the large geometry change. Closed-form approximations of limit load solutions for wall-thinning feeder pipes subjected to in-plane bending and pressure are proposed.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2013

The most common pipe wall thinning degradation mechanisms that can occur in the steam and feedwater systems are FAC (Flow Acceleration Corrosion), cavitation, flashing, and LDIE (Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion). Among those degradation mechanisms, FAC has been investigated by many laboratories and industries. Cavitation and flashing are also protected on the piping design phase. LDIE has mainly investigated in aviation industry and turbine blade manufactures. On the other hand, LDIE has been little studied in NPP (Nuclear Power Plant) industry. This paper presents the development of prediction system for pipe wall thinning caused by LDIE in terms of erosion rate based on air-water ratio and material. Experiment is conducted in 3 cases of air-water ratio 0.79, 1.00, and 1.72 using the three types of the materials of A106B, SS400, and A6061. The main control parameter is the air-water ratio which is defined as the volumetric ratio of water to air (0.79, 1.00, 1.72). The experiments were performed for 15 days, and the surface morphology and hardness of the materials were examined for every 5 days. Since the spraying velocity (v) of liquid droplets and their contact area ($A_c$) on specimens are changed according to the air-water ratio, we analyzed the behavior of LDIE for the materials. Finally, the prediction equations(i.e. erosion rate) for LDIE of the materials were determined in the range of the air-water ratio from 0 to 2%.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.134-139
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• 2002

Fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear power plant. However, effects of local wall thinning on strength and fracture behaviors of piping system were not well studied. Acoustic emission(AE) has been widely used in various fields because of its extreme sensitivity, dynamic detection ability and location of growing defects. In this study, we investigated failure modes of locally wall thinned pipes and AE signals by bending test. From test results, we could be divided four types of failure modes of ovalization, crack initiation after ovalization, local buckling and crack initiation after local buckling. And fracture behaviors such as elastic region, yielding range, plastic deformation range and crack progress could be evaluated by AE counts, accumulative counts and time-frequency analysis during bending test. It is expected to be basic data that can protect a risk according to local wall thinning of pipes, as a real time test of AE.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.9 no.3 s.28
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• pp.1-8
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• 2005

We studied on the nondestructive evaluation of the elastic wave signals of locally wall thinned straight pipe. Wavelet transform was applied for the time-frequency analysis of waveforms obtained by fracture wave detector due to the dropping steel ball. The time-frequency analysis provides time variation of each frequency component involved in a waveform, which makes it possible to evaluate the shape of local wall thinning at each frequency. In this study, comparison by wavelet transform of the AE signals and monotonic bending tests without internal pressure are conducted on 1.91 inch diameter full-scale carbon steel pipe specimens. As the results of tests, fracture behaviors could be shown by the characteristic of mechanical strength of locally wall thinned pipes and the waveforms could be evaluated for the integrity insurance of the piping system according to the length and depth range of the deffeted shape pipes in the real field.