• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.10-17
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• 2020

Securing the integrity of steam generator tubes is an essential requirement for safe operation of nuclear power plants. Therefore, tubes that do not satisfy integrity requirements are no longer usable and must be repaired according to the related requirements. In general, the repair criterion is that the damage depth is more than 40% of the tube wall thickness. However, the plugging limit can be changed and be applied, provided a technical proof is given that integrity can be secured against specific degradation at a specific plants and that approval can be obtained from a regulatory agency. A typical example is alternative repair criteria for defects within the tube sheet or tube support plates. In this paper, a background of establishing the plugging limit for steam generator tubes and changes in maintenance criteria are reviewed as examples.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.175-181
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• 1987

Plugging effect of open-ended pipe piles is known to have a close relationship with the ratio of an embedment depth to a pile diameter, i.e., the relative embedment ratio. To evaluate this relationship in the concrete, load tests are performed on the open and the close ended model piles varying the relative embedment ratio as well as the relative density of the model test ground. Cross-shaped hollow plates are attached at the open pile ends to reduce the effective pile diameters, on which load tests are also performed. As a result, it is confirmed that higher plugging effect may be obtained in the denser ground at lower relative embedment. However, 100% plugging effect can be obtained at the relative embedment ratio of 25 or bigger regardless of the density of the ground. Increment of the plugging effect by introducing the cross-shaped attachment can hardly be achieved.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.491-497
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to compare apical sealing ability of continuous wave canal filling technique according to various heat source plugging depths. Eighty one extracted human premolars with straight root were cleaned and shaped to size 35 using .06 taper rotary NiTi file. After cleansing and shaping, the teeth were divided into 5 groups following the heat source probing depths from the apex; 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 mm. All specimens were filled using E&Q plus with #35/.06 tapered gutta-percha cone. The positive control teeth were not filled. All teeth were coated with nail varnish except the apical 1 mm around the apical foramen. Negative control teeth were completely sealed include the apical foramen. All specimens were immersed in 1% methylene blue solution for 72 hours. Then the specimens were sectioned horizontally at 1, 2 and 3 mm from the root apex. Each sectioned surface was photographed using a digital camera attached to the stereomicroscope at $12.5{\times}2.5$ fold magnification. All points at 1, 2 and 3 mm were summed as final score of one specimen. Statistical analysis of the collected data was performed. Under the condition of this study. there was no significant difference between the heat source plugging depths of 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 mm in apical sealing ability. All of apical heat source plugging depth from 3 to 7 mm including Buchanan's protocol -from 5 to 7 mm- seems to be acceptable in clinical application.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.85-94
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• 1996

Model pile tests, using a calibration chamber in which the stress state and the relative density can be controlled, were performed in order to study the effects of pile diameter on the plugging rate and bearing capacity of open-ended pile. The model piles used in the test series were devised so that the bearing capacity of an open-ended pile could be measured out into three components. The test results showed that fully plugging depth of an open -ended pile increased with increase in pile diameter and soil density. Moreover, it was found that unit plug capacity decreased with increase in pile diameter, though the penetration ratio or plugging rate of piles was constant. However, the existing formulae for estimation of plug capacity give plug capacity which is constant or increased with increase in pile diameter, when penetration ratio or plugging rate of piles is equal. Thus, it is proposed that the effect of pile diameter as well as plugging rate on bearing capacity of pile must be considered in plug capacity estimation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.327-337
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• 2004

It is commonly required that tubes with defects exceeding $40\%$ of wall thickness in depth should be plugged; however, this criterion is too conservative for some locations and for some types of defects. Many studies have been done with the aim of developing an alternative plugging criteria, and these studies have shown that steam generator tubes with a certain range of axial through-wall cracks could remain in service without any safety or reliability problems. However, these studies have been limited, thus far, to consideration of single cracked tubes, necessitating a study on multiple cracks, which are commonly found. A crack coalescence model applicable to steam generator tubes with two collinear axial through-wall cracks was proposed in the previous study. In this paper, the investigation is extended to the parallel axial cracks spaced in a circumferential direction, because parallel axial cracks are more frequently detected during in-service inspections than collinear axial cracks. Interaction effects between two parallel cracks are evaluated by performing elastic and elastic-plastic finite element analyses.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 1998

