Friction and wear of Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 for steam generator tube in room temperature water

In the steam generators of nuclear power plants, the flow of cooling water can cause the tubes to vibrate, resulting in fretting wear damage due to contacts between these tubes and their supports. The tubes are made of Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 and the supports are made of STS 304. In this paper, fretting wear tests in water were performed using the materials Inconel 690 and Inconel 600 in contact with STS 304. Fretting tests using a cross-cylinder type set up were conducted under various vibrating amplitudes and applied normal loads in order to measure friction forces and wear volumes. Also, conventional sliding tests using a pin-on-disk type set up were carried out to compare these test results.In the fretting tests, friction force was found to be strongly dependent on normal load and vibrating amplitude. Coefficients of friction decreased with an increase in the normal load and a decrease in the vibrating amplitude applied. Also, the wear of Inconel 600 and Inconel 690 was predicted using a work rate model. Depending on the normal load and vibrating amplitude applied, distinctively different wear mechanisms and often drastically different wear rates occurred. It was found that the fretting wear coefficients for Inconel 600 and Inconel 690 were 9.3×10⁻¹⁵ and 16.2×10⁻¹⁵ Pa⁻¹, respectively. This study shows that Inconel 690 can result in lesser friction forces and exhibits less wear resistance than Inconel 600 in room temperature water.     

Survey of nitrate and nitrite contents of vegetables grown in Korea.

A scientific basis for the evaluation of the risk to public health arising from excessive dietary intake of nitrate in Korea is provided. The nitrate () and nitrite () contents of various vegetables (Chinese cabbage, radish, lettuce, spinach, soybean sprouts, onion, pumpkin, green onion, cucumber, potato, carrot, garlic, green pepper, cabbage and Allium tuberosum Roth known as Crown daisy) are reported. Six hundred samples of 15 vegetables cultivated during different seasons were analysed for nitrate and nitrite by ion chromatography and ultraviolet spectrophotometry, respectively. No significant variance in nitrate levels was found for most vegetables cultivated during the summer and winter harvests. The mean nitrates level was higher in A. tuberosum Roth (5150 mg kg(-1)) and spinach (4259 mg kg(-1)), intermediate in radish (1878 mg kg(-1)) and Chinese cabbage (1740 mg kg(-1)), and lower in onion (23 mg kg(-1)), soybean sprouts (56 mg kg(-1)) and green pepper (76 mg kg(-1)) compared with those in other vegetables. The average nitrite contents in various vegetables were about 0.6 mg kg(-1), and the values were not significantly different among most vegetables. It was observed that nitrate contents in vegetables varied depending on the type of vegetables and were similar to those in vegetables grown in other countries. From the results of our studies and other information from foreign sources, it can be concluded that it is not necessary to establish limits of nitrates contents of vegetables cultivated in Korea due to the co-presence of beneficial elements such as ascorbic acid and alpha-tocopherol which are known to inhibit the formation of nitrosamine.     

An online technique for monitoring the insulation condition of AC machine stator windings

A novel online technique for monitoring the insulation condition of ac machine stator windings is proposed in this paper. The concept is to measure the differential leakage currents of each phase winding from the terminal box in a noninvasive manner to assess the insulation condition during motor operation. The conventional differential CTs used for phase fault protection can be replaced with high performance current sensors to measure the leakage current with higher accuracy. Indicators for insulation condition such as the capacitance and dissipation factor are calculated based on the measurements to provide a low cost solution for online insulation condition assessment. A simplified online insulation system model is derived for analysis and interpretation of the measured data. Experimental results on a 15-hp induction motor under simulated insulation degradation conditions show that the proposed technique is a very sensitive method capable of detecting incipient signs of insulation degradation.     

Manufacturing and structural safety evaluation of a composite train carbody

This paper explains the manufacturing process of a composite train carbody with a sandwich composite structure for bodyshell and a stainless steel structure for the under frame. In addition, the structural behavior and safety of the composite carbody of the Korean tilting train was investigated by the static load tests. From the test results, the stiffness of the composite carbody met the specified design. In the aspect of strength, the maximum stress of the composite bodyshell was of 12.2% of strength of CF1263 carbon/epoxy.     

Evaluation of recursive queries with extended rules in deductivedatabases

In order to extend the expressive power of deductive databases, a formula that can have existential quantifiers in prenex normal form in a restricted way is defined as an extended rule. With the extended rule, we can easily define a virtual view that requires a division operation of relational algebra to evaluate. The paper addresses a recursive query evaluation where at least one formula in a recursive rule set is of an extended rule. We investigate transformable recursions as well as four cases of non-transformable recursions of transitive-closure-like and linear type. The work reveals that occurrence of an existentially quantified variable in the extended recursive body predicate might dramatically limit the level of recursive search. In particular, the number of iterations to answer extended queries can be determined, independently of database contents     

The decision-making properties of discrete multiple exponentialbidirectional associative memories

A method for modeling the learning of belief combination in evidential reasoning using a neural network is presented. A centralized network composed of multiple exponential bidirectional associative memories (eBAM's) sharing a single output array of neurons is proposed to process the uncertainty management of many pieces of evidence simultaneously. The stability of the proposed multiple eBAM network is proved. The sufficient condition to recall a stored pattern pair is discussed. Most important of all, a majority rule of decision making in presentation of multiple evidence is also found by the study of signal-noise-ratio of multiple eBAM network. A guaranteed stable state condition, i.e., the condition for the fastest recall of a pattern pair, is also studied. The result is coherent with the intuition of reasoning.