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Eingeladener Vortrag
- nein (6)
Steam generator (SG) tubes are part of the primary circuit of pressurised water reactors and therefore also part of the pressure retaining boundary components. Furthermore, steam generator tubes are the components which guarantee the separation between the primary and secondary circuits. Therefore the knowledge of the loss of tube integrity as soon as possible is an essential. Optimised nondestructive testing methods based on the eddy current array technique are used to find material degradation, especially intergranular stress corrosion cracks during the periodical in-service inspection. These methods are supported by the measurement of the leakage rate during operation based on radioactivity and Tritium measurement regarding a high crack grows. Shutdown criteria depending on leakage rates which are described in the operation procedures but there are no specifications about the conditions for the measured leakage. Is the leakage coming from a single crack or are there multiple cracks or is this the leakage of a critical crack. With the help of FE calculations answer about the uncertainties of leakage rate versus critical crack grows were found. Shutdown criteria must guarantee to avoid critical crack sizes, i.e. between the measured tritium activity and the critical crack size must be a safety gap.
The aging management system for the mechanical components of nuclear power plants (NPPs) must be established and used by the licensee in such a way that the quality of safety relevant components is guaranteed for the completely designed lifetime of the NPP. This demands an extensive plant life management with special emphases on the knowledge of the degradation in material properties. The basic safety concept in Germany observes this circumstance. Lifetime extension of the German NPPs is an aim of the current valid coalition agreement of the German government. Operational extension of interim storage facilities requires, in comparison to the aging management system for NPP, an aging management system adapted to the Special circumstances of spent fuel storage casks. Extension of interim storage periods for spent fuel casks beyond the designed lifetime requires, in comparison to the components of an NPP, an increasing knowledge of material degradation with potential impact on cask integrity, e.g. leak tightness. Dry interim storage in Germany has been approved for 40 years. After that time, according to the present strategy, a final repository should be available. However, until now, such a final facility still does not exist, and the German exploration and licensing process is heavily delayed. Currently, discussions are continuing regarding further exploration of the Gorleben salt mine. There is willingness to overcome this situation that is clearly described in the available coalition agreement of the federal government. Anyway, however, the prediction is viewed; a repository for heat generating radioactive waste in Germany will not be available in the near future and may not be available when first storage facilities and casks reach their 40 years of approved lifetime, which will occur in ~25 years starting from now. Therefore, the question must be asked:
what has to be done with the existing storage casks in the interim facilities? May these casks be fit for continued use, with an extension of the storage period? One option is to have an aging management system, which creates enough information about the technical condition of safety relevant cask properties. This is the basis for safety evaluation for extended storage periods. In the present paper, possible aging mechanisms for high level waste storage casks are discussed, as well as the influence of the time dependent changes of the component properties.
Analysis of the dielectric and electromechanical properties of the cellular polypropylene ferroelectret films (EMFIT) evidences their high potential for the application in the air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. Simple prototype transducers, based on the EMFIT films, were developed and their high sensitivity was proved in the air-coupled ultrasonic experiment. Amplitude and delay time scanned images of the polyethylene step wedge with holes, obtained in both pulse-echo and transmission modes, demonstrate that non-contact ultrasonic imaging with EMFIT transducers is possible.
Nondestructive testing (NDT) methods are applicable in many ways for defect detection as well as optimization of packaging production processes. The visual inspection method is the technique which is mostly used, although neither the customer nor a skilled inspector may be aware of this.
Techniques like ultrasound for wall thickness measurement, the application of x-ray techniques or the use of dye penetrant techniques for crack detection are rather well known to the NDT family. However, acoustic emission techniques can also be helpful for the characterization of packaging materials. In this paper the employment of x-ray computer tomography (CT) for measurement of wall thickness in plastic jerrycans, especially on the edges, and its possible optimization of production processes will be discussed.
A comparison of the CT and ultrasonic examinations of wall thickness and the reliability of this measured data are also important points for the discussion, especially if some safety factors can be derived from the results.
The leakage test is also good for jerrycans, IBCs or other kinds of drums for the transportation and storage of dangerous goods. The disadvantage of this kind of test is that a lack of quality, e.g. wall thickness deterioration, cannot be detected if the wall thickness withstands the internal pressure. Therefore, especially for Quality assurance, the other, previously mentioned techniques are better for a statistical assessment of a batch. This paper is focused on the comparison of different NDT results with special emphasis on the large range of material mechanical properties.
