We compared the gene expression among four clinical and five environmental V. vulnificus isolates, using a cDNA microarray containing 131 genes possibly associated with pathogenicity, transport, signal transduction, and gene regulations in the pathogen. cDNAs from total RNAs of these isolates were hybridized into the cDNA microarray using the cDNA of the wild-type strain MO6-24/O as a reference. We focused on selecting differentially expressed (DE) genes between clinical and environmental isolates using a modified t-statistic. We could detect two statistically significant DE genes between virulent isolates and lessvirulent isolates with a marginal statistical significance (pvalue of 0.008). These were genes putatively encoding pilin and adenlyate cylase. Real time-PCR confirmed that these two selected genes transcribed in significantly higher levels in virulent isolates than in less-virulent isolates. Mutants with lesions in the gene encoding pilin showed significantly higher LD 50 values than that of wild type.

Single-Edge-Notched-Bending (SENB) specimen is mainly used for fracture characteristics test of pipe material. However, there is also a disadvantage in that it does not sufficiently simulate the fracture characteristics of thin pipes due to the difference in boundary effect between the SENB specimen and the actual pipe. The Single-Edge-Notched-Tensile (SENT) specimen can be used as complementary test method due to its less boundary effect compared to the SENB specimen. In this study, the SENT specimen which are fabricated with API X 70 carbon steel was simulated ductile fracture behavior by using finite-element-analysis (FEA). To simulate ductile fracture behavior, Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) model was applied. GTN model is a kind of damage model that describes the behavior of ductile fracture through three steps of void changes : nucleation, growth, and coalescence. And GTN model is composed of three constitutive equations and nine parameters. In order to develop the GTN ductile fracture model for API X 70 carbon steel, five kinds of tensile specimen tests were simulated by FEA. In addition, we analyzed the influence of parameters of GTN model through analysis and developed optimal material parameters for API X 70 carbon steel. Finally, the ductile fracture behavior of the SENT specimen was simulated and the FEA results of SENT specimen was compared with actual SENT specimen test.

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Since several defects caused by PWSCC (Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking) have been observed at the piping system of nuclear power plants, during the last two decades, lots of analytical and experimental researches have been performed to find out the relationship between the residual stress and PWSCC initiations. The present research deals with prediction of the residual stress at welding parts of CRDM (Control Rod Drive Mechanism). Especially, numerical investigations are carried out to support relevant experimental set-up because it is not easy to prepare large-sized mock-ups comparable to real geometry. First, preliminary examination was performed to establish an optimized welding process simulation procedure to accurately predict weld residual stresses. Then, detailed parametric FE analyses were carried out to examine effects of varying geometries and experimental conditions. Key findings were obtained from the FE analyses, which were used for finalizing the configuration of mock-up, are fully discussed in this manuscript.

The finite element method using the damage model has been increasingly used to predict the failure of various structures. Thus, various damage models were presented, and recently, a phenomenological model called the local fracture strain model was presented, making it easy and accurate to predict the damage of the structure. This model has the advantage of defining fracture strain as a function of stress triaxiality with only a few notched tensile tests but has a limitation because it does not consider the damage evolution because of the void growth. This study presents an enhanced damage model that improves the accuracy of the failure simulation of defected structures by adding a parameter that considers stiffness degradation according to void growth to the damage model based on the fracture strain. Therefore, loading-unloading tests were conducted and the damage index of fracture was identified using a three-dimensional digital image correlation system. The failure simulation results using the proposed damage model were compared with experimental, such as notched tensile, SENT, and full-scale burst tests.