• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.119-133
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• 1998

To implement full automation in pipe welding, it si most important to develop special sensors and their related systems which act like human operator when detecting irregular groove conditions. In this study, an automatic pipe Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) system was proposed to full control pipe welding procedure with intelligent sensor systems. A five-axes manipulator was proposed for welding torch to automatically access to exact welding position when pipe size and welding angle were given. Pool status and torch position were measured by using a weld-pool image monitoring and processing technique in root-pass welding for weld seam tracking and weld pool control. To overcome the intensive arc light, pool image was captured at the instance of short circuit of welding power loop. Captured image was processed to determine weld pool shape. For weld seam tracking, the relative distance of a torch position from the pool center was calculated in the extracted pool shape to move torch just onto the groove center. To control penetration of root pas, gap was calculated in the extracted pool image, and then weld conditions were controlled for obtaining appropriate penetration. welding speed was determined with a fuzzy logic, and welding current and voltage were determined from a data base to correspond to the gap. For automatic fill-pass welding, the function of human operator of real time weld seam control can be substituted by a sensor system. In this study, an arc sensor system was proposed based on a fuzzy control logic. Using the proposed automatic system, root-pass welding of pipe which had gap variation was assured to be appropriately controlled in welding conditions and in torch position by showing sound welding result and good seam tracking capability. Fill-pass welding by the proposed system also showed very successful result by tracking along the offset welding line without any control of human operator.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.58-64
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• 2004

Although leakage at a low carbon steel pipe made by electrical resistance welding (ERW) was reported due to grooving corrosion, the cause for the corrosion has not yet been cleared. In order to clarify the main cause, failure analysis on the leaked pipe was carried out, followed by metallographic investigation and corrosion test for the various ERW pipe made with different welding heat input. The microstructure, particularly inclusion content, of the weldment is dependant on the welding heat input applied. For an improper low heat input, the amount of inclusion at the weld was high. High inclusion content accelerated grooving corrosion at the weld. It is therefore that welding heat input should be controlled based on the carbon content of the pipe in order to improve the corrosion resistance of the ERW pipe.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.38-46
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• 2010

The wall thinning phenomenon of pipes was simulated as metal loss due to erosion and corrosion. Such wall thinning defects in the pipes of power plants are a very important safety consideration. In this study, we analyzed wall thinning defects that occurred by weld bead of weld zone of boost pump recirculation pipe. From the results of the analysis of pipe failures, numerical analysis was performed by Fluent v6.3.26 using the standard k-$\varepsilon$ model of the weld bead shape, such as an elliptical or a spherical shape, on the inner wall of the pipe. Using the results obtained, we showed the overlap effect by cavitations corrosion and erosion-corrosion at the bottom of the wall-thinning defect.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.24 no.12
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• pp.2935-2944
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• 2000

Gas tungsten arc(GTA) welding is used to rrpiar the seat ring in swing type check valve in power plant because of its high weld quality. In order to automate the welding process, it is needed to analyze the process of inside pipe girth welding. In this study, the shapes of weld bead on pipe inside and outside were predicted and its validity was investigated. On the assumption that the welding arc had a bivariate gaussian distribution, analytical solution was derived to predict the temperature distribution in pipe weld using mapping under consideration of physical relationships. The size of weld bean could be predicted from this equation and its accuracy was verified by experiments.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1092-1097
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• 2003

S-N fatigue tests were conducted to investigate the fatigue strength of small diameter socket and butt welded joints made of carbon steels. Experimental parameters were pipe diameter, throat depth, shape of socket welds and welding procedure. Filler metals used in SMAW and GTAW procedure were E9016-G with diameter of 4.0 mm and ER70S-G with diameter of 2.4 mm. API 5L Gr.B pipes were adopted as a small diameter branch pipes. All socket fittings were machined from ASTM A105 carbon steel. Tensile strength was not affected by the welding procedure. Fatigue strength in socket weld joints increased with increasing pipe diameter, area of weld metal and weld leg length of pipe side.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.50-55
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• 2004

S-N fatigue tests were conducted to investigate the fatigue strength of small diameter socket and butt welded joints made of carbon steels. Experimental parameters were pipe diameter, throat depth, shape of socket welds and welding procedure. Filler metals used in SMAW and GTAW procedure were E9016-G with diameter of 4.0 m and ER70S-G with diameter of 2.4 m. API 5L Gr.B pipes were adopted as a small diameter branch pipes. All socket fittings were machined from ASTM A105 carbon steel. Tensile strength was not affected by the welding procedure. Fatigue strength in socket weld joints increased with increasing pipe diameter, area of weld metal and weld leg length of pipe side.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2000

Significant wall thinning due to flow accelerated corrosion(FAC）was recently reported in main feedwater pipes in 3 Korean pressurized water reactor(PWR) plants. The main feedwater pipes in one plant were repaired using overlay weld method at the outside of pipe, while those in 2 other plants were replaced with new pipes. In this study, the effect of the wall thinning in the main feedwater pipes on piping integrity was evaluated using finite element method. Especially, the effects of both the overlay weld repair and the stress concentration in notch-type thinned area on the piping integrity were investigated. The results are as follows : (1) The piping load carrying capacity may significantly decrease due to FAC. In special, the load carrying capacity of the main feedwater pipe was reduced by about 40% during about 140 months operation in Korean PWR plants. (2) By performing overlay weld repair at the outside of pipe, the piping load carrying capacity can increase and the stress concentration level in the thinned area can be reduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1996.05c
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• pp.92-97
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• 1996

The fatigue crack propagation behavior in SA106 Gr.C main steam pipe weld joint was investigated in air environment. Crack growth rate tests were conducted on base metal and weld metal at load ratio of 0.1 and 0.3 and at frequency of 10Hz. The fatigue crack growth rates of the base metal and the weld metal were above the ASME reference line and the fatigue crack propagation rate of the weld metal was higher than those of the base metal. Fatigue crack growth rate increased with increasing the load ratio and the effect of the load ratio was more significant in the weld metal. The post weld heat treatment increased the fatigue crack growth rates of the base metal by reducing compressive residual stress and decreased those of the weld metal by reducing weld defects.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.664-672
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• 2009

Nozzle in nuclear power plant is connected to pipe using safe end. Dissimilar metal weld between nozzle and safe end is followed by similar metal weld between safe end and pipe. And thus residual stress in dissimilar metal weld can be affected by similar metal weld. Similar metal weld impose bending stress on dissimilar metal weld, which is according to the length of safe end. In this study, simple nozzle model which covers various radius to thickness ratios was proposed to quantify residual stress in dissimilar metal weld based on finite element analyses. As a result, short length of safe end was proved to be more effective to mitigate residual stress in dissimilar metal weld and critical effective length of safe end is provided according to the radius to thickness ratio.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.222-227
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• 2004

The failure assessment for corroded pipeline has been considered with the full scale burst test and the finite element analysis. The burst tests were conducted on 762 mm diameter, 17.5 mm wall thickness and API 5L X65 pipe that contained specially manufactured rectangular corrosion defect. The failure pressure for corroded pipeline was measured by burst testing and classified with respect to corrosion sizes and corroded regions - the body, the girth weld and the seam weld of pipe. Finite element analysis was carried out to derive failure criteria of corrosion defect on the pipe. A series of finite element analyses were performed to obtain a limit load solution for corrosion defects on the basis of burst test. As a result, the criteria for failure assessment of corrosion defect within the body, the girth weld and the seam weld of API 5L X65 gas pipeline were proposed.