With the increasing of the storage capability of digitised data and the development of advanced ultrasonic equipment a characterisation of detected defects is possible without new measurements. If the A-scan is stored in a video form (rectified A-scan) or in a high frequency form evaluation techniques like SAFT or echotomography are applicable with advantage. Therefore in some of the cases an estimation of the defect size is reached by the evaluation of the ultrasonic data collected with conventional detection techniques. This is an advantage in relation to the past, because the application of a separate analysis technique is mostly not necessary, therefore time and money is saved.
In the present contribution experimental results received in the laboratory are presented. The application of the TOFD approach for defect detection and sizing of crack like defect in heavy components is demonstrated whereas the probes are coupled on the carbon steel surface as well as on the cladded surface. An important point would be the influences of the anisotropic cladding material in relation to the defect sizing using the TOFD technique. These results will be compared with those received with TR longitudinal wave probes and with shear wave probes.
Die Vorhersage der Beanspruchung bei plastischem Versagen von zylindrischen Druckbehältern wird häufig mittels Finite Elemente Berechnungen durchgeführt. Die Berechnung der zulässigen Beanspruchung erfordert ein elastisch-plastisches Werkstoffmodell und die Berücksichtigung von nichtlinearen geometrischen Effekten. Das plastische Versagen verursacht eine gesamte Strukturinstabilität und kann nicht direkt aus der Finite Elemente Analyse bestimmt werden. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag wird die Beanspruchung für plastisches Versagen eines zylindrischen Druckbehälters mittels eines analytischen Verfahrens basierend auf einem linear elastischen ideal-plastischen Materialmodell bestimmt. Wenn Plastizität auftritt, wird zum einen der Werkstoff als inkompressibel und zum anderen der Tensor der plastischen Dehnungen als parallel zum Spannungsabweichungstensor angenommen. In diesem Fall kann die Spannungs-Dehnungs-Beziehung von Henkel angewendet werden, um den Druck zu berechnen, bei dem plastisches Fließen und Versagen eintritt. Die analytischen Ergebnisse werden von den Finite Elemente Berechnungen vollkommen bestätigt.
Contribution to the ultrasonic detection and sizing of inner wall surface breaking cracks in pipes
(1984)
Weld inspection using ultrasonic pulse-echo techniques needs high skilled operators especially if geometrical indications must be taken into consideration. A clear separation between geometrical indications and defects like cracks must be guaranteed. This requirement needs sensitive techniques like the 45(deg) shear wave technique using the mirror effect. Since more than twenty years the Time Of Flight Diffraction technique (TOFD) is still under discussion for defect sizing. But on the other hand the potential of the TOFD technique for defect detection is described in technical papers of manufacturers. The main task of examinations carried out at BAM was the comparison about the detectability of surface breaking cracks between the common methods and the TOFD approach.
Degradation of material properties significant for lifetime extension of nuclear power plants
(2010)
The discussion about the right energy sources or alternative energy generation goes around the world, mostly in connection with green-house gas reduction. Therefore, some countries have started to consider extending operation of nuclear power plants. This demands an extensive plant life management as well as the knowledge of the degradation in material properties. The Basis Safety Concept (BSC) in Germany observed this circumstance. Still, lifetime extension is not an issue in Germany due to phase out of nuclear energy. Part of the BSC is the application of non-destructive examination (NDE) methods from the beginning, i.e. from component manufacture, to the end of life. The application of a NDE method to detect and size defects in components in nuclear power plants is presented. Some material properties and their degradation during increase of operation time are also in the focus of this paper.
Polypropylene based ferroelectret films exhibit a strong electromechanical activity and provide a promising solution for the air coupled ultrasonic (ACUS) transducers. Ultrasonic transmission between two air coupled ferroelectret transducers in dependence on the amplitude and polarity of the high voltage exciting pulse revealed a strongly non-linear electromechanical response of the ferroelectret transmitter which provides an increase in the transmitter efficiency. The authors present a simple model describing both promotion and competition of the piezoelectric and electrostriction contributions, as well as increase in the transducer constant under high voltage excitation. Enlargement of the inverse transducer constant of the polypropylene ferroelectret film by a factor of 4 was demonstrated. The non-linear properties of the polypropylene ferroelectrets result in a strong increase in their ACUS figure of merit under the high voltage excitation, which exceeds the results of their technological optimisation. Consequently, enhancement of the ACUS system transmission by 12 dB and signal to noise ratio by 32 dB was achieved.
