• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.168-173
• /
• 2015

A steam generator tubing is one of the main pressure boundary of the reactor coolant system in the nuclear power plants. Structural integrity refers to maintaining adequate margins against failure of the tubing. Burst pressure of a tube at tube support plate can be higher than that for a free-span tube because failure behaviors could be interfered from the tube support plate. Alternative repair criteria for out-diameter stress corrosion cracking indications in tubes to the drilled type tube support plate were developed, however, there are very limited information to the eggcrate type tube support plate. This paper discussed reinforcement effect of steam generator tube burst pressure with axial out-diameter stress corrosion cracking within an eggcrate type tube support plate. A series of tube burst tests were performed under the room temperature and it was found out that there is no significant but marginal effects.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.201-208
• /
• 2005

In this paper, absolute and differential eddy current signals from various defects in the steam generator tube are numerically predicted and their signal slope characteristics are investigated. The signal changes due to frequency increase are also observed. After studying signal patterns from various defects and frequencies, the analysis of mixed defect signals affected by the presence of a ferromagnetic support plate is attempted. For the signal prediction, axisymmetric finite element modeling is used and this leads us to the slope angle analysis of the signal. Results show that differential signals are useful for locating the position of a defect under the support plate, while absolute signals are easy to presume and interpret even though the effect of support plate is mixed. Combined use of these two types of signals will help us accomplish a more reliable inspection.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.36-41
• /
• 2012

General condensers consist of many tubes supported by tube sheets and support plates to prevent the deflection of the condenser tubes. When a fluid at high pressure and temperature runs over the tubes for the purpose of transferring heat from one medium to another, the tubes vibrate and their surface comes into contact with the support plates. This vibration causes damage to the tubes, such as cracks and wear. We propose an ultrasonic guided wave technique to detect the above problems in the support plate region. In the proposed method, the ultrasonic guided wave mode, L(0,1), is excited using an internal transducer probe from a single position at the end of the tube. In this paper, we present a preliminary experimental verification using a super stainless tube and show that the defects can be discriminated from the support signals in the support region.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.31 no.2 s.257
• /
• pp.277-284
• /
• 2007

The steam generator in a nuclear power plant is a large heat exchanger that uses heat from a reactor to generate steam to drive the turbine generator. Rupture of a steam generator tube can result in release of fission products to environment outside. Therefore, an accurate integrity assessment of the steam generator tubes with cracks is of great importance for maintaining the safety of a nuclear power plant. The steam generator tubes are supported at regular intervals by support plates and rotations of the tubes are restrained. Although it has been reported that the limit load for a circumferential crack is significantly affected by boundary condition of the tube, existing limit load solutions do not consider the restraining effect of support plate correctly. In addition, there are no limit load solutions for circumferential cracks in U-bend region with the effect of the support plate. This paper provides detailed limit load solutions for circumferential cracks in top of tube sheet and the U-bend regions of the steam generator tube with the actual boundary conditions to simulate the restraining effect of the support plate. Such solutions are developed based on three dimensional finite element analyses. The resulting limit load solutions are given in a polynomial form, and thus can be simply used in practical integrity assessment of the steam generator tubes.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.515-524
• /
• 1995

Tubes in heat exchanger of fuel rods in reactor core are supported at intemediate point by support p0lates or springs. Current practice is, in case of heat exchanger, to allow clearance between tube and support plate for design and manufacturing consideration. And in case of fuel rod the clearance in support point can be generated due to the support spring force relaxation. Flow-induced vibration of a tube can cause it to impact or rub against support plate or against adjacent tubes and can result in fretting-wear. The tube-to- support dynamic interaction is used to relate experimental wear data from single-span test rigs to real multi-span heat exchanger configurations. The dynamic interaction cna be measured during experimental wear tests. However, the dynamic interaction is difficult to measure in real heat exchangers and, therefore, analytical techniques are required to estimate this interaction. This paper describels the nonlinear impact model of DAGS(Dynamic Analysis of Gapped Structure) code which simulates the tube response to external sinusodial or step excitation and predicts tube motion and tube-to-support dynamic interaction. Three experimental measurements-two single span rods excited by sinusodial force and a two span rod impacted by a steel ball are compared from the simulation nonlinear model of DAGS code. The simulation results from DAGS code are in good agreement with measurements. Therefore, the developed model of DAGS code is good analytical tool for estimating tube-to-support dynamic interaction in real heat exchangers.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.16-19
• /
• 2010

