• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2001.06a
• /
• pp.17-25
• /
• 2001

This paper briefly describes the new engineering method, called the enhanced reference stress method, to estimate J (or $C^*$) for non-linear fracture mechanics analysis of defective components, recently proposed by authors. The proposed method offers significant advantages over existing methods in terms of its accuracy, simplicity and robustness. Examples of application of the proposed method to typical piping integrity problems such as through-wall cracked pipes under combined loading, and surface cracked pipes under internal pressure and bending are given. Excellent agreements between the FE J and $C^*$ results and those of the proposed method provide sufficient confidence in the use of the proposed method. One notable point is that the proposed method can be used to estimate J (or $C^*$) along the crack front of surface cracks. Moreover simplicity of the proposed method makes it easy to extend to more complex problems. Thus the proposed method is attractive to assess the significance of defects under practical situations.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.380-385
• /
• 2010

The integrity of components and piping of operating nuclear power plants has been identified by in-service inspection(ISI) requirements and activities commensurate with standards and codes such as KEPIC MI or ASME Code Section XI. However, the other various degradation mechanisms not considered during design stage of nuclear power plants have been checked by enhanced ISI. The requirements of enhanced ISI have been voluntarily developed by the industry itself or strickly issued by regulatory body. Even though the requirements were developed by the industry, they should be reviewed by regulatory body for their application in nuclear power plants. The enhanced ISI activities and requirements of non-destructive examination(NDE) which reflect the degradation issues in nuclear power industry will be primarily discussed in this paper.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.60 no.2
• /
• pp.337-350
• /
• 2016

Even though extensive researches have been performed for steam explosion due to their complex mechanisms and inherent uncertainties, establishment of severe accident management guidelines and strategies is one of state-of-the arts in nuclear industry. The goal of this research is primarily to examine effects of vessel failure modes and locations on nuclear facilities under typical steam explosion conditions. Both discrete and integrated models were employed from the viewpoint of structural integrity assessment of steel components and evaluation of the cracking and crushing in reinforced concrete structures. Thereafter, comparison of systematic analysis results was performed; despite the vessel failure modes were dominant, resulting maximum stresses at the all steel components were sufficiently lower than the corresponding yield strengths. Two failure criteria for the reinforced concrete structures such as the limiting failure ratio of concrete and the limiting strains for rebar and liner plate were satisfied under steam explosion conditions. Moreover, stresses of steel components and reinforced concrete structures were reduced with maximum difference of 12% when the integrated model was adopted comparing to those of discrete models.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.41 no.10
• /
• pp.1323-1332
• /
• 2009

The IHX (Intermediate Heat eXchanger) for a pool-type SFR (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor) system transfers heat from the primary high temperature sodium to the intermediate cold temperature sodium. The upper structure of the IHX is a coaxial structure designed to form a flow path for both the secondary high temperature and low temperature sodium. The coaxial structure of the IHX consists of a central downcomer and riser for the incoming and outgoing intermediate sodium, respectively. The IHX of a pool-type SFR is supported at the upper surface of the reactor head with an IHX support structure that connects the IHX riser cylinder to the reactor head. The reactor head is generally maintained at the low temperature regime, but the riser cylinder is exposed in the elevated temperature region. The resultant complicated temperature distribution of the co-axial structure including the IHX support structure may induce a severe thermal stress distribution. In this study, the structural feasibility of the current upper support structure concept is investigated through a preliminary stress analysis and an alternative design concept to accommodate the IHTS (Intermediate Heat Transport System) piping expansion loads and severe thermal stress is proposed. Through the structural analysis it is found that the alternative design concept is effective in reducing the thermal stress and acquiring structural integrity.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.27 no.9
• /
• pp.1469-1476
• /
• 2003

This paper provides plastic limit load solutions of cylinders with circumferential part-through surface cracks under combined axial tension, internal pressure and global bending. Such solutions are developed based on detailed three-dimensional (3-D) finite element (FE) limit analyses using elastic-perfectly-plastic material behaviour, together with analytical solutions based on equilibrium stress fields. For the crack location, both external and internal cracks are considered. Furthermore, in terms of the crack shape, both semi-elliptical and constant-depth surface cracks are considered. The resulting limit load solutions are given in a closed form, and thus can be easily used in practical situations. Being based on detailed 3-D FE limit analysis, the present solutions are believed to most reliable, and thus to be valuable information for integrity assessment of piping.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.5 s.66
• /
• pp.65-70
• /
• 2005

