Development of a shallow-flaw fracture assessment methodology for nuclear reactor pressure vessels
Shallow-flaw fracture technology is being developed within the Heavy-Section Steel Technology (HSST) Program for application to the safety assessment of radiation-embrittled nuclear reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) containing postulated shallow flaws. Cleavage fracture in shallow-flaw cruciform beam specimens tested under biaxial loading at temperatures in the lower transition temperature range was shown to be strain-controlled. A strain-based dual-parameter fracture toughness correlation was developed and shown to be capable of predicting the effect of crack-tip constraint on fracture toughness for strain-controlled fracture. A probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) model that includes both the properties of the inner-surface stainless-steel cladding and a biaxial shallow-flaw fracture toughness correlation gave a reduction in probability of cleavage initiation of more than two orders of magnitude from an ASME-based reference case.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 266758
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9609114-1; ON: DE96008663; TRN: 96:016928
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 3. international conference on engineering structural integrity assessment, Cambridge (United Kingdom), 24 Sep 1996; Other Information: PBD: [1996]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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