• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.2092-2099
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• 2020

Many damages due to flow-accelerated corrosion and cracking have been observed during recent in-service inspections of nuclear power plants. To determine the operability or repair for damaged pipes, an integrity evaluation related to the damaged piping system should be performed by using already proven code and standards. One of them, the ASME Code Case is most popularly used to integrity assessment in nuclear power plants. However, the recent version of CC N-513 still recommends the simplified method which means a damaged elbow is assumed as an equivalent straight pipe. In addition, to enhance the accuracy integrity assessment in elbow, several previous studies recommend that the SIF and elastic COD values for an elbow with relatively large crack could be predicted by an interpolation technique. However, those estimates for elbow with relatively large crack might be derived to inaccurate results for crack growth analysis, such as for the allowable crack size and life estimation. Therefore, in this paper, the effect of crack length (0.3≤θ₁/π≤0.5) on SIF and elastic COD for elbow is systematically investigated. Then, for large crack in elbow, accurate estimates for SIF and elastic COD, which are widely used to assess the integrity of elbows, are proposed. Those proposed solutions are expected to be the technical basis for revisions of CC N-513-4 through the validation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.331-338
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• 2008

Ultrasonic testing for welds is widely used to ensure the integrity of facilities in NPPs. Automated ultrasonic testing(AUT) is more consistent than the manual ultrasonic testing(MUT). It can scan welded parts, examines the scanned images, and saves the results as data files. AUT in NPPs is making use of commercial systems, and there has been some difficulties in calibration of the system. An AUT system is developed. It comprises of pulser/receiver, scanner and a control program(SonicWizard). The performance demonstration for piping welds in NPPs and the piping wall thickness measurement on site were conducted to verify this system. The test results of the ultrasonic testing system developed is satisfactory and effective.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.77-87
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• 2018

In the case of high-energy line breaks in nuclear power plants, supersonic steam jet is formed due to the rapid depressurization. The steam jet can cause impingement load on the adjacent structures, piping systems and components. In order to secure the design integrity of the nuclear power plant, it is necessary to evaluate the load characteristics of the steam jet generated by high-energy pipe rupture. In the design process of nuclear power plant, jet impingement load evaluation was usually performed based on ANSI/ANS 58.2. However, U.S. NRC recently pointed out that ANSI/ANS 58.2 oversimplifies the jet behavior and that some assumptions are non-conservative. In addition, it is recommended that dynamic analysis techniques should be applied to consider transient load characteristics. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an evaluation methodology that can analyze the dynamic load characteristics of steam jet ejected when high energy pipe breaks. This research group has developed and validated the CFD analysis methodology to evaluate the transient behavior of supersonic impinging jet in the previous study. In this study, numerical study on the transient load characteristics of supersonic steam jet impingement was carried out and amplitude and frequency analysis of transient jet load was performed.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.352-356
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• 2017

We performed thermal and structural analyses to evaluate the structural integrity of a semi-metal gasket for a flange with increases in the internal fluid temperature and pressure using a commercial FEA program. As a thermal analysis result, the temperature distribution of the gasket body increased with an increase in the internal fluid temperature until the maximum fluid temperature of $600^{\circ}C$. In addition, the structural analysis showed that contact pressures of more than 35 MPa occurred uniformly in the graphite seal regions. It was found that no fluid leakage occurred under the load conditions for the structural analysis because the contact pressure in the graphite seal region was greater than the maximum internal fluid pressure of 35 MPa. Therefore, we demonstrated the structural integrity of the semi-metal gasket by performing the thermal and structure analyses under the maximum fluid temperature of $600^{\circ}C$ and the internal fluid pressure of 35 MPa.

• Journal of KSNVE
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.827-834
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• 1996

The effect of pipe breaks in the secondary side is investigated as a part of the fuel assembly qualification program. Using the detailed dynamic analysis of a reactor core, peak responses for the motions induced from pipe breaks are obtained for a detailed core model. The secondary side pipe breaks such as main steam line and economizer feedwater line braksare considered because leak-before-break methodology has provided a technical basis for the elimination of double ended guillotine breaks of all high energy piping systems with a diameter of 10 inches or over in the primary side from the design basis. The dynamic responses such as fuel assembly shear force, bending moment, axial force and displacement, and spacer grid impact loads are carefully investigated. Also, the stress analysis is performed and the effect of the secondary side pipe breaks on the fuel assembly structural integrity under the faulted condition is addressed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.281-286
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• 2008