Fracture behavior and pipe strength are very important to the integrity of energy plants, ocean structures, and so forth. The pipes of energy plants and ocean structures are subject to local wall thinning, resulting from severe erosion-corrosion damage. Recently, the effects of local wall thinning on fracture strength and fracture behavior of piping systems have been the focus of many studies. In this paper, the elasto-plastic analysis is performed by FE code ANSYS on straight pipes with wall thinning. We evaluated the failure mode, fracture strength and fracture behavior, using FE analysis. Also, the effect of the axial strain on deformations and failure modes was estimated by FE analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.52-60
• /
• 2002

Failure criterion is a parameter to represent the resistance to failure of locally wall thinned pipe, and it depends on material characteristics, defect geometry, applied loading type, and failure mode. Therefore, accurate prediction of integrity of wall thinned pipe requires a failure criterion adequately reflected the characteristics of defect shape and loading in the piping system. In the present study, the finite element analysis was performed and the results were compared with those of pipe experiment to develop a sound criterion for failure of internally wall thinned pipe subjected to combined pressure and bending loads. By comparing the predictions of failure to actual failure load and displacement, an appropriate criterion was investigated. From this investigation, it is concluded that true ultimate stress criterion is the most accurate to predict failure of wall thinned pipe under combined loads, but it is not conservative under some conditions. Engineering ultimate stress estimates the failure load and displacement reasonably for al conditions, although the predictions are less accurate compared with the results predicted by true ultimate stress criterion.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.29 no.1 s.232
• /
• pp.107-114
• /
• 2005

In order to analyze the elastic-plastic fracture behavior of a structure, the fracture resistance curve of the material should be known first. The standard CT specimen was used to obtain the fracture resistance curves of a piping system. However, it is known that the fracture resistance curve by the standard CT specimen is very conservative to evaluate the integrity of a structure. Also the fracture resistance curve is effected by the specimen geometry and the dimensions because of the constraint effect. The objective of this paper is to be certain the conservativeness of the fracture resistance curve by the standard CT specimen and to provide an additional safety margin. For these, the fracture tests using a real pipe specimen and the standard CT specimen test were performed. A 4-point bending jig was manufactured for the pipe test and the direct current potential drop method was used to measure the crack extension and the length for the pipe test. Also finite element analyses were performed with a CT specimen and a pipe in order to prove the additional safety margin. From the result of tests and analyses of the pipe and the standard CT specimen, it was observed that the fracture analysis with the standard CT specimen is conservative and the additional safety margin was proved.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.1846-1857
• /
• 2021

Ultrasonic nondestructive testing is important for monitoring the structural integrity of dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) in pressure vessels and piping in nuclear power plants. However, there is a low probability of crack detection via inspection of DMWs using ultrasonic waves because the grain structures (grain orientations) of the weld area cause distortion and splitting of ultrasonic beams propagating in anisotropic media. To overcome this issue, the grain orientation should be known, and a precise ultrasonic wave simulation technique in anisotropic media is required to model the distortion and splitting of the waves accurately. In this study, a method for nondestructive prediction of the DMW grain orientations is presented for accurate simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation behavior in the weld area. The ultrasonic wave propagation behavior in anisotropic media is simulated via finite-element analysis when ultrasonic waves propagate in a transversely isotropic material. In addition, a methodology to predict the DMW grain orientation is proposed that employs a simulation technique for ultrasonic wave propagation behavior calculation and an optimization technique. The simulated ultrasonic wave behaviors with the grain orientations predicted via the proposed method demonstrate its usefulness. Moreover, the method can be used to determine the focal law in DMWs.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.53 no.3
• /
• pp.974-987
• /
• 2021

This paper presents ductile fracture simulation of full-scale cracked pipe for nuclear piping materials using the cohesive zone model (CZM). The main objective of this study is to investigate the applicability of CZM to predict ductile fracture of cracked pipes with various crack shapes and under quasi-static/dynamic loadings. The transferability of the traction-separation (T-S) curve from a small-scale specimen to a full-scale pipe is demonstrated by simulating small- and full-scale tests. T-S curves are calibrated by comparing experimental data of compact tension specimens with finite element analysis results. The calibrated T-S curves are utilized to predict the fracture behavior of cracked pipes. Three types of full-scale pipe tests are considered: pipe with circumferential through-wall crack under quasistatic/dynamic loadings, and with 360° internal surface crack under quasi-static loading. Computational results using the calibrated T-S curves show a good agreement with experimental data, demonstrating the transferability of the T-S curves from small-scale specimen.