The comparison of probes for the inspection of cladding shows a remarkable fact: depending on the reflectors used, a different performance characterization of the probe must be expected. It seems important for performance demonstration trials - especially those including the underclad area - to use reflector types as close as possible to the real cracks to be detected. For different detection approaches, reflectors representing underclad cracks should have a reduced diffraction at the crack tip areas in order to check their potential to detect the indication based on surface reflections of the ultrasonic waves.
Dielectric and electromechanical properties of the cellular polypropylene ferroelectret films (EMFIT), combining strong piezoelectric response with a low density and softness, evidence their high potential for the air-coupled ultrasonic applications. The disadvantage of the low coupling factor is compensated by the extremely low acoustic impedance, which provides excellent matching to air and promises efficient sound transmission through the airtransducer interface. The influence of the electrodes on the electromechanical properties was investigated. Electron beam evaporation technology was adapted to the EMFIT films, and films with both-sided Au and Al electrodes were prepared without reducing or suppressing of the electromechanical properties. Finally, prototype transducers based on the EMFIT films were developed. In spite of the simple construction and absence of matching layers, high sensitivity of the EMFIT transducers was proved in the air-coupled ultrasonic experiment. Amplitude and delay time scanned images of the polyethylene step wedge with holes, obtained in both pulse-echo and transmission modes, demonstrate that non-contact ultrasonic imaging and testing with EMFIT transducers is possible.
German NPP Ageing
(2004)
Improved detection of near-surface defects with new ultrasonic probes and signal analysis techniques
(1984)
The development of non-destructive techniques (NDT) techniques for the in-service inspection of railroad wheels and gauge corners was the main activity of the NDT division VIII. 4 at BAM over the last 2 years. For such different components, two different inspection techniques were fundamentally chosen in order to fulfil the end-user requirements. Firstly the inspection of the wheelsrim and diskshould be carried out without dismantling the wheels and using ultrasonic techniques. On the other hand, the inspection of the railroad track surface at a train speed of about 70 km/h should be guaranteed using eddy current techniques. The above-mentioned tasks were a challenge for the lab staff. The accessibility for the wheel inspection was limited due to several impassable barriers such as sand tubes, etc. Eddy current application focused mainly on the detection of head check defects occurring at the gauge corner of the rail. Investigations carried out also showed, that other types of surface defects (e.g. Belgrospis, wheel burns, short-pitch corrugations, etc.) could easily be detected. Some aspects of the inspection system as well as an overview of test results are presented in the current contribution.
In general, the application of phased array techniques used to be limited to heavy components with large wall thicknesses, such as those in the nuclear power industry. With the improvement of the phased array equipment, including phased array search units, other application areas are now accessible for the phased array inspection technique, e.g. the inspection of turbine blade roots, weld inspection with a wall thickness ranging from 12 to 40 mm, inspection of aircraft components, inspection of spot welds and the inspection of concrete building components. The objective for the use of phased array techniques has not significantly changed since their first application, e.g. instant adjustment of the sound beam to the geometry of the test object by steering incidence angle, skew angle and/or sound field focusing. Because some new phased array technique applications are still in the experimental (laboratory) stage, this article will focus on some examples for practical, real-weld applications.
Non-destructive evaluation
(2013)
Non-destructive testing (NDT) methods are employed in the technical field as a precautionary to avoid accidence or emergency situations for the human and the environment. A risk situation in the technical field could happen if the load of a component is increasing and the wall thickness due to defect growth is decreasing until a critical defect situation. The result of such scenarios could be catastrophic breakdown of the component with sometimes severe aftermath for the human.
Nondestructive Evaluation
(2006)
Nondestructive Testing (NDT) and fracture mechanics are two different disciplines in applied engineering science. Both areas are very important for the evaluation of the component integrity. Unfortunately the technical understanding in both disciplines is not identically, what lead to misunderstandings. In the present paper, the basic ideas about fracture mechanics and the input parameters coming from the NDT side are explained, concerning the integrity evaluation of the components. The widely used NDT methods are magnetic particle, dye penetrant, electrical eddy currents, radiography and ultrasonics. But not all of these common NDT methods can deliver parameters satisfy the fracture mechanics requirements. The first two can detect only surface-breaking or immediately sub-surface defects. Eddy current can also find defects in deeper sub-surface layers, while radiography and ultrasonics can also find embedded, remote defects. These three methods have furthermore a high potential for defect sizing and are therefore predestined to provide fracture mechanics input parameters. At the example of steam generator tube inspection the interplay of eddy current and fracture mechanics as related to tube integrity will be explained.
