Applicability assessment of plug weld to ITER vacuum vessel by crack propagation analysis

Omori, Junji; Nakahira, Masataka; Takeda, Nobukazu; Shibanuma, Kiyoshi; Sago, Hiromi*; Onozuka, Masanori*

In order to improve the fabricability of the vacuum vessel (VV) of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), applicability of plug weld between VV outer shell and stiffening ribs/blanket support housings has been assessed using crack propagation analysis for the plug weld. The ITER VV is a double-wall structure of inner and outer shells with ribs and housings between the shells. For the fabrication of VV, ribs and housings are welded to outer shell after welding to inner shell. A lot of weld grooves should be adjusted for the outer shell weld. The plug weld can allow larger tolerance of weld groove gaps than ordinary butt weld. However, un-welded lengths parallel to outer shell surface remain in the plug weld region. It is necessary to evaluate the allowable un-welded length to apply the plug weld to ITER vacuum vessel fabrication. For the assessment the allowable un-welded lengths have been calculated by crack propagation analyses for the load conditions, conservatively assuming the un-welded region is a crack. The analyses have been carried out for typical inboard straight region and inboard upper curved region with maximum housing stress. The allowable cracks of ribs are estimated to be 8.8mm and 38mm for the rib and the housing, respectively, considering inspection error of 4.4mm. Plug welding for welding between outer shell and ribs/housings could be applicable.