• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.1159-1168
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• 2013

In pressurized water nuclear reactors (PWRs), the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) upper head contains penetration nozzles that use a control rod drive mechanism (CRDM). The penetration nozzle uses J-groove weld geometry. Recently, the occurrence of cracking in alloy 600 CRDM penetration nozzle has increased. This is attributable to primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). PWSCC is known to be susceptible to the welding residual stress and operational stress. Generally, the tensile residual stress is the main factor contributing to crack growth. Therefore, this study investigates the effect on weld residual stress through different analysis methods for normal operating conditions using finite element analysis. In addition, this study also considers the effect of repeated normal operating condition cycles on the weld residual stress. Based on the analysis result, this paper presents a normal operating condition analysis method.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.1823-1826
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• 2002

The purpose of this experiment was to develope Triggered Vacuum Switch (TVS) for the high voltage and high current. The TVS has an array of rods of alternate polarity in which a fixed gap spacing is maintained between the rods. The cross section of each rod has trapezoidal shape. It consists of electrode, ceramic chamber, getter and trigger. Currently, triggered vacuum switch (TVS) with seal-off has been designed and fabricated at PAL. An experimentation and trigger devices for TVS were designed for testing characteristics of electricity. For making the prototype of TVS, it is developed of fabrication process and fined of electrode material. The fabrication of the TVS is a lot of process which have manufacturing of part, chemical clean, ceramic brazing and metal welding. The fabricated TVS is tested of leak for vacuum, hold-off voltage and conditioning of trigger system. The TVS has pinch-off after it is removed of gas in the TVS and activated of getter in degassing furnace. The prototype TVS tested about 20 kV, 75 kA, 83 ${\mu}s$ with 100 kJ capacitor bank and inductance 5 ${\mu}H$. This paper describes the results of tests and the characteristics of the switch.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.144-152
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• 2011

The existing underground trenchless methods use reinforcing rod in steel tube to obtain structural stiffness. However, there are some problems such as inconvenience of work and expensive material fee which are resulted from limited working space and reinforcing work. To resolve these problems, a new trenchless method, namely P.S.T method (Prestressed Segment Tunnel Method), is developed which uses joint to connect the steel segment and form erection structure in underground construction. Further, installing strands for prestressing. In order to evaluate the flexural capacity of the P.S.T method structure, experiment was conducted. The parameters considered in the experiment are the span-to-depth ratio, diameter of steel tube at corner, prestressing force and welding of joint. Altogether examining the flexural behavior, the effect of deflection in structure according to different parameters has also been analysised.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.387-395
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• 2013

Recently, several circumferential cracks were found in the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) nozzles of U.S. nuclear power plants. According to the accident analyses, coolant leaks were caused by primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC). The tensile residual stresses caused by welding, corrosion sensitive materials, and boric acid solution cause PWSCC. Therefore, an exact estimation of the residual stress is important for reliable operation. In this study, finite element simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of the tube geometry (thickness and radius) on the residual stresses in a J-groove weld for different CRDM tube locations. Two different tube locations were considered (center-hole and steepest side hill tube), and the tube radius and thickness variables ($r_o/t$=2, 3, 4) included two different reference values ($r_o$=51.6, t=16.9mm).