Revised fatigue curves for austenitic stainless steels are currently being considered by several organizations in various countries, including Japan, South Korea, and France. The data available from laboratory tests indicate that the mean air curve considering all available austenitic material fatigue data may be overly conservative compared to a mean curve constructed from only those data representative of a particular type of material. In other words, developing separate fatigue curves for each of the different types of austenitic materials may prove useful in terms of removing excess conservatism in the estimation of fatigue lives.
In practice, the fatigue curves of interest are documented in the various international design codes. For example, in the 2009 Addenda of Section III of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel (BPV) Code [1], a revised design air fatigue curve for austenitic materials was implemented that was based on NRC research models [2]. More recently, in Japan, various industrial groups have joined their efforts to create the Design Fatigue Curve Sub-committee (DCFS) with the objective to reassess the fatigue curves [3]. In France, EDF/AREVA and CEA are developing a new fatigue curve for austenitic stainless steels [4]. More specifically, in 2014, EDF presented a paper on high-cycle fatigue analysis which demonstrated that the factor on the strain amplitude could be reduced from 2 to 1.4 for the RCC-M austenitic stainless steel grades [5].
Recently, discussions between EDF and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have led both parties to recognize that there is a need to exchange worldwide research data from fatigue testing to promote a common, vetted database available to all researchers. These discussions have led EDF and NRC to pursue a collaborative agreement and associated fatigue data exchange, with the intent to assemble all available fatigue data for austenitic materials into a standardized format. The longer term objective is to perform common analyses on the consolidated set of data.
This paper summarizes the intent and of the preliminary results of this cooperation and also provides insights from both organizations on possible future activities and participation in the global exchange of fatigue research data.
