Welding joint design of ITER toroidal field coil structure under cryogenic environment

Iguchi, Masahide; Sakurai, Takeru; Nakahira, Masataka; Koizumi, Norikiyo; Nakajima, Hideo

Application of partial penetration welding (PPW) to ITER Toroidal Field Coil structure has been proposed because of limited accessability for weld due to complex geometry and low stress and low importance components. In order to obtain fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior of PPW joint in cryogenic environment, Japan Atomic Energy Agency performed FCG test at 4K by using Compact Tension (CT) specimens having as-weld notch of PPW. These CT specimens were made from mockups having one of actual joint shape of PPW, double J-groove. As the result of this test, it was observed that crack propagated in weld metal having inclination from as-weld notch. Moreover it was shown that FCG rate of as-weld CT specimens had high FCG rate region in early stage of crack propagation due to residual stress distribution. In addition, application method of this FCG rate to designing of PPW joint was proposed and verified in this study.