The field of acoustics deals with sound Propagation in solids, liquids, and gases, whereby the frequencies may lie above or below the Audio band, that is, infrasound (<16 Hz) and ultrasound (>16 kHz), respectively. The speed of sound depends on mechanical properties of the material like elastic constants and compressibility.
Interaction of imperfections such as grains, cracks, pores, and inclusions with sound waves results in reflection, refraction, scattering, and attenuation due to discontinuities in elastic moduli and density. By sending a pulse and receiving its reflection, the presence and Location of defects can be determined (pulse-echo technique).
Ultrasound was applied in nondestructive testing (NDT) earlier than in medicine, but visualization of the data in a unicolor-scale image was first used in medical ultrasound diagnostics.
The principle of ultrasonic testing, for example, the wave types that are suitable for different applications, the frequency ränge employed,
reflectivity behavior, mode conversions, probe types, and so on are described in various publications, and a newer ultrasonic method,
namely, the phased array technique, is treated in.
The ultrasonic transmission between two air-coupled polypropylene (PP) ferroelectret (FE) transducers in dependence on the amplitude of the high-voltage exciting pulse revealed a strongly nonlinear electromechanical response of the FE transmitter. This phenomenon is described by a linear increase of the inverse electromechanical transducer constant t33(1) of the PP FE film with an increase of the exciting electrical pulse amplitude. Enlargement of t33(1) by a factor of 4 was achieved by application of 3500 V exciting pulses. The electrostriction contribution to t33(1) can be attributed to the electrostatic force between electrodes and the Maxwell stress effect. The nonlinear electromechanical properties of the PP FE result in a strong increase of its air-coupled ultrasonic (ACUS) figure of merit (FOM) under the high-voltage excitation, which exceeds results of the PP FE technological optimization. The FOM increase can be related to the increase of PP FE coupling factor and/or to the decrease of its acoustic impedance. A significant enhancement of the ACUS system transmission (12 dB) and signal-to-noise ratio (32 dB) was demonstrated by the increase of excitation voltage up to 3500 V. The nonlinear electromechanical properties of the PP FEs seem to be very important for their future applications.
Electromechanical response of polypropylene ferroelectret transducers under application of high-voltage pulses was measured by laser Doppler vibrometry and compared with results of ultrasonic through-air transmission between two ferroelectret transducers. The electromechanical response was completely explained by piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects. The electrostrictive effect dominates at high voltages and provides significant enlargement of the transducer constant, up to factor of 2.5. The induced strain of 1.7% was achieved at – 2000 V. The nonlinear ultrasonic transmission was shown to be well described by the piezoelectric and electrostrictive response of transmitter, except in the range of high negative exciting voltages where some limitation of the transmitted signal was observed. This limitation seems not to be a fundamental one and does not abolish the advantages of high-voltage excitation of polypropylene ferroelectret transducers.
Transportation of dangerous goods are worldwide regulated in the rules or standards e.g. in the recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods of the United Nations, in the Accord Européen Relatif au Transport International des Marchandises Dangereuses par Route (ADR) etc. Addi-tional to these international regulations also national regulations and stan-dards e.g. Gefahrgutverordnung Straße und Eisenbahn (GGVSE) in Ger-many are bases for the transport of hazardous materials. For the material properties of tanks in the BAM-List Requirements for Tanks for the Transport of Dangerous Goods specifications for the sub-stance prototype approval for tank materials are listed. Further compati-bility evaluations of selected metallic material groups as well as of poly-meric gasket and lining materials under the influence of dangerous goods are published in the List. There are a large number of highly corrosive dangerous goods listed, in which conventional steels are not resistant. Chemical companies, transportation providers and tank producers need tanks made of corrosion-resistant materials (corrosion retardant materi-als) in order to protect the tank shell. The application of high-alloyed stainless steels and nickel alloys as there are alloy 926 (1.4529; X1NiCrMoCuN25-20-7), alloy 31 (1.4562;X1NiCrMoCu31-27-7) and Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum Alloy 59 (2.4605; NiCr23Mo16Al) is an al-ternative solution compared with the lining of the tanks with a polymeric material. Due to the limited number of corrosion test results with welded test sam-ples of these high-alloyed materials under the influence of corrosive dan-gerous goods BAM, Institute for Corrosion Protection (IKS) Dresden and ThyssenKrupp VDM have been performing a comprehensive test program since 2002. The program comprised corrosion resistance evaluations of the three high-alloyed materials exposed to substances representing cor-rosive dangerous goods such as inorganic halogenides, organic acidic halogenides, sulfonic acids and nitrating acids.
