• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2013

A probabilistic assessment code, PRO-LOCA ver. 3.7 which was developed in an international co-operative research program, PARTRIDGE was evaluated by conducting sensitivity analysis. The effect of some variables such as simulation methods (adaptive sampling, iteration numbers, weld residual stress model), crack features(Poisson's arrival rate, maximum numbers of cracks, initial flaw size, fabrication flaws), operating and loading conditions(temperature, primary bending stress, earthquake strength and frequency), and inspection model(inspection intervals, detectable leak rate) on the failure probabilities of a surge line nozzle was investigated. The results of sensitivity analysis shows the remaining problems of the PRO-LOCA code such as the instability of adaptive sampling and unexpected trend of failure probabilities at an early stage.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 2016

The prototype SFR has currently been under design by KAERI. The size of its major components is much larger than that of APR1400 and high temperature materials are applied for it. The increased size of components and those specific materials effect on material procurement, manufacturing process and fabrication facilities. The manufacturing methods are studied for Reactor Vessel/Guard Vessel, Control Rod Drive Mechanism, Heat Exchanger, Primary Pump, Reactor Vessel Internals, Steam Generator and In-Vessel Transfer Machine. The proper manufacturing methods are suggested for each component including side forging technology for ultra large forgings of Reactor Vessel to minimize the weld seams on which In-service Inspection should be conducted.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2001

An ultrasonic test method, as a nondestructive test is applied to ensure the clad interface quality assessment. According to the reference codes and standards, not only korea Industrial Standard(KS) but also American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard, ultrasonic examination procedures use the pulse-echo, A-scan, back reflection signal drop method and/or side drilled reference hole used to establish the acceptance criteria of clad material test. But the variety of bonding materials and sizes makes it difficult to produce the reference blocks, or thus the criteria. In order to overcome these practical difficulties, new ultrasonic testing criterion is suggested. In this new method, the theoretical interface reflection signal amplitude level is calculated and suggested as an acceptance criteria with the back reflection signal set to 100% FSH(Full Screen Height) which is based on acoustic impedance mismatch at the clad interface for the explosive clad ultrasonic inspection. Applicability of suggested criterion, for the explosive clad Fe-Naval Brass with different bonding quality is confirmed to the pre-existed KS and ASTM specifications and verified by using SEM (Seanning Electron Microscope) micrograph. The results obtained by the suggested method is more conservative than the results according to the KS B 0234 and ASTM A 578 specifications The suggested method could be applicable to any other combination of explosive clad ultrasonic inspection.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.40-47
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• 2011

KSNPs(Korea Standard Nuclear Power Plant) have been applied the break exclusion criteria to the high energy lines passing through containment penetration area to ensure that piping failures would not cause the loss of containment isolation function, and to reduce the resulting dynamic effects. Systems with the criteria are the Main Steam system, Feed Water system, Steam Generator Blowdown system, and Chemical & Volume Control system. In accordance with FSAR(Final Safety Analysis Report), a 100% volumetric examination by augmented in-service inspection of all pipe welds appled the break exclusion criteria is required for the break exclusion application piping. However, it is difficult to fully satisfy the requirements of inspection because 12", 8" and 6" weldolet weldments of Main Steam pipe line have complex structural shapes. To resolve the difficulty on the application of conventional UT(Ultrasonic Testing) technique, realistic mock-ups and UT calibration blocks were made. Simulations of conventional UT were performed utilizing CIVA, a commercial NDE(Nondestructive Examination) simulation software. Phased array UT experiments were performed through mock-up including artificial notch type flaws. A phased array UT technique is finally developed to improve the reliability of ultrasonic test at main steam line pipe to 12", 8" and 6" branch connection weld.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.127-132
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• 2002

