Reconstitution of Compact Specimen for Irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toru Osaki ◽  
Hiroshi Matsuzawa
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Toughness ◽  
Plastic Deformation ◽  
Crack Opening ◽  
Crack Tip ◽  
Reactor Vessel ◽  
Compact Specimen ◽  
Pressure Vessel Steel ◽  
Vessel Steel ◽  
Original Size ◽  
Surveillance Specimens

Reconstitution in this paper means to constitute the original size compact specimen, which is made of the insert cut out from tested specimen and tubs welded to the insert. It is a promising technique to secure an adequate number of surveillance specimens for long-term operation of nuclear power plants. The fracture toughness of each reactor vessel of pressurized water reactors in Japan is measured periodically by 1/2T compact surveillance specimens, and is applied to assess the structural integrity of the reactor vessel under pressurized thermal shock loads. [1] This practice should be continued and enhanced if possible, after the full use of originally installed specimens, because its fracture toughness is lower than before. Reconstitution of irradiated 1/2T compact specimens to the original size was studied and demonstrated. Reconstituted specimens were composed of an irradiated material called an insert and un-irradiated tabs welded to the insert. It was demonstrated that the central part of the insert near the crack tip was not annealed by the thermal transient during welding if properly adjusted YAG laser welding was applied. Crack-tip opening and compliance before and after reconstitution were investigated by testing and analysis. Testing and analysis of un-irradiated specimens before reconstitution showed that the plastic deformation expanded to an area wider than 6 mm, the half width of the insert if it was a reconstituted specimen. The material had medium fracture toughness. The reconstituted specimen of the same material showed almost the same fracture toughness, although the weld could not be yielded as the insert, which could affect the crack opening. The crack opening was immune to the change of the deformation far from the crack tip. Correlation between J at 2.5 mm crack extension and plastic deformation width, and the effects of short time annealing of the insert far from the crack tip during welding were studied. Integrating the results, the conditions for reconstituting the 1/2T compact specimen were settled. The reconstituted specimen with irradiated insert designed to meet the conditions showed little change in fracture toughness.

scholarly journals A Local Approach to Assess Effects of Specimen Geometry on Cleavage Fracture Toughness in Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego F. B. Sarzosa ◽  
Rafael Savioli ◽  
Claudio Ruggieri ◽  
Andrey Jivkov ◽  
Jack Beswick
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Toughness ◽  
Cleavage Fracture ◽  
Pressure Vessel ◽  
Crack Tip ◽  
Crack Size ◽  
Size Ratio ◽  
Additional Contribution ◽  
Pressure Vessel Steel ◽  
Vessel Steel ◽  
Shallow Crack

This work presents recent improvements in the micromechanical failure criterion based on the Weibull stress (σw) concept for prediction of cleavage fracture in ferritic steels. The model is applied in SE(B) specimens extracted from an ASTM A533 pressure vessel steel having different levels of stress triaxiality at the crack tip. Nonlinear 3D finite element models with dimensions matching the tested specimens were built to provide the necessary crack tip stresses at the fracture process zone for calculation of the σw-J evolution from wich the variation of characteristic toughness values (J0) between different cracked geometries can be estimated. Application of this methodology for the material used at this study is able to predict J0 for SE(B) specimens with very shallow crack size ratio a/W = 0.05, short crack a/W = 0.2 and deep crack a/W = 0.4. The reported fracture toughness values for specimens having very shallow crack size ratio is an additional contribution of this study.

Residual Stress and Constraint Effects on Fracture in the Transition Temperature Regime

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Lee ◽  
A. H. Sherry ◽  
M. R. Goldthorpe
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Toughness ◽  
Residual Stress ◽  
Residual Stresses ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Notch Root ◽  
Crack Tip ◽  
Pressure Vessel Steel ◽  
Vessel Steel ◽  
Low Constraint ◽  
Crack Tip Constraint

