• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.1-24
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• 2016

The original fracture criteria developed by Maxey/Kiefner for axial through-wall and surface-cracked pipes have worked well for many industries for a large variety of relatively low strength and toughness materials. However, newer line pipe steels have some unusual characteristics that differ from these older materials. One example is a test data that has demonstrated that X80 line-pipe with an axial through-wall-crack can fail at pressures about 30 percent lower than predicted with commonly used analysis methods for older steels. Thus, it is essential to review the currently available models and investigate the applicability of these models to newer high-strength line pipe materials. In this paper, the available models for predicting the failure behavior of axial-cracked pipes (through-wall-cracked and external surface-cracked pipes) were reviewed. Furthermore, the applicability of these models to high-strength steel pipes was investigated by analyzing limited full-scale pipe fracture initiation test results. Based on the analyzed results, the shortcomings of the available models were identified. For both through-wall and surface cracks, the major shortcomings were related to the characterization of the material toughness, which generally leads to non-conservative predictions in the J-T analyses. The findings in this paper may be limited to the test data that were consider for this study. The requisite characteristics of a potential model were also identified in the present paper.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.8-14
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• 2018

Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) are widely used with an increasing demand for industrial applications. PCHEs are capable of operating at high temperatures and pressure. We consider a PCHE as a candidate intermediate heat exchanger type for a high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). For conventional application using stainless steels, design and manufacturing of PCHEs are well established. For applications to HTGR, knowledge of longitudinal conduction and deformation of channel is required to estimate design margin. This paper analyzes the effects of longitudinal conduction and deformation of channel on thermal performance using a code internally developed for design and analysis of PCHEs. The code has a capability of two dimensional simulations. Longitudinal conduction is estimated using the code. In HTGR operating condition, about ten percent of design margin is required to compensate thermal performance. The cross-sectional images of PCHE channels are obtained using an optical microscope. The images are processed with computer image process technique. We quantify the deformation of channel with dimensional parameters. It is found that the deformation has negative effect on structural integrity. The deformation enhances thermal performance when the shape of channel is straight in laminar flow regime. It reduces thermal performance in cases of a zigzag channel and turbulent flow regime.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.23-29
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• 2016

The Second Shutdown Drive Mechanism (SSDM) provides an alternate and independent means of reactor shutdown. The Second Shutdown Rods (SSRs) of SSDMs are poised at the top of the core by the hydraulic force driven from a hydraulic system during normal operation. The rods drop by gravity when a trip is commended by a Reactor Protection System, Alternate Protection System, Automatic Seismic Trip System or operator by means of power off solenoid valves of hydraulic system. This paper describes the test results of seismic qualification of a prototype SSDM hydraulic system to demonstrate that its structural integrity and operability (functionality) are maintained during and after seismic excitations, that is, an adequacy of the SSDM design. From the results, this paper shows that the SSDM hydraulic system satisfies all its design requirements without any malfunctions during and after seismic excitations.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.173-178
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• 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.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제48권3호
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• pp.820-830
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• 2016

Pipe wall thinning by flow-accelerated corrosion and various types of erosion is a significant and costly damage phenomenon in secondary piping systems of nuclear power plants (NPPs). Most NPPs have management programs to ensure pipe integrity due to wall thinning that includes periodic measurements for pipe wall thicknesses using nondestructive evaluation techniques. Numerous measurements using ultrasonic tests (UTs; one of the nondestructive evaluation technologies) have been performed during scheduled outages in NPPs. Using the thickness measurement data, wall thinning rates of each component are determined conservatively according to several evaluation methods developed by the United States Electric Power Research Institute. However, little is known about the conservativeness or reliability of the evaluation methods because of a lack of understanding of the measurement error. In this study, quantitative models for UT thickness measurement deviations of nuclear pipes and fittings were developed as the first step for establishing an optimized thinning evaluation procedure considering measurement error. In order to understand the characteristics of UT thickness measurement errors of nuclear pipes and fittings, round robin test results, which were obtained by previous researchers under laboratory conditions, were analyzed. Then, based on a large dataset of actual plant data from four NPPs, a quantitative model for UT thickness measurement deviation is proposed for plant conditions.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.20-24
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• 2015

