Experimental Investigations on Effects of Simulated Seismic Loading on LBB Assessment of High Energy Piping

Author(s):  
Suneel K. Gupta ◽  
Vivek Bhasin ◽  
K. K. Vaze ◽  
A. K. Ghosh ◽  
H. S. Kushwaha

The current Leak Before Break (LBB) assessment is based primarily on the monotonic fracture tearing instability. In it the maximum design accident load is compared with the fracture-tearing resistance load. The effect of cyclic loading has generally not been considered in the fracture assessment of nuclear power plant piping. It is a well-known fact that the reversible cyclic loading decreases the fracture resistance of the material, which leads to increased crack growth. Indian nuclear power reactors consider Operational-Basis-Earthquake (OBE) and Safe-Shutdown-Earthquake (SSE) event in the design of various structures, systems and components. Keeping this in view a series of cyclic tearing test have been conducted on straight pipes, made of ASTM SA333 Gr.6 carbon steel. This is the material of primary heat transport (PHT) piping material of Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). In this series 13 tests have been carried out on circumferentially through wall cracked seamless and circumferential seam welded straight pipes under reversible cyclic bending loading. All the tests have been conducted under quasi-static i.e. slow loading rates and the dynamic effect is not considered. The cyclic test results have been compared with the corresponding monotonic pipe fracture test results. These test results and its comparison with corresponding monotonic tearing clearly illustrates the need of addressing the reduction in apparent fracture toughness of material under reversible cyclic loading and safe number of load cycles in the LBB assessment.

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suneel K. Gupta ◽  
Vivek Bhasin ◽  
K. K. Vaze ◽  
A. K. Ghosh ◽  
H. S. Kushwaha

The current Leak Before Break (LBB) assessment is based primarily on the monotonic fracture tearing instability. In it the maximum design accident load is compared with the fracture-tearing resistance load. The effect of cyclic loading has not been generally considered in the fracture assessment of nuclear power plant piping. It is a well-known fact that reversible cyclic loading decreases the fracture resistance of the material, which leads to increased crack growth. Indian nuclear power reactors consider Operational-Basis-Earthquake (OBE) and Safe-Shutdown-Earthquake (SSE) events in the design of various structures, systems, and components. Keeping this in view a series of cyclic tearing tests have been conducted on straight pipes, made of ASTM SA333 Gr.6 carbon steel. This is the material of primary heat transport (PHT) piping material of Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). In this series 13 tests have been carried out circumferentially through wall cracked seamless and circumferential seam welded straight pipes under reversible cyclic bending loading. All the tests have been conducted under quasistatic, i.e., slow loading rates and dynamic inertia effects are not considered. The cyclic test results have been compared with the corresponding monotonic pipe fracture test results. These test results and its comparison with corresponding monotonic tearing clearly illustrate the need of addressing the reduction in apparent fracture toughness of material under reversible cyclic loading and the safe number of load cycles in the LBB assessment.


Author(s):  
Feng He ◽  
Feng Yuan ◽  
Honglei Ai ◽  
Xinjun Wang ◽  
Xifeng Lu ◽  
...  

The special safety facilities and important equipment, etc. of the nuclear power plant will be damaged due to the whipping nuclear high-energy piping after the rupture, and more serious further damage will be caused. In this paper, the process and method of protection analysis of the nuclear high-energy piping rupture have been given from four aspects. The four aspects are location of high-energy piping break, the jet thrust, whipping behavior analysis, and protection analysis of whipping. On the basis of the traditional energy balance method, the method is improved by considering the energy absorbed by the plastic hinge of the piping and the change in the direction of the jet thrust. And then, the comparisons among the traditional energy balance method, the improved energy balance method, and the 3-D finite element dynamic method have been carried out. The deformation of the whip limiter analyzed by the traditional energy balance method is 20.31% larger than which analyzed by the improved energy balance method, and the deformation of the whip limiter analyzed by the 3-D finite element dynamic method is 30.59% smaller than which analyzed by the improved energy balance method. For the first time, a 3-D finite element model according to the true arrangement of the pipe and the whip limiter model are built to simulate the process of whipping not in the plane, considering the energy dissipation of the whip limiter. For the pipe whipping not in the plane and protecting against the pipe rupture by whip limiter, there is no good way to carry out the protection analysis of the piping rupture in the past. Now, the problem can be solved by the 3-D finite element dynamic method.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Bhuyan ◽  
E. J. Sperling ◽  
G. Shen ◽  
H. Yin ◽  
M. D. Rana

An industry-government collaborative program was carried out with an aim to promoting the acceptance of fracture mechanics-based fitness-for-service assessment methodology for a service-damaged pressure vessel. A collaborative round robin exercise was carried out to predict the fracture behavior of a vessel containing hydrogen damage, fabrication-related lack-of-fusion defects, an artificially induced fatigue crack, and a localized thinned area. The fracture assessment procedures used include the U.S. ASME Material Property Council’s PREFIS Program based on the British Standard (BS) Published Document (PD) 6493, ASME Section XI and The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) R6 approach, The Welding Institute (TWI) CRACKWISE program (based on BS PD6493 Level 2 approach), a variant of the R6 approach, J-tearing instability approaches, various J-estimation schemes, LEFM approach, and simplified stress analysis. Assessments were compared with the results obtained from a hydrogen-charged burst test of the vessel. Predictions, based on the J-tearing approach, compared well with the actual burst test results. Actual burst pressure was about five times the operating pressure.