In this study, the axial ODSCC occurrence of domestic OPR 1000 steam generator tube was caused by the tube weakness and the sludge accumulation in the secondary side of steam generator. Inconel 600 HTMA used as tube material is related to most of tube leakage accidents in the world and also these ODSCCs were detected mainly at the 5th TSP(Tube Support Plate) to the 8th TSP of hot leg side. These elevations(5th TSP to 8th TSP) pave the way for the sludge accumulation. As a result of EC(Eddy Current) Bobbin and RPC data analysis, ODSCCs were occurred at contact points of tube and tube support plate. The more accumulated sludge, the higher occurrence frequency of ODSCC.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.200-214
• /
• 1993

This paper presents the results of fluidelastic instability analysis performed for the U-tube bundle of a Westinghouse model 51 steam generator, one of the recirculating types designed at an early stage, in which the principal region of external cross-flow is associated with the U-bend portion of tube. The prerequisites for this analysis are detailed informations of the secondary side flow conditions in the steam generator and the free vibration behaviours of the U-tubes. In this study, the three-dimensional two-phase flow field in the steam generator has been calculated employing the ATHOS3 steam generator two-phase flow code and the ANSYS engineering analysis code has been used to calculate the free vibration responses of specific U tubes under consideration. The assessment of the potential instability for the suspect U-tubes, which is the final analysis process of the present work, has been accomplished by combining the secondary side velocity and density distributions obtained from the ATHOS3 prediction with the relative modal displacement and natural frequency data calculated using the ANSYS code. The damping of tubes in two-phase flow has been deduced from the existing experimental data by taking into account the secondary side void fraction effect. In operation of the steam generator, the tube support conditions at the tube-to-tube support plate intersections due to either tube denting degradation or deposition of tube support plate corrosion products or ingression of dregs. Thus, various hypothetical cases regarding the tube support conditions at the tube-to-tube support plate intersections have been considered to investigate the clamped support effects on the forced vibration response of the tube. Also, the effect of anti-vibration bars support in the curved portion of tube has been examined.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2004.11a
• /
• pp.302-307
• /
• 2004

The major flow-induced vibration mechanisms such as fluid-elastic and turbulence excitation can cause the various types of wear of the steam generator tubes in unclear power plant. It is generally accepted that the tube wear due to vibration is affected by the presence of gap clearance between tube and support plate. Connors showed that the tube wear depth could be estimated by using the relationship between wear volume and sliding distance for contact time. Au-Yang predicted the wear depth by using the nonlinear characteristics of normal work rate to contact time. In this study the effect of gap size on the steam generator tubes wear is analyzed by deriving the wear depth versus normal work rate relationship from these previous results.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2005.07b
• /
• pp.942-944
• /
• 2005

In this study, eddy current signals from various anomalous defects in the heat exchanger tube are predicted af their signal slope characteristics no analyzed. The signal changes due to frequency increase are also observed. Based in the accumulated knowledge, the analysis of superimposed signal is attempted which includes the effects of support plate. Both differential and absolute bobbin probe signals are analyzed. For the prediction of signals, axisymmetric finite element modeling is used and this leads us to the utilization of slope angle analysis of the signal. Results show that differential signals are useful to locate the position of defect under the support plate and absolute signals no easy to predict and analyze even though they no superimposed signals. Combined use of these two types of signals will accomplish a reliable inspection.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.9 s.102
• /
• pp.1009-1015
• /
• 2005

Fluid-elastic instability and turbulence excitation for an under developing steam generator are investigated numerically. The stability ratio and the amplitude of turbulence excitation are obtained by using the $PIAT^{(R)}$ (program for integrity assessment of steam generator tube) code from the information on the thermal-hydraulic data of the steam generator. The aspect ratio, the ratio between the height of U-tube from the upper most tube support Plate (h) and the width of two vertical portion of U-tube (w), is defined for geometric parameter study. Several aspect ratios with relocation of tube support plates are adopted to study the effects on the mode shapes and characteristics of flow-induced vibration. When the aspect ratio exceeds value of 1, most of the mode shapes at low frequency are generated at the top of U-tube. It makes very high value of the stability ratio and the amplitude of turbulent excitation as well. We can consider that the local mode shape at the upper side of U-tube will develop the wear phenomena between the tube and the anti-nitration bars such as vortical, horizontal, and diagonal strips. It turns out that the aspect ratio reveals very important parameter for the design stage of the steam generator. The appropriate value of the aspect ratio should be specified and applied.