Effect of Circumferential Location of Local Wall Thinning Defect on the Collapse Moment of Elbow

Author(s):  
Jin Weon Kim ◽  
Yeon Soo Na ◽  
Chi Yong Park

Local wall-thinning due to flow-accelerated corrosion is one of the degradation mechanisms of carbon steel piping in nuclear power plant (NPP). It is a main concern in carbon steel piping systems in terms of the safety and operability of the NPP. Recently, the integrity of piping components containing local wall-thinning has become more important for maintaining the reliability of a nuclear piping system, and has been the subject of several studies. However, although wall-thinning in pipe bends and elbows has been frequently reported, its effect on the integrity of pipe bends and elbows has not yet been systematically investigated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the circumferential location of a local wall-thinning defect on the collapse behavior of an elbow. For this purpose, the present study used three-dimensional finite element analyses on a 90-degree elbow containing local wall-thinning at the crown of the bend region and evaluated the collapse moment of the wall-thinned elbow under various thinning geometries and loading conditions. The combined internal pressure and bending loads were considered as an applied load. Internal pressure of 0∼20 MPa and both closing-and opening-mode bending were applied. The results of the analyses showed that a reduction in the collapse moment of the elbow due to local wall-thinning was more significant when a defect was located at the crown than when a defect was located at the intrados and extrados. Also, the effect of the internal pressure on the collapse moment depended on the circumferential location of the thinning defect and mode of the bending load.

Author(s):  
Phuong H. Hoang

Non-planar flaw such as local wall thinning flaw is a major piping degradation in nuclear power plants. Hundreds of piping components are inspected and evaluated for pipe wall loss due to flow accelerated corrosion and microbiological corrosion during a typical scheduled refueling outage. The evaluation is typically based on the original code rules for design and construction, and so often that uniformly thin pipe cross section is conservatively assumed. Code Case N-597-2 of ASME B&PV, Section XI Code provides a simplified methodology for local pipe wall thinning evaluation to meet the construction Code requirements for pressure and moment loading. However, it is desirable to develop a methodology for evaluating non-planar flaws that consistent with the Section XI flaw evaluation methodology for operating plants. From the results of recent studies and experimental data, it is reasonable to suggest that the Section XI, Appendix C net section collapse load approach can be used for non-planar flaws in carbon steel piping with an appropriate load multiplier factor. Local strain at non-planar flaws in carbon steel piping may reach a strain instability prior to net section collapse. As load increase, necking starting at onset strain instability leads to crack initiation, coalescence and fracture. Thus, by limiting local strain to material onset strain instability, a load multiplier factor can be developed for evaluating non-planar flaws in carbon steel piping using limit load methodology. In this paper, onset strain instability, which is material strain at the ultimate stress from available tensile test data, is correlated with the material minimum specified elongation for developing a load factor of non-planar flaws in various carbon steel piping subjected to multiaxial loading.


Author(s):  
Kunio Hasegawa ◽  
Katsuyuki Shibata

Wall thinning caused by the flow of water in power piping systems became a major concern to the nuclear power industries. ASME Code Case N-597-3, “Requirements for Analytical Evaluation of Pipe Wall Thinning,” provides procedures and criteria for Code Class 2 and 3 piping for the evaluation of wall thinning. However, analytical evaluation procedure for Class 1 piping is not provideed in the Code Case. Recent full-scale experiments on locally thinned pipes have supported the development of more contemporary failure strength evaluation methodology for Class 1 piping. These evaluation methodologies are applicable for the loading type of bending, tensile or cyclic bending load. Prior to the failure by bending moment, tensile load or cyclic/seismic load, locally wall thinned pipes shall be considered pressure blow out by the internal pressure itself. This paper introduces the failure of a uniformly thinned cylinder by an internal pressure and describes limitation on wall thinning depth to avoid pressure blow out for Class 1 piping.


2006 ◽  
Vol 321-323 ◽  
pp. 743-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong Ho Park ◽  
Joon Hyun Lee ◽  
Gyeong Chul Seo ◽  
Sang Woo Choi

In carbon steel pipes of nuclear power plants, local wall thinning may result from erosion-corrosion or flow-accelerated corrosion(FAC) damage. Local wall thinning is one of the major causes for the structural fracture of these pipes. Therefore, assessment of local wall thinning due to corrosion is an important issue in nondestructive evaluation for the integrity of nuclear power plants. In this study, laser-generated ultrasound technique was employed to evaluate local wall thinning due to corrosion. Guided waves were generated in the thermoelastic regime using a Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser with a linear slit array. . In this paper, time-frequency analysis of ultrasonic waveforms using wavelet transform allowed the identification of generated guided wave modes by comparison with the theoretical dispersion curves. Modes conversion and group velocity were employed to detect thickness reduction.


2008 ◽  
Vol 385-387 ◽  
pp. 833-836
Author(s):  
Sang Min Lee ◽  
Young Hwan Choi ◽  
Hae Dong Chung ◽  
Yoon Suk Chang ◽  
Young Jin Kim

A piping system including straight pipes, elbows and tee branches in a nuclear power plant is mostly subjected to severe loading conditions with high temperature and pressure. In particular, the wall-thinning of an elbow due to flow accelerated corrosion is one of safety issues in the nuclear industry. In this respect, it is necessary to investigate the limit loads of an elbow with a wall-thinned part for evaluating integrity. In this paper, three dimensional plastic limit analyses are performed to obtain limit loads of an elbow with different bend angles as well as defect geometries under internal pressure and in-plane/out-of-plane bending moment. The limit loads are also compared with the results from limit load solutions of an uninjured elbow based on the von Mises yield criteria. Finally, the effects of significant factors, bend angle and defect shape, are quantified to estimate the exact load carrying capacity of an elbow during operation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 191 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsumasa Miyazaki ◽  
Satoshi Kanno ◽  
Masayuki Ishiwata ◽  
Kunio Hasegawa ◽  
Soek Hwan Ahn ◽  
...  

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Do-Jun Shim ◽  
Jae-Boong Choi ◽  
Young-Jin Kim

Failure assessment of a pipe with local wall thinning draws increasing attention in the nuclear power plant industry. Although many guidelines have been developed and are used for assessing the integrity of a wall-thinned pipeline, most of these guidelines consider only pressure loading and thus neglect bending loading. As most pipelines in nuclear power plants are subjected to internal pressure and bending moment, an assessment procedure for locally wall-thinned pipeline subjected to combined loading is urgently needed. In this paper, three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses are carried out to simulate full-scale pipe tests conducted for various shapes of wall-thinned area under internal pressure and bending moment. Maximum moments based on ultimate tensile stress were obtained from FE results to predict the failure of the pipe. These results are compared with test results, showing good agreement. Additional finite element analyses are then performed to investigate the effect of key parameters, such as wall-thinned depth, wall-thinned angle and wall-thinned length, on maximum moment. Moreover, the effect of internal pressure on maximum moment was investigated. Change of internal pressure did not show significant effect on the maximum moment.


2007 ◽  
Vol 345-346 ◽  
pp. 1349-1352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seok Hwan Ahn ◽  
Kum Cheol Seok ◽  
Ki Woo Nam

The locally wall thinned phenomenon of pipes is simulated as metal loss due to erosion/corrosion. Therefore, fracture behaviors of pipes with local wall thinning are very important for the integrity of nuclear power plant. In this study, monotonic bending tests without internal pressure are conducted on 1.91-inch diameter Schedule 80 STS370 full-scale carbon steel pipe specimens. We investigated fracture strengths and failure modes of locally wall thinned pipes that welded and unwelded by four point bending test. From test results, we could be divided three types of failure modes.


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