Wall thinning defect due to flow accelerated corrosion is one of major aging phenomena in most power plant industries, and it results in reducing load carrying capacity of the piping systems. A failure testing system was set up for real scale elbows containing various simulated wall thinning defects, and monotonic in-plane bending tests were performed under internal pressure to find out the failure behavior of thinned elbows. Various finite element models were generated and analysed to figure out and simulate the behavior for other thinning shapes and loading conditions. This paper presents the decreasing trends of load carrying capacity according to the thinning dimensions which were revealed from the investigation of finite element analysis results. A mechanical integrity evaluation model for thinned elbows was proposed, also. This model can be used to calculate the TES plastic load of thinned elbows for general internal pressure, thinning location, and in-plane bending direction.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2005

Acoustic emission(AE) is defined as the transient elastic waves thar are generated by the rapid release of energy. The advantage of AE is that very early crack growth can be detected well before a highly stressed component may fail. At present, an exact diagnosis is the most reliable means for determining the soundness of structures during power plant operations. AE monitoring has been applied successfully in power plants to determine mechanical problems, pressure vessel integrity and external valves leaks, vacuum leaks, the onset of cavitation in pumps and valves, the presence of flow(or no flow) in piping and heat exchange equipment, etc. Acoustic emission(AE) technology has recently strengthened its application base, and practitioners' understanding of the technique's fundamentals. This paper introduces the methods of a survey and assessment on AE monitoring applications in nuclear, fossil and hydraulic power plant. The main objective of this paper was to obtain information on various applications of AE technology in power plant.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2008

Non-metallic composite overwrap repair methods utilize resin based fiber-reinforced composite materials, which have higher specific strength to weight ratio and stiffness, superior corrosion and fatigue resistance, and substantially reduced weight when compared to carbon steel. Non-metallic repair methods/systems can allow desired functional properties to be achieved at a respectable economic advantage. For example, non-metallic composite repair systems have at least a 50 year design stress of 20 ksi and approximately 25% of the short term tensile strength of fiberglass. For these systems, the contribution of the repaired steel to the load carrying capability need not be considered, as the strength of the repair itself is sufficient to carry the internal pressure. Worldwide experience in the Oil & Gas industry confirms the integrity, durability, inherent permanency, and cost-effectiveness of non-metallic composite repair or rehabilitation systems. A case study of a recent application of a composite repair system in Saudi Aramco resulted in savings of 37% for offshore subsea line and 75% for onshore above grade pipeline job. Maintaining a pipeline can be costly but it is very small in comparison to the cost of a failure. Pipeline proponents must balance maintenance costs with pipeline integrity. The purpose is not just to save money but also to attain a level of safety that is acceptable. This technology involves the use of an epoxy polymer resin based, fiber-reinforced composite sleeve system for rehabilitation and /or repair pipelines.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.71-77
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• 2006

This study introduces the seismic qualification of safety related equipments for nuclear power plants to verify the possibility of resonance in regard to the operating speed and the structural integrity due to external piping nozzle loads as well as seismic dynamic loads using El-Centro earthquake, which was occurred in the 1940's previously. As a first step, it is necessary to investigate the natural frequency of the vertical mixed flow pump in order to determine whether static or dynamic equipment comparing with seismic cut-off frequency, 33hz. Also the normal mode analysis was carried out with the introduction of seismic redesign straint at the middle of vertical pump to increase the natural frequency. In terms of structural integrity, the application of static analysis with normal, upset and faulted nozzle loads event was presented for the comparison of material allowable stress. Also the dynamic analysis was performed to show the design adequacy through the application to the case of El-Centro earthquake.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.653-659
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• 2002

This paper describes a probabilistic fracture mechanics(PFM) analysis based on Monte Carlo(MC) simulation. In the analysis of CANDU pressure tube, the depth and aspect ratio of an initial semi-elliptical surface crack, a fracture toughness value and delayed hydride cracking(DHC) velocity are assumed to be probabilistic variables. As an example, some failure probabilities of piping and CANDU pressure tube are calculated using MC method with the stratified sampling MC technique, taking analysis conditions of normal operations. In the stratified MC simulation, a sampling space of probabilistic variables is divided into a number of small cells. For the verification of analysis results, a comparison study of the PFM analysis using other commercial code is carried out and a good agreement was observed between those results.