Within the framework of the G8 partnership, the German Ministry of Economics and Technology has been realizing a 300 EUR million project of the storage of decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines based on a German-Russian agreement. The main parts of the project are the construction of the long-term storage facility as well as a radioactive waste storage facility at Sayda Bay. Long-term interim storage facility for this particular case has a period of about 70 years. The Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN) under the technical controlling of BAM carried out the project management. Foremost in this presentation is the finalization of the long-term storage facility for nuclear submarine compartments and the planning and realization of the radioactive waste storage building with special emphases of the parts carried out by BAM. Because BAM staff cannot stay permanently on site, a random inspection of different topics was the bases for the activities of BAM. The key aspects of activities are the long-term storage of the nuclear compartments, maintenance building, the decommissioning of the compartments and the transportation of the very heavy weight compartments (1600 metric tons). Details relating of the progress of the construction work as well as information about technical recommendations will also be briefly illustrated. Within this scope, problems and difficulties during the construction of the storage facility as well as logistical challenges including transportation of the reactor compartments will also be discussed.
Introduction
Due to the long history of railroad companies around the world, varying means of examination according to the specifications for the different railroad components have been carried out based on the general industrial progress of the country [1-3]. For more than 50 years the application of customized ultrasonic techniques for the examination of railroad components has increased, in comparison to conventional ultrasonic techniques used until to the end of 20th century. In this traditional atmosphere some accidents have disturbed the silent harmony of companies involved in the production of critical parts. More than ever high speed modern trains require modern and advanced examination techniques [4-8]. For practical application new ultrasonic techniques have been developed and optimized in co-operation with the German Railroad Company. In the present contribution the inspection of railroad axles will be described. The ultrasonic technique used for the examination is the phased array technique. The optimization of the phased array probes for the different geometries of the axles given was completed using a computer model for directivity calculations. In relation to the limited accessibility between wheel and brake angles of incidence for shear waves in the range between 28° and 72° are necessary.
During the examination of the axles a a considerable amount of ultrasonic data must be stored (storage of the digitized A-scans). However, due to economic aspects the evaluation of this data should be carried out in a very short time. The whole examination of one axle should not exceed 5 minutes. Therefore we have developed a special evaluation program adapted to the particular problematic of the axle inspection. The build up of the whole inspection system was done with partners from the industry like Krautkramer and a division of the Research Department of the Deutsche Bahn AG. In this consortium the Research Department of the Deutsche Bahn AG was responsible for the specification of the inspection problem, Krautkramer for the organization of the whole technical follow up and BAM for the development and optimization of the ultrasonic inspection technique as well as for the evaluation software. Some examples concerning the optimization process will be described in the present contribution.
Viscoelastic properties of cellular polypropylene ferroelectrets (PP FEs) were studied at low
frequencies (0.3–33 Hz) by dynamic mechanical analysis and at high frequencies (250 kHz) by laser Doppler vibrometry. Relaxation behavior of the in-plane Young’s modulus (Y´
11~1500 MPa at room temperature) was observed and attributed to the viscoelastic response of polypropylene matrix.
The out-of-plane Young’s modulus is very small (Y´33≈0.1 MPa) at low frequencies, frequency- and stress-dependent, evidencing nonlinear viscoelastic response of PP FEs. The highfrequency mechanical response of PP FEs is shown to be linear viscoelastic with Y´33≈0.8 MPa. It is described by thickness vibration mode and modeled as a damped harmonic oscillator with one degree of freedom. Frequency dependence of Y*33 in the large dynamic strain regime is described by the broad Cole-Cole relaxation with a mean frequency in kHz range attributed to the Dynamics of the air flow between partially closed air-filled voids in PP FEs. Switching-off the relaxation contribution causes dynamic crossover from the nonlinear viscoelastic regime at low frequencies to the linear viscoelastic regime at high frequencies. In the small strain regime, contribution of the air flow seems to be insignificant and the power-law response, attributed to the mechanics of polypropylene cell walls and closed air voids, dominates in a broad frequency range. Mechanical Relaxation caused by the air flow mechanism takes place in the sound and ultrasound frequency range (10 Hz–1MHz) and, therefore, should be taken into account in ultrasonic applications of the PP FEs deal with strong exciting or receiving signals.