Recent deepwater offshore structures in Gulf of Mexico utilize butt welded tubular joints. Application of welded tubular joint includes tendons, production risers, and steel catenary risers. Fatigue life assessment of these joints becomes more critical because the structures to which they are attached are allowed to undergo cyclic and sometimes large displacements around an anchored position. Estimating the fatigue behavior of these tubular members in the design stage is generally conducted by using S-N curves specified in the codes and standards. Applying the stress concentration factor of the welded structure to S-N approach often results in very conservative assessment because the stress field acting on the tubular has a non-uniform distribution through the thickness. Fracture mechanics and fitness for service (FFS) technology have been applied in the design of the catenary risers. This technology enables the engineer to establish proper requirements on weld quality and inspection acceptance criteria to assure satisfactory structural integrity during its design life. It also provides guidance on proper design curves to be used and a methodology for accounting for the effects of non-uniform stress distribution through the wall thickness. An attempt was made to develop set of S-N curves based on fracture mechanics approach by considering non-uniform stress distribution and a threshold stress intensity factor. Series of S-N curves generated from this approach were compared to the existing S-N curves. For flat plate butt joint, the S-N curve generated from fracture mechanics matches with the IIW class 100 curve when initial crack depth was 0.5 mm (0.02"). Similar comparison with API X′ was made for tubular joint.. These initial crack depths are larger than the limits of inspection by current Non-destructive examination (NDE) means, such as Automatic Ultrasonic Inspection (AUT). Thus a safe approach can be taken by specifying acceptance criteria that are close to limits of sizing capability of the selected NDE method. The comparison illustrates conservatism built into the S-N design curve.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.21-25
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• 2011

Although many defects in PZR heater sleeve have been reported continually from operating experiences in oversea nuclear power plant, utilities get into difficulties in finding appropriate methods for diagnostics of the components due to the limited access or high radiation problems. Recently, as an alternative, diagnostics using Guided Wave Testing(GWT) are proposed and the attention of the methods has been growing gradually because of their long range inspection capability. This study is to investigate the effectiveness of GWT to detect PWSCC in welding points of PZR heater sleeve. Moreover, mode sensitivity analysis of GWT and optimal frequency for the diagnostics of PWSCC are presented by testing the mock-ups specimens that contain artificial flaws.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1627-1632
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• 2002

In this paper, a simplified ultrasonic CT system, which uses the information in three directions, that is, 90°, ＋45° and －45°about the inspection plane, is applied to the high strength steel, and the frequency analysis method for enhancing the C scan or CT image is developed. This frequency analysis method is based on the frequency response property of the material. By comparing the magnitudes in the frequency domain, the special frequency which shows a significant difference between the welded joint and base material was found and used to obtain a C scan or CT image. Experimental results for several kinds of specimens, having a welded joint by electron beam welding, a weld joint by arc welding, on a fatigue crack, showed that the obtained C scan or CT image has better resolution than the results of previous experiments using the maximum value of the received waveform.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.97-103
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• 1998

The bracket tilt among automobile parts is weld parts which construct the column assembly bracket tilt of equipments and accurate dimension after welding is more essential than weldment strength. By the way, it is insufficient that systematic study about this parts which have an importance on welding deformation. The reason is that welding deformation is complex problem with shape, size, material of parts and welding sequence, conditions etc. For reduction and removal of welding deformation, therefore, it is necessary that the security of welding deformation data and systematic examination about equipment, costs, work environment, manufacturing process etc. It is all the better that the prediction of welding deformation using simulation of welding process by FEA is supplemented. In this study, the countermeasure for this welding deformation of bracket tilt is brought up through experimental inspection before the choice of the optimum welding conditions with minimum welding deformation by simulation of welding process.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.92-99
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• 2007

Welding fabrication invariantly involves three district sequential steps: preparation, actual process execution and post-weld inspection. One of the major problems in automating these steps and developing autonomous welding systems, is the lack of proper sensing strategies. Conventionally, machine vision is used in robotic arc welding only for the correction of pre-taught welding paths in single pass. In this paper, novel presented, developed vision processing techniques are detailed, and their application in welding fabrication is covered. The software for joint tracking system is finally proposed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2535-2540
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• 2002

ESPI is a noncontact, nondestructive and relatively fast inspection method. For these reasons ESPI is being applied as a valuable tool in the nondestructive evaluation of structural components. Phase shifting ESPI is used more effectively than the traditional ESPI because spatial resolution of small object displacements are improved and numerical phase values are obtained for all pixels in the image. Consequently the quantitative measurement of deformation is possible. ESPI fringe patterns are contaminated with high levels of speckle noise. Therefore the phase image is to be smoothed to remove the noise and obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio. In this study, smoothing is done by phase shifting convolution to avoid smoothing errors close to the 2$\pi$ phase ambiguities in the deformation phase image, and median filter is used as a smoothing filter.