During refueling Outage, In-service inspections(ISIs) for the Nuclear Power Plant components are mandatory requirement in accordance with ASME Code Sec. XI. Especially, in current ultrasonic testing is one of the most important NDT techniques that are used for volumetric examination methods for nuclear power plant components, and accurate sizing of flaw indication by UT is essential to assure the integrity of the components. However, ASME code specifies minimum requirement for vessel examination procedure, and so far many different flaw sizing approaches have been tried to apply. Through the Round Robin Test(RRT), the accuracy of ultrasonic flaw sizing using DAC techniques was measured with the mock-ups simulating typical pressure vessel welds. These mock-ups contain artificially introduced flaws of known size and location. This paper shows experimental comparison data on the accuracy of techniques using such as 6dB drop, 50%DAC, 20%DAC and 20%DAC with beam spread correction, and also shows that diverse DAC techniques can be effectively applied to the assessment of the flaw sizing for pressure vessel welds in the stage of welding and fabrication.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

Steam generator is one of the most important component of nuclear power plant, and it's integrity and reliability are to be assured to high level by pre-service inspection and in-service inspection. To improve the reliability of steam generator heat exchanger tubes and to secure the management of nuclear power plant safely, KHNP CRI recently has developed eddy current testing system for steam generator. KHNP CRI have performed a series of experimental verification and field application to confirm the performance of the developed ECT system in accordance with ASME Code requirements. The ECT system consists of a remote data acquisition unit, an ECT signal acquisition and analysis software, a water chamber robot controller and a probe push-puller. In this paper, we will details of the developed ECT system and the software and their experimental performance. And also we will report the field applying performance and the issues for further steps.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.1-11
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• 2015

Feedwater Heaters are important components in a nuclear power plant. As the age of heater increases, the maintenance cost required for continuous operation also increases. Most heaters have the carbon steel shells, tube support plates and flow baffles. The carbon steel is susceptible to flow-accelerated corrosion. This is especially true if the flow has a two-phase mixture of steam and condensate. The wall thinning around the wet steam entrance area of the shell is inevitable during some long term operation. The structural integrity of the feedwater heater shell affects the safe operation of the nuclear power plant. Therefore, it is needed for the thinned shell to be repaired. The maintenance method for preventing failure of the shell should be determined by investigating various factors including the stress distribution of thinned area. The stress analysis of the shell including the steam entrance region is studied in this paper. The results of thinned shell is compared with that of intact shell.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제11권1호
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• pp.61-68
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• 2015

The function of Feed Water Ring is to provide the flow path from Feedwater Nozzle to inside of SG(steam generator). Significant amounts of general FAC on the outside of the Feed Water Ring are not likely due to the low flow velocities in this area. However, on the interior of the Feed Water Ring, there may be areas of local higher flow velocity which could lead to higher FAC rates. These may include the inlet tee from the Feedwater Nozzle into the Feed Water Ring, the areas where the Feed Water Ring changes diameter, and especially the entrance area to the J-Nozzles. In this paper, the results of root cause analysis of through-wall hole observed at domestic WH 51F SG Feed Water Ring and its effect on the integrity and performance of SG are described. And, the maintenance strategy for WH 51F SG Feed Water Ring and the monitoring strategy for Downcomer Feed Water Ring of CE System 80 SG are presented.

• 한국압력기기공학회 논문집
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.31-39
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• 2019

Cracked component analysis is needed for structural integrity analysis under seismic loading. Under large amplitude cyclic loading conditions, the change in material properties can be complex, depending on the magnitude of plastic strain. Therefore the cracked component analysis under cyclic loading should consider appropriate cyclic hardening model. This study introduces a procedure for determining an appropriate cyclic hardening model for cracked component analysis. The test material was nuclear-grade TP316 stainless steel. The material cyclic hardening was simulated using the Chaboche combined hardening model. The kinematic hardening model was determined from standard tensile test to cover the high and wide strain range. The isotropic hardening model was determined by simulating C(T) test under cyclic loading using ABAQUS debonding analysis. The suitability of the material hardening model was verified by comparing load-displacement curves of cyclic C(T) tests under different load ratios.