During an earthquake, there are three main components of excitation : horizontal excitation of the ground, vertical excitation of the pile due to superstructure feedback produced by vertical excitation of the ground, and the seawater excitation induced by the vertical ground shaking, that is, "the seaquake." These excitations could have effects on the soil plugs in open-ended pie piles installed at offshore sites. In this study, seaquake excitation induced by the vertical ground shaking was simulated by pulsing the water pressure at the seabed. During a seaquake, due to the induced excess porewater pressure and pressure gradients in the soil, the capacity of open-ended pipe piles installed in a simulated sea depth of greate than 220 m was reduced serevely and the soil plugging resistance was degraded by more than 80% The soil plug was failed because of eh upward seepage forces that developed in the soil plug due to excess pore water pressure produced in the bottom of the soil plug during the seaquake, The compressive capacity of ar open-ended pile in a simulated sea depth of less than 220 m was reduced only by about 10% and the soil plug resistance was degraded by less than 5%.s than 5%.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.31-42
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• 2000

In this study, the stability of group piles installed in deep sea to the seaquake was studied by performing the calibration chamber model tests for open-ended pipe piles, grouted piles under soil plug and close-ended piles installed in the simulated deep sea. For each case (a single pile, 2-pile and 4-pile groups), series of seaquake tests were performed. While, during the simulated seaquake, the compressive capacity of the single open-ended pile depended on pile penetration depth(=7m), were found to be stable. But, a single grouted pile with penetration depth of 13m kept "mobility" state, the one with penetration depth of 20m was stable and grouted pile groups with penetration depth of 7m were stable regardless of pile penetration depth. By grouting soil plug of open-ended piles and soil under the pile toe of open-ended pipe piles installed in the deep sea, failure of soil plugging was prevented. Thus, close-ended piles were more stable than open-ended pile against the seaquake motionake motion.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.189-197
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• 2002

The bearing capacity of open-ended piles is affected by the degree of soil plugging, which is quantified by the incremental filling ratio, IFR. There is not at present a design criterion for open-ended piles that explicitly considers the effect of IFR on pile load capacity. In order to investigate this effect, model pile load tests using a calibration chamber were conducted on instrumented open-ended piles. The results of these tests show that the IFR can be estimated from the plug length ratio PLR, which is defined as the ratio of soil plug length to pile penetration depth. The unit base and shaft resistances decrease with increasing IFR. Based on the results of the model pile tests, new design equations for calculating base load capacity and shaft load capacity of open-ended piles are proposed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.03a
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• pp.447-454
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• 1999

The compressive capacity and the soil plugging resistance of single open-ended pipe pile were completely decreased in the previous study on the behavior of shorter single pile during simulated seaquake induced by the vertical component of earthquake. But the capacity of single open-ended pipe pile with greater penetration and the capacity of piles group with shorter penetration were expected to be stable after seaquake motion. In this study, first, 2-piles or 4-piles are driven into the calibration chamber included in saturated fine medium sand with several simulated penetrations, and the compressive load test for each piles group was performed. Then, about 95 % compressive load of the ultimate capacity was applied on the pile head during the simulated seaquake motion. Finally, In confirm the reduction of pile capacity during the simulated seaquake motion, the compressive load test for each single pile or piles group after seaquake motion was performed. During the simulated seaquake, the compressive capacity of open-ended pipe piles with greater penetration ( 〉about 27 m) was not degraded even in deep sea deeper than 220 m and soil plug within open-ended pipe pile installed in deep sea was stable after seaquake motion. Also, in the case of 2-piles or 4-pile groups, the compressive capacity after seaquake motion was not degraded at all regardless of pile penetration depth beneath seabed, sea water depth and seaquake frequency.

• Proceedings of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.81-88
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• 1998

During an earthquake, there are three main components of excitation : horizontal excitation of the ground, vertical excitation of the pile due to superstructure feedback produced by vertical excitation of the ground, and the seawater excitation induced by the vertical ground shaking, that is, "the seaquake." These excitations could have effects on the soil plugs in open-ended pipe piles installed at offshore sites. In this study, seaquake excitation induced by the vertical ground shaking was simulated by pulsing the water pressure at the seabed. During a seaquake, due to induced excess porewater pressure and pressure gradients in the soil, the capacity of open-ended pipe piles installed in a simulated sea depth of greater than 220 m was reduced serevely and the soil plugging resistance was degraded by more than 80%. The soil plug was failed because of the upward seepage forces that developed in the soil plug due to excess pore water pressure produced in the bottom of the soil plug during the seaquake. The compressive capacity of an open-ended pile in a simulated sea depth of less than 220m was reduced only by about 10%, and the soil plug resistance was degraded by less than 5%.s than 5%.