This paper presents the results of a combined experimental and numerical study aimed at quantifying the influence of self-balancing residual stresses on the fracture toughness constraint benefit of a ferritic pressure vessel steel tested in the cleavage fracture regime. Tests were performed on standard and pre-compressed, high constraint, compact-tension (CT) and low constraint, single-edge-notched tension (SENT) specimens at a temperature close to the Master Curve reference temperature T0. Pre-compression is undertaken prior to pre-cracking to establish a residual stress across the uncracked ligament, which is highly tensile at the pre-crack notch root and balanced by compressive stresses further ahead of the notch. The pre-crack is subsequently introduced into material ahead of the notch, within the tensile residual stress region, specimen by electro-discharge machining and fatigue. The tests demonstrate an influence of tensile residual stresses on the apparent fracture toughness properties for both CT and SENT specimens. The tests on low constraint specimens illustrate the constraint benefit on cleavage toughness for this material, and the influence of residual stresses in reducing this benefit. The paper shows how the observed behaviour can be quantified through using two parameter fracture mechanics. Here, the J-integral is determined by taking full account of the influence of preloading on the crack driving force. Both the elastic-T-stress and the elastic-plastic Q-stress are calculated and demonstrated as constraint indexing parameters. The results demonstrate a reduction in constraint benefit for cracks located within highly bending residual stress fields. Thus, when exploring any possible benefit in fracture toughness due to crack tip constraint, it is critical that the combined influence of the primary and secondary stresses on crack tip constraint be taken fully into account.

Investigation Into the Effect of Residual Stress on Crack-Tip Constraint and Brittle Fracture

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. Hurlston ◽  
J. K. Sharples ◽  
A. H. Sherry
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Toughness ◽  
Residual Stress ◽  
Fracture Mechanics ◽  
Brittle Fracture ◽  
Plastic Strain ◽  
Residual Stresses ◽  
Crack Tip ◽  
Pressure Vessel Steel ◽  
Vessel Steel ◽  
Unique Material

It is well known that the level of constraint of material at a crack-tip during loading can affect the apparent fracture toughness of components and structures. The effects of geometry and loading on the development of constraint are well defined. Recent research has shown that residual stresses, defined as stresses existing in a material when it is under no primary load, present in the crack-tip region can also affect constraint. However, the effects of this on fracture toughness are not, currently, well understood. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of constraint based fracture mechanics to quantify unique material fracture toughness curves in two-parameter fracture mechanics type analyses. A novel method for generating residual stresses in single edge notch bend specimens, with minimal associated crack-tip plastic strain, has been devised analytically. Experimental validation has been undertaken to investigate the applicability of constraint based fracture mechanics to characterise the effect of residual stress on brittle fracture of a pressure vessel steel. The results suggest that the use of a unique material toughness curve is possible, certainly when there is a negligible effect of prior plastic strain in the crack-tip region.

A Weibull Stress Approach Incorporating the Coupling Effect of Constraint and Plastic Strain in Cleavage Fracture Toughness Predictions

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Ruggieri ◽  
Robert H. Dodds
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Toughness ◽  
Plastic Strain ◽  
Cleavage Fracture ◽  
Coupling Effect ◽  
Crack Size ◽  
Parameter Analysis ◽  
Pressure Vessel Steel ◽  
Fracture Parameter ◽  
Vessel Steel ◽  
Weibull Stress

This work describes a micromechanics methodology based upon a local failure criterion incorporating the strong effects of plastic strain on cleavage fracture coupled with statistics of microcracks. A central objective is to gain some understanding on the role of plastic strain on cleavage fracture by means of a probabilistic fracture parameter and how it contributes to the cleavage failure probability. A parameter analysis is conducted to assess the general effects of plastic strain on fracture toughness correlations for conventional SE(B) specimens with varying crack size over specimen width ratios. Another objetive is to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified Weibull stress (σ̃w) model to correct effects of constraint loss in PCVN specimens which serve to determine the indexing temperature, T0, based on the Master Curve methodology. Fracture toughness testing conducted on an A285 Grade C pressure vessel steel provides the cleavage fracture resistance (Jc) data needed to estimate T0. Very detailed non-linear finite element analyses for 3-D models of plane-sided SE(B) and PCVN specimens provide the evolution of near-tip stress field with increased macroscopic load (in terms of the J-integral) to define the relationship between σ̃w and J. For the tested material, the Weibull stress methodology yields estimates for the reference temperature, T0, from small fracture specimens which are in good agreement with the corresponding estimates derived from testing of much larger crack configurations.

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