• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.573-582
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• 2011

The in-cabinet response spectrum is used to define the input motion in the seismic qualification of instruments and devices mounted inside an electrical cabinet. This paper presents a procedure for generating the in-cabinet response spectrum for electrical equipment based on in-situ testing by an impact hammer. The proposed procedure includes an algorithm to build the relationship between the impact forces and the measured acceleration responses of cabinet structures by estimating the state-space model. This model is used to predict seismic responses to the equivalent earthquake forces. Three types of structural model are analyzed for numerical verification of the proposed method. A comparison of predicted and simulated response spectra shows good convergence, demonstrating the potential of the proposed method to predict the response spectra for real cabinet structures using vibration tests. The presented procedure eliminates the uncertainty associated with constructing an analytical model of the electrical cabinet, which has complex mass distribution and stiffness.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.11-18
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• 2011

Accurate modal identification analysis is required to reasonably perform a seismic qualification of safety-related electric equipment installed in nuclear power plants (NPPs). This study evaluates a variation of the modal properties of an electric equipment cabinet structure in NPPs according to the excitation levels. For the study, an actual electric equipment cabinet was selected as a specimen and was dynamically tested by using a portable exciter in accordance with the level of input vibration energy. Tests were classified into two sets: with-door cases, and without-door cases. Frequency response functions were computed from the signals of the acceleration responses and input motions measured from the vibration tests. A polynomial curve fitting algorithm was used to extract the modal properties from the frequency response functions. This study reviews the variation of the modal properties according to the variation of the excitation levels. The results of the study show that the modal frequencies and the modal dampings of the object specimen varies nonlinearly according to the excitation level of the test motion. Attaching the door increases the modal damping of the cabinet.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.351-358
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• 2013

In the electric power supplying industry, outdoor sealing end (pothead) is used and sometimes it is necessary to check the seismic qualification analysis or test which is intended to demonstrate that the equipment have adequate integrity to withstand stress of the specified seismic event and still performs their function. And since the pothead is mounted on the supporting jig, the avoidance of resonance between the pothead and jig is required. In order to design jig, three types of optimization are performed to get the minimum weight while satisfying the natural frequency constraint using ANSYS. Optimal array, position and thickness of truss members of the jig are obtained through topology, shape and sizing optimization process, respectively. And seismic analysis of the pothead on the jig for given RRS acceleration computes the displacement and stress of the pothead which shows the safety of the pothead. The obtained natural frequency, mass, and member thickness of the jig are compared with those of the reference jig which was used for seismic experimental test. The numerical results of the jig in the research is more optimized than the jig used in the experimental test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.755-762
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• 2004

In our country, when the replacement for individual components of equipment in nuclear power plants is required, establishment of individual criteria i.e. Required Response Spectra(RRS) of seismic test/analysis for the component is very difficult because of the absence of Test Response Spectra(TRS) for the individual component to be replaced, from the existing qualification documents. In this case, it is required to perform the structural analysis for the nuclear equipment including the components to be replaced. After the structural analysis, Analysis Response Spectra(ARS) at the point of the component shall be generated and used for seismic test of the component. However, as of today, no standard program authorized for the response spectra generation by using the structural analysis exists in korea. Because of above reason, the STAR-Egs computer program was developed by using the method which calculates directly the expected response spectrum(frequency vs. acceleration type) of the selected points in the nuclear equipment with input spectrum(Required Response Spectra, RRS), based on the dynamic characteristics of the Finite Element(FE) model that is equivalent to the nuclear equipment. The STAR-Egs controls ANSYS/I-DEAS commercial software and automatically extract modal parameters of the FE model. The STAR-Egs calculates response spectrum using the established algorithm based on the extracted modal parameters, too. Reliance on the calculation result of the STAR-Egs was verified through comparison output with the result of MATLAB commercial software based on the identical algorithm. Moreover, actual seismic testing was performed as per IEEE344-1987 for the purpose of program verification by comparison of the FE analysis results.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.31-37
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• 2003

This paper presents the methodologies for seismic retrofitting of cabinet equipment which can be employed to resolve the USI A-46 problem related to seismic qualification of old nuclear power plant. To obtain accurate dynamic characteristics of a cabinet structure, three types of structural modeling are introduced and the their free vibration modes are compared. Three types of seismic retrofitting scenarios, such as 1) the installation of bracing, 2) installation of damper, 3) installation of tuned mass damper(TMD), are established and evaluated for the decrease of ICRS(In Cabinet Reponse Spectrum). In the cases of 1) ＆ 2), since the retrofitted structures show larger ICRS than that of the original structure, the careful considerations are need in the application of these methods. Though the installation of TMD shows the best retrofitting result, the construction of analysis model that indicate the accurate vibration modes of real structure is estimated the essential step of this retrofitting method.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2013

