• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2014

A huge number of carbon steel piping components installed in the secondary system of nuclear power plants are exposed to aging mechanisms such as FAC (Flow-Accelerated Corrosion), Cavitation, Flashing, and LDIE (Liquid Droplet Impingement Erosion). Those aging mechanisms can lead to thinning of the piping components. To manage the wall thinning degradation, most of utilities in the world predict the wall thinning rate based on the computational program such as CHECWORKS, COMSY, and BRT-CICERO, evaluate the UT (Ultrasonic Test) data, and determine next inspection timing, repair or replacement, if needed. There are several evaluation methods, such as band, blanket, and strip methods, commonly used for determining the wear of piping components from single UT inspection data. It has been identified that those single UT evaluation methods not only do not consider the manufacturing features of pipes, but also may exclude the data of the most thinned point when determining the representative wear rate of piping components. This paper describes a newly developed single UT evaluation method, E-Cross method, for solving above problems and introduces application examples for several pipes and elbows. It was identified that the E-Cross method using the length and width of UT data excluded the most thinned points appropriate as the single UT evaluation method for thinned piping components.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2009

The results of crack evaluation by conventional UT(Ultrasonic Test)is highly depend on the inspector's experience or knowledge of ultrasound. Phased array UT system and its application methods for small crack length evaluation will be a good alternative method which overcome present UT weakness. This study was aimed at checking the accuracy of crack length evaluation method by electronic scanning and discuss about characteristics of electronic scanning for crack length evaluation. Especially ultrasonic phased array with electronic scan technique was used in carrying out both sizing and detect ability of crack as its length changes. The response of ultrasonic phased array was analyzed to obtain the special method of determining crack length without moving the transducer and detect-ability of crack minimal length and depth from the material. A method of crack length determining by electronic scanning for the small crack is very real method which has it's accuracy and verify the effectiveness of method compared to a conventional crack length determination.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 1996

In the conventional linear elasticity, sound speed is determined by only elastic modulus and density of the medium. In actual, however, sound speed depends on the stress and this dependency becomes nonlinear as the stress increases. These phenomena can be introducing nonlinear elastic modulus. In this paper, relationships between nonlinear elastic modulus up to 4th order and the internal status of materials are discussed through computer simulations and experiments. For the measurement of sound speed, a new type of measurement system using ultrasonic wave is proposed on the basis of ultrasonic pulse echo method which has been generally used in nondestructive ultrasonic test equipment. In order to confirm the stress dependency of sound speed, several experiments are carried out for alumina specimen.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 1992

This paper presents a summary of the immersion ultrasonic test to analyze the quality of diffusion bonding parts. The most important property of diffusion bonding parts is bonding strength, and that can be obtained by shear test. By comparing among data obtained by ultrasonic test(C-Scan) and those by shear test (bonding strength), these data are shown to be in good relation. Therefore ultrasonic C-Scan test result can be used successfully in quantitative quality control for diffusion bonded parts.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
• /
• v.53 no.10
• /
• pp.743-750
• /
• 2015

Objectives: This study compared the mechanical efficacy of sonic activated and passive ultrasonic irrigation for removing intracanal medicament from a simulated root canal under controlled conditions. Materials and Methods: Thirty simulated root canal in resin blocks were randomly divided into 3-groups. The canals were enlarged using ProTaper files and K3XF (#30/0.06). After cleaning and drying, canals were filled with Calcipex. Overfilled materials were wiped out and measured their weight to the unit of 1/10mg. After one week storage in 100% humidity $37^{\circ}C$ temperature, canals were irrigated using 20mL of saline with one of following methods according to the designated groups (n = 10). For group-NI, 30-gauge nickel-titanium irrigation needle was used. During irrigation with every 5mL, needle was moved in-and-out with 4-mm amplitudes. EndoActivator and ultrasonic tip were used for group-EA and group-UT respectively for 20 seconds after every 5mL irrigation using needle. Then the weight was measured again to calculate the weight of residual remnants. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Duncan's post-hoc test at a significance level of 95%. Results: The weight of the residual medicaments were $3.62{\pm}0.81mg$, $2.84{\pm}0.28mg$, and $2.73{\pm}0.90mg$ for group-NI, -EA, and -UT, respectively. Group-EA and group-UT had no significant differences to remove intracanal medicament and left significantly less amount of paste than group-NI (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Under the controlled conditions of this study, the sonic activation and PUI have similar mechanical efficacy for removing intracanal medicament.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.270-279
• /
• 2003

Parametric studies have been conducted into the variability of the factors affecting the ultrasonic testing applied to weldments. The influence of ultrasonic equipment, transducer parameters, test technique, job parameters, defect type and characteristics on reliability far defect detection and sizing was investigated by experimentation. The investigation was able to build up substantial bank of information on the reliability of manual ultrasonic method for testing weldments. The major findings of the study separate into two parts, one dealing with correlation between ultrasonic techniques, equipment and defect parameters and inspection performance effectiveness and other with human factors. Defect detection abilities are dependent on the training, experience and proficiency of the UT operators, the equipment used, the effectiveness of procedures and techniques.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.279-286
• /
• 2000

The stud bolts tend to degrade faster by high temperature(over 45$0^{\circ}C$). Therefore, replacement cycle inspection of stud bolts were carried out various method such as ultrasonic test(UT), magnetic test(MT), wobble test, visual test and hardness test. Especially, wobble test method has been applied to determine replacement evaluation criteria of stud bolt after long time operation. We applied three different methods on the three site and the obtained data are compared with the results from the evaluation methods. From the results, the replacement criteria for stud bolts under high temperature in power plants are proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
• /
• 2004.10a
• /
• pp.263-268
• /
• 2004

In the present study, a Nd;YAG Laser (pulse type) was used to emit ultrasonic signals to a test material. In addition, a total ultrasonic investigation system was designed by adopting a Fabry-Perot interferometer, which receives ultrasonic signals without any contact. For non-destructive test SM45C, which contains some flaws was used as a test material. Because it is easy to align light beam in receiver, and the length of the light beam does not change much even if convex mirror leans towards one side, confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer, which has stable frequency, and PI control are used to correct interfered and unstable signals from temperature, fluctuation and time shift of laser frequency. Stable signals are always obtained by the feedback of PI circuit signals in the confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer. The type, size and position of flaws inside the test material were examined by achieving the stabilization of an interferometer. This study presented a useful method, which could quantitatively investigate the fault of objects by using a Fabry-Perot interferometer.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.173-178
• /
• 2012

To manage the wall thinning of carbon steel piping in nuclear power plants, the utility of Korea has performed thickness inspection for some quantity of pipe components during refueling outages and determined whether repair or replacement after evaluating UT (Ultrasonic Test) data. When the existing UT data evaluation methods, such as Band, Blanket, PTP (Point to Point) Methods, are applied to a certain pipe component, unnecessary re-inspecting situations may be generated even though the component does not thinned. In those cases, economical loss caused by repeated inspection and problems of maintaining the pipe integrity followed by decreasing of newly inspected components may be generated. EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) in USA has suggested several statistical methods, TPM (Total Point Method), LSS (Least Square Slope) Method, etc. to distinguish whether multiple inspecting components have thinned or not. This paper presents the analysis results for multiple inspecting components over three times based on both NAM (Near Area of Minimum) Method developed by KEPCO-E&C and the other methods suggested by EPRI.