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Shimodaira, Masaki; Ha, Yoosung; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Onizawa, Kunio
Proceedings of ASME 2023 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2023) (Internet), 11 Pages, 2023/07
In the current structural integrity assessment of the reactor pressure vessel, the accurate reference temperature (T
) based on the Master Curve method is necessary. The T can be estimated by using the Mini-C(T) fracture toughness specimen in accordance with ASTM E1921 and JEAC4216, which prescribe the pre-crack straightness criteria. A requirement in ASTM E1921 has been revised in a decade to increase the accuracy and reasonability, and the applicable crack curvature has been varied by applied codes. The pre-crack curvature of the Mini-C(T) specimen might have an impact on the T because of the variation of the plastic constraint. In this work, the effect of the crack curvature on the fracture toughness (K
) evaluation using the Mini-C(T) specimen was quantitatively evaluated by using the finite element analysis (FEA) including the Weibull stress analysis, to discuss the difference in a requirement of the crack straightness in ASTM E1921 and JEAC4216. FEAs showed a possibility that the upper limit curvature would decrease the plastic constraint, and consequently obtain higher K in the Mini-C(T) specimen. Furthermore, if the upper limit curvature according to the ASTM E1921-21 was allowed, the T would be estimated as non-conservative based on the Weibull stress analysis. In contrast, the difference in (T) between the crack with upper limit curvature according to JEAC4216 and the ideal straight crack was not significant.
Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Katsuyama, Jinya; Hanawa, Satoshi
Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, 144(1), p.011304_1 - 011304_7, 2022/02
Times Cited Count：0 Percentile：0(Engineering, Mechanical)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.
Shimodaira, Masaki; Tobita, Toru; Nagoshi, Yasuto*; Lu, K.; Katsuyama, Jinya
Proceedings of ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2021) (Internet), 8 Pages, 2021/07
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 a semi-elliptical shaped 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 to investigate the effect of plastic constraint and cladding on the semi-elliptical shaped crack in K evaluation. The apparent K value evaluated at the deepest point of the crack exceeded 5% fracture probability based on the Master Curve method estimated from C(T) specimens, and the conservativeness of the current integrity assessment method was confirmed. Few initiation sites were observed along the tip of semi-elliptical shaped crack other than the deepest point. The plastic constraint state was also analyzed along the crack tip, and it was found that the plastic constraint at the crack tip near the surface was lower than that for the deepest point. Moreover, it was quantitatively showed that the UCC decreased the plastic constraint. The local approach suggested higher K value for the UCC than that for the surface crack, reflecting the low constraint effect for the UCC.
