Revision of allowable planar flaw tables of ASME B&PV Code Section XI for ferritic steel materials

Dulieu, P.*; Lacroix, V.*; Hasegawa, Kunio

When defects were found during in-service inspection in nuclear components, the ASME Code Section XI provides allowable flaw sizes to assess the flaw severity. For ferritic steel materials, the sizes of allowable planar flaws given in Table IWB-3510-1 were determined by the stress intensity factors. The objective of this methodology is including some basic criteria to prevent plastic collapse and brittle failure. As far as the prevention from plastic collapse, a uniform limit load reduction is considered whatever the flaw aspect ratios. For the prevention of brittle failure, a reference surface flaw configuration is defined to derive a reference stress intensity factor. This methodology is applied to surface flaws with various aspect ratios. It is also coherently applied to subsurface flaws considering the proximity of the flaw to the surface as an additional parameter. Finally, a revision of the allowable planar flaw Table IWB-3510-1 of ASME Code Section XI is proposed.