Constraint effect on fracture behavior of underclad crack in reactor pressure vessel

Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Hanawa, Satoshi

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(1), p.011304_1 - 011304_7, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4051704

In the structural integrity assessment of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV), the fracture toughness (K) should be higher than the stress intensity factor at the crack tip of an under-clad crack (UCC), which is prescribed in JEAC4206-2016. However, differences in crack depth and existence of cladding between the postulated crack and fracture toughness test specimens would be affected to the plastic constraint state and K evaluation. In this study, we performed fracture toughness tests and finite element analyses (FEAs) to investigate the effect of cladding on K evaluation. FEA showed that the cladding decreased the plastic constraint in the UCC rather than the surface crack. Moreover, it was also found that the apparent K for the UCC was higher than that for the surface crack from tests and the local approach.