Development of Stress intensity factor coefficients database for a surface crack of an RPV considering the stress discontinuity between cladding and base metal

Onizawa, Kunio ; Shibata, Katsuyuki*; Suzuki, Masahide

Under a transient loading like pressurized thermal shock (PTS), the stress discontinuity near the interface between cladding and base metal of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is caused by the difference in their thermal expansion factors. So the stress intensity factor (SIF) of a surface crack which the deepest point exceeds the interface should be calculated by taking account of the stress discontinuity. Many SIF calculations are performed in Monte Carlo simulation of the probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis. To avoid the time consuming process from the SIF calculation in the PFM analysis, the non-dimensional SIF coefficients corresponding to the stress distributions in the cladding and base metal were developed. The non-dimensional SIF coefficients database were obtained from 3D FEM analyses. The SIF value at the surface was determined by linear extrapolation of SIF value near the surface. Using the SIF coefficients database, the SIF values at both surface and deepest points of a surface crack can be evaluated precisely and in a reasonable time.