Collapse moment estimation for wall-thinned pipe bends and elbows using deep fuzzy neural networks

Abstract The pipe bends and elbows in nuclear power plants (NPPs) are vulnerable to degradation mechanisms and can cause wall-thinning defects. As it is difficult to detect both the defects generated inside the wall-thinned pipes and the preliminary signs, the wall-thinning defects should be accurately estimated to maintain the integrity of NPPs. This paper proposes a deep fuzzy neural network (DFNN) method and estimates the collapse moment of wall-thinned pipe bends and elbows. The proposed model has a simplified structure in which the fuzzy neural network module is repeatedly connected, and it is optimized using the least squares method and genetic algorithm. Numerical data obtained through simulations on the pipe bends and elbows with extrados, intrados, and crown defects were applied to the DFNN model to estimate the collapse moment. The acquired databases were divided into training, optimization, and test datasets and used to train and verify the estimation model. Consequently, the relative root mean square (RMS) errors of the estimated collapse moment at all the defect locations were within 0.25% for the test data. Such a low RMS error indicates that the DFNN model is accurate in estimating the collapse moment for wall-thinned pipe bends and elbows.