Integrity evaluation of ice plugging of short pipes

In many special industiral fields such as nuclear power plants and chemical plants, it is often necessary to repair internal leaking pipe with hazardous or expensive fluid. A ice plugging by blocking an internal flow is considered as a useful method in that case. According to the pipe freezing guideline of nuclear power plant, the length of a freezing jacket must be longer than twice of the pipe diameter. However, for applying the ice plugging to short pipes which do not have enough freezing length, it is inevitable to use shorter jacket less than twice of the pipe diameter. In this study, the integrity evaluation for short pipes in the nuclear power plant is conducted by the finite element analysis. From the result, the ice plugging process in the short pipes can be safety carried out without any plastic deformation and fracture