In nuclear power plants, lined carbon steel pipes or PCCPs (pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes) have been widely used for sea water transport systems. However, de-bonding of linings and oxidation of PCCP could make problems in aged NPPs (nuclear power plants). Recently at several NPPs in the United States, the PCCPs or lined carbon steel pipes of the sea water or raw water system have been replaced with HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipes, which have outstanding resistance to oxidation and seismic loading. ASME B&PV Code committee developed Code Case N-755, which describes rules for the construction of buried Safety Class 3 polyethylene pressure piping systems. Although US NRC permitted HDPE materials for Class 3 buried piping, their permission was limited to only 10-year operation because of several concerns including the quality of fusion zone of HDPE. In this study, various requirements for fusion qualification test of HDPE and some regulatory issues raised during HDPE application review in foreign NPPs are introduced.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.289-294
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• 2011

In this study, the seismic analysis of traveling sea water screen for nuclear power plant was performed using finite element model. For qualification of traveling sea water screen, the response spectrum analysis was performed using the given operating basis earthquake(OBE) and safe shutdown earthquake(SSE) floor response spectrum. Dynamic analysis of water sea traveling screen was performed using finite element method. The analytical maximum displacements of traveling sea water screen were 2.5 mm under OBE condition and 4.6 mm under SSE condition. The maximum stresses of traveling sea water screen were 24 MPa under OBE condition and 44 MPa under SSE condition, that this results were 18 %, 27% of yield strength of material. Thus, it can shown that the structural integrity of traveling sea water screen has a stable structure for seismic load conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.325-330
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• 2011

RCP(Reactor coolant pump) must be designed to preserve it's functions on normal or abnormal environments and seismic event same as operating basis earthquake(OBE) and safe shutdown earthquake(SSE). Generally, there are static and dynamic analytical method which can be applied by a floor response spectrum or time history analysis for the seismic qualification. Initially, It was accomplished a detailed structural FE-model for finite element analysis on the bases of 3-dimensional solid model which was made by the RCP drawing. As the result of dynamic characteristic using the detailed FE-model, it's shown about 12Hz natural frequency of 1st bending mode shape and maximum displacement has 11mm with the structural bending by single-point response spectrum(SPRS) method at all elevation. But maximum displacement has 7.6mm by multi-point response spectrum(MPRS) method which was applied to the three floor response spectrum at each elevation. Therefore, On a large heighten structures as RCP, The application by SPRS method causes to be more conservative results. Finally, A simpled equivalent beam model which was developed by use of iteration of detailed FE-model is shown the result more similar with those of natural frequencies and SPRS analysis. And maximum equivalent stress and displacement of the simpled beam has verified with 180MPa and 7.1mm each at 15sec as results by SSE time history method.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.23-30
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• 2010

Seismic qualification (SQ) is required prior to the installation of safety related electrical cabinets in nuclear power plants (NPPs). Modal identification of the electrical equipment is one of the most significant steps to perform SQ, and is an essential process to construct a realistic analytical model. In this study, shaking table tests were conducted to identify a variation of the dynamic characteristics of a seismic monitoring system cabinet installed in NPPs according to the excitation level. Modal identification of the cabinet has been performed by a frequency domain decomposition method. The results of this study show that the dynamic properties of the cabinet are nonlinearly varied according to the excitation level and the specimen behaves significantly in a nonlinear manner under safe shutdown earthquake motion in Korea. The main sources of the nonlinear behavior of the specimen have been judged by friction forces and geometrical nonlinearity rather than material nonlinearity. The nonlinear variation of the dynamic characteristics of the electrical cabinet might be accepted as an important fact that should be considered during the SQ of safety related equipment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to assess the structural integrity of piping penetrations for nuclear power plants. A piping qualification analysis describes loads due to deadweight, pressure difference acts normal to the plate, thermal transients, and earthquakes, among other events, on piping penetrations that have been modeled as an anchor. Amodel was analyzed using a commercial finite element program. Apiping penetration analysis model was constructed with an assembly of pipe, head fittings and sleeves. Normally, the design load, thus obtained, will consist of three moments and three forces, referred to a Cartesian coordinate system. When comparing the stress analysis results from each required cutting position, the general membrane stress intensities and local membrane plus bending stress intensities during a structural evaluation cannot exceed the allowable amount of stress for the design loads. Therefore, the piping penetration design satisfies the code requirements.