scholarly journals Investigation on Analysis Method of Environmental Fatigue Correction Factor of Primary Coolant Metal Materials in LWR Water Environment

Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Xuejiao Shao ◽  
Hai Xie ◽  
Yixiong Zhang ◽  
Furui Xiong ◽  
Xiaoming Bai ◽  
...  

The environmental fatigue correction factor (Fen) is mainly used to analyze the influence of the coolant environment on the fatigue life of primary metal materials. Because the calculation of the transformed strain rate is related to the stress history of the component structure, how to determine the strain rate is the most critical step in calculating the Fen. The approaches of the detailed method were given by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) guidelines and RCC-M-2017 Edition Section VI- RPP No. 3 separately, so a gap analysis was performed between the two methods. Furthermore, another average method was also proposed to determine the average strain rate and strain range. Based on the analysis benchmark provided in the EPRI guideline, a simple case study was performed to account for the effect on the fatigue life in applications with different strain rate approaches and different Fen expressions. Finally, two industry case studies were also completed, including on materials of low alloy steel, austenitic stainless steel, and nickel-base alloy. We suggest adopting a more accurate detailed method, and its methodology is recommended to provide more reasonable solutions.

Author(s):  
Makoto Higuchi ◽  
Katsumi Sakaguchi ◽  
Akihiko Hirano ◽  
Yuichiro Nomura

Low cycle fatigue life of carbon and low alloy steels reduces remarkably as functions of strain rate, temperature, dissolved oxygen and sulfur in steel in high temperature water simulating LWR coolant. A model for predicting such fatigue life reduction was first proposed in the early 1980s and since then has been revised several times. The existing model established in 2000 is used for the MITI Guideline [6] and the TENPES Guideline [7] which stipulate procedures for evaluating environmental fatigue damage at LWR plants in Japan. This paper presents the most recent environmental fatigue evaluation model derived based on additional fatigue data provided by the EFT Project over the past five years. This model differs not significantly with previous version but does provide more accurate equations for the susceptibility of fatigue life to sulfur in steel, strain rate, temperature and dissolved oxygen. Test data on environmental fatigue of nickel base alloys are available only to a limited extent and there is yet no model for predicting fatigue life reduction in such an environment. The EFT Project has made available considerable environmental fatigue test data and developed a new model for calculating Fen of nickel base alloys. The contribution of environment to fatigue of nickel base alloy is much less compared to that in austenitic stainless steel.


Author(s):  
Yuichi Fukuta ◽  
Seiji Asada ◽  
Yuichiro Nomura ◽  
Hiroshi Kanasaki

Fatigue life in elevated-temperature water is affected by water chemistry, temperature, and strain rate. To evaluate these effects, the environmental fatigue life correction factor was established. And to evaluate fatigue damage in actual plants where factors such as temperature and strain rate are not constant, the modified rate approach method was developed. In order to confirm the applicability of these methods, several tests were carried out under a condition in which strain rate changes in response to temperature and fatigue life could be evaluated with an accuracy of a factor of 3, but conservatism was observed. In this evaluation, conservatism of environmental fatigue prediction is studied. To minimize conservatism in environmental fatigue evaluation, four factors are examined. As a result of examination, we conclude that an improvement the environmental fatigue life correction factor and application of a strain range insensitive to the environment may reduce conservatism, and that investigation into the mechanism of reduction in fatigue life is necessary for further improvement.


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Matthias Bruchhausen ◽  
Gintautas Dundulis ◽  
Alec McLennan ◽  
Sergio Arrieta ◽  
Tim Austin ◽  
...  

A substantial amount of research effort has been applied to the field of environmentally assisted fatigue (EAF) due to the requirement to account for the EAF behaviour of metals for existing and new build nuclear power plants. We present the results of the European project INcreasing Safety in NPPs by Covering Gaps in Environmental Fatigue Assessment (INCEFA-PLUS), during which the sensitivities of strain range, environment, surface roughness, mean strain and hold times, as well as their interactions on the fatigue life of austenitic steels has been characterized. The project included a test campaign, during which more than 250 fatigue tests were performed. The tests did not reveal a significant effect of mean strain or hold time on fatigue life. An empirical model describing the fatigue life as a function of strain rate, environment and surface roughness is developed. There is evidence for statistically significant interaction effects between surface roughness and the environment, as well as between surface roughness and strain range. However, their impact on fatigue life is so small that they are not practically relevant and can in most cases be neglected. Reducing the environmental impact on fatigue life by modifying the temperature or strain rate leads to an increase of the fatigue life in agreement with predictions based on NUREG/CR-6909. A limited sub-programme on the sensitivity of hold times at elevated temperature at zero force conditions and at elevated temperature did not show the beneficial effect on fatigue life found in another study.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 2652
Author(s):  
Meng Liu ◽  
Quanyi Wang ◽  
Yifan Cai ◽  
Dong Lu ◽  
Tianjian Wang ◽  
...  