Author(s):  
R. Z. Aminov ◽  
A. N. Bayramov ◽  
M. V. Garievskii

The paper gives the analysis of the problem of the primary current frequency regulation in the power system, as well as the basic requirements for NPP power units under the conditions of involvement in the primary regulation. According to these requirements, the operation of NPPs is associated with unloading and a corresponding decrease in efficiency. In this regard, the combination of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex is shown to eliminate the inefficient discharge mode which allows the steam turbine equipment and equipment of the reactor facility to operate in the basic mode at the nominal power level. In addition, conditions are created for the generation and accumulation of hydrogen and oxygen during the day, as well as additionally during the nighttime failure of the electrical load which allows them to be used to generate peak power.  The purpose of the article is to assess the systemic economic effect as a result of the participation of nuclear power plants in combination with the hydrogen complex in the primary control of the current frequency in the power sys-tem, taking into account the resource costs of the main equipment. In this regard, the paper gives the justification of cyclic loading of the main equipment of the hydrogen complex: metal storage tanks of hydrogen and oxygen, compressor units, hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber of vapor-hydrogen overheating of the working fluid in the steam turbine cycle of a nuclear power plant. The methodological foundations for evaluating the working life of equipment under cyclic loading with the participation in the primary frequency control by the criterion of the growth rate of a fatigue crack are described. For the equipment of the hydrogen complex, the highest intensity of loading is shown to occur in the hydrogen-oxygen combustion chamber due to high thermal stresses.  The system economic effect is estimated and the effect of wear of the main equipment under cyclic loading is shown. Under the conditions of combining NPP power units with a hydrogen complex, the efficiency of primary reg-ulation is shown to depend significantly on: the cost of equipment subjected to cyclic loading; frequency and intensity of cyclic loading; the ratio of the tariff for peak electricity, and the cost of electricity of nuclear power plants.  Based on the developed methodology for assessing the effectiveness of the participation of nuclear power plants with a hydrogen complex in the primary frequency control, taking into account the damage to the equipment, the use of the hydrogen complex is shown to provide a tangible economic effect compared with the option of unloading nuclear power plants with direct participation in frequency control.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 7879
Author(s):  
Yingxia Gao ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Léon Sanche

The complex physical and chemical reactions between the large number of low-energy (0–30 eV) electrons (LEEs) released by high energy radiation interacting with genetic material can lead to the formation of various DNA lesions such as crosslinks, single strand breaks, base modifications, and cleavage, as well as double strand breaks and other cluster damages. When crosslinks and cluster damages cannot be repaired by the cell, they can cause genetic loss of information, mutations, apoptosis, and promote genomic instability. Through the efforts of many research groups in the past two decades, the study of the interaction between LEEs and DNA under different experimental conditions has unveiled some of the main mechanisms responsible for these damages. In the present review, we focus on experimental investigations in the condensed phase that range from fundamental DNA constituents to oligonucleotides, synthetic duplex DNA, and bacterial (i.e., plasmid) DNA. These targets were irradiated either with LEEs from a monoenergetic-electron or photoelectron source, as sub-monolayer, monolayer, or multilayer films and within clusters or water solutions. Each type of experiment is briefly described, and the observed DNA damages are reported, along with the proposed mechanisms. Defining the role of LEEs within the sequence of events leading to radiobiological lesions contributes to our understanding of the action of radiation on living organisms, over a wide range of initial radiation energies. Applications of the interaction of LEEs with DNA to radiotherapy are briefly summarized.


Author(s):  
Stefan Schmid ◽  
Rudi Kulenovic ◽  
Eckart Laurien

For the validation of empirical models to calculate leakage flow rates in through-wall cracks of piping, reliable experimental data are essential. In this context, the Leakage Flow (LF) test rig was built up at the IKE for measurements of leakage flow rates with reduced pressure (maximum 1 MPA) and temperature (maximum 170 °C) compared to real plant conditions. The design of the test rig enables experimental investigations of through-wall cracks with different geometries and orientations by means of circular blank sheets with integrated cracks which are installed in the tubular test section of the test rig. In the paper, the experimental LF set-up and used measurement techniques are explained in detail. Furthermore, first leakage flow measurement results for one through-wall crack geometry and different imposed fluid pressures at ambient temperature conditions are presented and discussed. As an additional aspect the experimental data are used for the determination of the flow resistance of the investigated leak channel. Finally, the experimental results are compared with numerical results of WinLeck calculations to prove specifically in WinLeck implemented numerical models.


1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1042-1050 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Burkel ◽  
B. Dorner ◽  
Th. Illini ◽  
J. Peisl

Very high-energy resolution measurements using X-rays can be achieved by extreme backreflection (Bragg angle close to 90°) from perfect crystals. This technique, combined with the high intensity of X-rays emitted by synchrotron-radiation sources, allowed the development of the instrument INELAX for inelastic scattering experiments. The principles and test results are discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 812 ◽  
pp. 375-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pósalaky ◽  
János Lukács

The magnitude of different aluminium alloys, especially the ones with higher strength, are increasing in the structural engineering, not just the usual applications (like the aerospace industry) but more likely in the automotive industry. There are more assumptions of the effective use of aluminium; we should highlight two important factors, the technological and the applicability criterions. The technological criterion is the joining of structural elements, frequently with welding thus the technological criterion ultimately is the weldability. The assumption of applicability comes from the loading capability of these structures, which is typically cyclic loading so the key issue from the point of view of applicability is the resistance to fatigue. This article represents physical simulation and fatigue test results both on the base material and on the welded joints.


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