• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.18 no.4 s.70
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• pp.405-416
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• 2005

This study contains the static buckling tests and static buckling analyses for small size grids and full size grids. The buckling tests and finite element analyses were performed to evaluate the buckling characteristics of the spacer grids in a pressurized water reactor fuel assembly and to evaluate the possibility of the prediction lot the buckling strength of spacer grids. The buckling tests were performed for small size grids and full size grids, and the correlations between buckling strength and the number of straps and the correlations between buckling strength and the number of rows are derived based on the test results. The static buckling analyses were performed to identify the effect of the number of rows and the number of columns on the buckling strength of spacer grid by a finite element method using ANSYS program and the results were compared with the buckling test results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.1803-1806
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• 2007

The General roles of a spacer grid(SG) are providing a lateral and vertical support for fuel rods, promoting a mixing of coolant and keeping guide tubes straight so as not to impede a control rod insertion under any normal or accidental conditions. To evaluate the impact characteristics of a SG such as impact velocity, critical buckling strength and duration time, a few types of impact tests for SGs have been conducted. In a previous study, a new welding method, a through-welding method, was proposed to increase critical buckling strength of a SG without any design change or material change and was verified by impact tests with $7{\times}7$ partial SG specimens.In this paper, the effect of through-welding method in case of a $16{\times}16$ full-size SG is investigated by pendulum impact tests with $16{\times}16$ SG specimens. And the increase of critical buckling strength for full-size SGs is measured by comparison with impact results of spot-welded and through-welded SGs.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2016

This study concentrates on the design of floater for 15kW-class wave energy converter that extracts the ocean energy by oscillating vertically along the wave motion. The floater connects to a arm structure that connects to a hydraulic cylinder, which drives a hydraulic generator. The study mainly focuses on the structural analysis of the floater. Previous studies have been conducted using a miniature model; however, this study focuses on the size selection of the floater for a full scale model. Static structural analysis is conducted using fine numerical grids. Due to the complexity of the whole model, it is analyzed as a separate component. There are several load cases for each floater size, and they are analyzed thoroughly for stress (von-mises, shear, and normal) and deformation. The initial design was conducted by scaling up from the miniature model of the previous study, and the final design has been redesigned by changing the thickness and internal support structure shape.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.515-518
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• 2006

A vibration test for a cylindrical rod inserted on the grid support structure was tested using the sine sweep excitation method with closed loop force control. The effect of the mounting location of a test rod on the vibration characteristics of a rod continuously supported by the full size($16{\times}16$) grid support was identified. An electromagnetic vibration shaker, non-contact displacement sensor and HP/VXI data acquisition device were used and TDAS software was also used as a data sampling and processing tools. The natural frequencies and mode shape of the test rod were consistent with the previous works of a rod vibration test with partial grids($3{\times}3,\;5{\times}5\;and\;7{\times}7$). The frequency characteristics of the rod according to the mounting location were shown clear discrepancies, but mode shapes were nearly same. As the test rod closes to the bottom clamping region of the spacer grid, peak vibration amplitudes of the rod become smaller.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.329-348
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• 2013

This study aims at observing the coupling behaviours between suspended ceilings and partition walls in terms of their global seismic performance using full-scale shake table tests. The suspended ceilings with planar dimensions of $6.0m{\times}3.6m$ were tested with two types of panels: acoustic lay-in and metal clip-on panels. They were further categorized as seismic-braced, seismic-unbraced, and non-seismic installations. Also, two configurations of 2.7 m high partition wall specimens, with C-shape and I-shape in the plane layouts, were tested. In total, seven ceiling-partition-coupling (CPC) specimens were tested utilizing a unidirectional seismic simulator. The test results indicate that the damage patterns of the tested CPC systems included failure of the ceiling grids, shearing-off of the wall top railing, and, most destructively, numerous partial detachments and falling of the ceiling panels. The loss of panels was mostly concentrated near the center of the tested partition wall. The testing results also confirmed that the failure mode of the non-seismic CPC systems was brittle: The whole system would collapse suddenly all at once when the magnitude of the inputs hit the capacity threshold, rather than displaying progressive damage. Overall, the seismic capacity of the unbraced and braced CPC systems could be up to 1.23 g and 2.67 g, respectively; these accelerations were both achieved at the base of the partition wall. Nonetheless, for practical applications, it is noteworthy that the three-dimensional nature of seismic excitations and the size effect of the ceiling area are parameters that exacerbate the CPC's seismic response so that their actual capacity may be dramatically decreased, leading to important losses even in moderate seismic events.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.633-640
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• 2014

In this research, the surface roughness affecting the pressure drop in a pipe used as the steam generator of a PWR was studied. Based on the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) technique using a commercial code named ANSYS-FLUENT, a straight pipe was modeled to obtain the Darcy frictional coefficient, changed with a range of various surface roughness ratios as well as Reynolds numbers. The result is validated by the comparison with a Moody chart to set the appropriate size of grids at the wall for the correct consideration of surface roughness. The pressure drop in a full-scale U-shaped pipe is measured with the same code, correlated with the surface roughness ratio. In the next stage, we studied a reduced scale model of a U-shaped heat pipe with experiment and analysis of the investigation into fluid-structure interaction (FSI). The material of the pipe was cut from the real heat pipe of a material named Inconel 690 alloy, now used in steam generators. The accelerations at the fixed stations on the outer surface of the pipe model are measured in the series of time history, and Fourier transformed to the frequency domain. The natural frequency of three leading modes were traced from the FFT data, and compared with the result of a numerical analysis for unsteady, incompressible flow. The corresponding mode shapes and maximum displacement are obtained numerically from the FSI simulation with the coupling of the commercial codes, ANSYS-FLUENT and TRANSIENT_STRUCTURAL. The primary frequencies for the model system consist of three parts: structural vibration, BPF(blade pass frequency) of pump, and fluid-structure interaction.