Tensile deformation behavior and microstructure of nickel-base superalloy Inconel 625 are investigated under different strain rates of 5 × 10−4 s−1 and 5 × 10−5 s−1. According to the experimental results, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the alloy increase with the increase in strain rate in room temperature. Microstructure results indicate that the size of dimples is smaller in the tensile fracture surface at low strain rate than the high strain rate, and the number of dimples is also related to the strain rates and twins appear earlier in the specimens with higher strain rates. Apart from Hollomon and Ludwik functions, a new formula considering the variation trend of strength in different deformation stages is deduced and introduced, which fit closer to the tensile curves of the 625 alloy used in the present work at both strain rates. Furthermore, the Schmid factors of tensile samples under two strain rates are calculated and discussed. In the end, typical work hardening behavior resulting from the dislocations slip behavior under different strain rates is observed, and a shearing phenomenon of slip lines cross through the δ precipitates due to the movement of dislocations is also be note.


Author(s):  
Koji Dozaki ◽  
Hiromasa Chitose ◽  
Hiroshi Ogawa ◽  
Hideo Machida

The dynamic aspects of loading conditions for reactor internals, piping and the like, are thought to play important roles in the initiation of failures due, for example, to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and fatigue. Some reports show that a strain rate on the order of 10−7 s−1 most affects susceptibility to SCC in the BWR reactor water environment. Environmental fatigue, which exhibits a shorter fatigue life in reactor water than that in air, is considered to have a remarkable correlation with strain rate and its affect on fatigue life. Despite its significant affect on SCC and fatigue, the actual strain rate of components is not known and practical evaluation methods have not been developed; consequently, such failure modes as SCC and fatigue are not evaluated in design. For this paper, strain rates induced by dynamic loading during such operations as plant start-up were calculated at typical points, such as reactor internals, piping and so on. The finite element method was applied to calculate the strain history of each point, and the strain rate was evaluated. The strain rate evaluation results clearly demonstrated that thermal transients provide greater peak strain rate values than pressure transients. Strain rates on the order of 10−7 s−1 were obtained for most points of major components during such thermal transients as plant start-ups. The major factors determining the strain rate magnitude were discussed, based on the calculation results. It was shown that the rate of temperature rise was the most important parameter, because it exhibited much larger sensitivity than the other parameters on the strain rate and could be controlled by plant operation procedures. In addition, a simple strain rate evaluation method based on Green’s function was developed for a specific point with a given design condition.


2004 ◽  
Vol 449-452 ◽  
pp. 577-580
Author(s):  
Young Sang Na ◽  
Young Mok Rhyim ◽  
J.Y. Lee ◽  
Jae Ho Lee

In order to quantitatively analyze the critical strain for the initiation of dynamic recrystallization in Ni-Fe-based Alloy 718, a series of uniaxial compression tests was conducted in the temperature range 927°C - 1066°C and the strain rate range 5 x 10-4s-1- 5 s-1with varying initial grain size. The critical strains were graphically determined based on one parameter approach and microscopically confirmed. The effect of γ'' (matrix-hardening phase) and δ (grain boundary phase)on the critical strain was simply discussed. The constitutive model for the critical strain of Alloy 718 was constructed using the experimental data obtained from the higher strain rate and the temperature range between 940°C and 1040°C.


2010 ◽  
pp. 217-229
Author(s):  
Kuk-cheol Kim ◽  
Byeong-ook Kong ◽  
Min-soo Kim ◽  
Sung-tae Kang

2018 ◽  
Vol 165 ◽  
pp. 06002
Author(s):  
Golta Khatibi ◽  
Ali Mazloum-Nejadari ◽  
Martin Lederer ◽  
Mitra Delshadmanesh ◽  
Bernhard Czerny

In this study, the influence of microstructure on the cyclic behaviour and lifetime of Cu and Au wires with diameters of 25μm in the low and high cycle fatigue regimes was investigated. Low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests were conducted with a load ratio of 0.1 and a strain rate of ~2e-4. An ultrasonic resonance fatigue testing system working at 20 kHz was used to obtain lifetime curves under symmetrical loading conditions up to very high cycle regime (VHCF). In order to obtain a total fatigue life model covering the low to high cycle regime of the thin wires by considering the effects of mean stress, a four parameter lifetime model is proposed. The effect of testing frequency on high cycle fatigue data of Cu is discussed based on analysis of strain rate dependency of the tensile properties with the help of the material model proposed by Johnson and Cook.


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