... The integrity of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) related to pressurized thermal shocks (PTSs) has been extensively studied. This paper introduces the method of using fracture mechanics for the integrity analysis of a RPV subjected to PTS transients. A 3-D finite element (FE) model is used to perform thermal...

... temperatures showed that the modeling used is suitable to obtain enveloping results. Fracture mechanics analyses were carried out for circumferential flaw sizes in the weld joint near the core region and between the RPV shell and the flange, as well as for axial flaws in the nozzle corner. Stress intensity...

...J. M. Alegre; I. I. Cuesta In order to calculate the fatigue life of cylinders subjected to internal pressure using the fracture mechanics approach, the stress intensity factors (SIFs) for internal semi-elliptical cracks are needed. Nowadays, the most accurate procedure for fatigue life calculation...

... into strain based assessment. Moreover, they can be coupled with fracture mechanics to assess cracks for which the state of stress must be known in the location of crack tip, not necessarily found in the dent peak. Furthermore, probabilities derived from the statistical distribution can be used in risk...

... purpose of the numerical thermal-hydraulic studies is to accurately estimate the distribution of fluid temperature in the downcomer and the heat transfer coefficients on the inner RPV surface for a fracture mechanics computation, which will subsequently assess the associated RPV safety margin factors...

... II (i.e., shear mode) fracture tests were undertaken with and without CNT applied locally at the joint interface. During the study, the image correlation technique was used to examine the fracture mechanisms altered by the introduction of CNT. The experimental study showed that CNT increased...

... be found, which requires detailed 3D elastoplastic FE analyses ( 5 27 28 30 ). Thereby, the solutions for plastic influence functions, available in fracture mechanics handbooks, are limited to a relatively simple geometrical configuration and dimensions of both the crack and the structural element under...

... 07 2010 cracks elastoplasticity fracture mechanics fracture toughness fracture toughness testing notch strength steel structural engineering work hardening yield stress CTOD is an elastic-plastic fracture mechanics parameter, and has been widely used for the evaluation...

... thickness was introduced. The creep crack length was measured by dc electrical potential method ( 26 ). The crack opening displacement at the loading point was also measured. Specimen geometry of C ( t ) specimen creep fracture finite element analysis fracture mechanics...

...K. Ragupathy; K. Ramesh; D. Hall The failure assessment diagram (FAD) is a simplified and robust flaw assessment methodology, which simultaneously connects two dominant failure criteria: linear elastic fracture mechanics on one end and plastic collapse on the other end. This interaction...

... Fourier analysis fracture mechanics pipes polynomials probability J -integral stochastic fracture polynomial dimensional decomposition Fourier-polynomial expansion pipe Probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) accounts for both mechanistic and statistical aspects of a crack-driving...

..., brittle fracture experiments were performed on carbon steel plates with two nonaligned flaws. From these calculations and experiments, authors studied the effect of stress intensity factor interaction on fracture behavior and proposed a new alignment rule for linear elastic fracture mechanics evaluation...

... formulas for thickness requirements and determination of peak stresses and stress distributions for fatigue and fracture mechanics analyses in thick blind ends. The use of these proposed design formulas provide a more accurate determination of the required thickness and fatigue life of blind ends...

.... A. , 2000 , “ Fracture Mechanics Analysis of a Crack in a Residual Stress Field ,” Int. J. Fract. 0376-9429 10.1023/A:1026574400858 , 106 , pp. 195 – 216 . Lei , Y. , 2005 , “ J-Integral Evaluation for Cases Involving Non Proportional Stressing ,” Eng. Fract. Mech. , 72 , pp. 577 – 596...

... a fracture mechanics framework. 06 08 2007 08 11 2007 21 01 2009 fatigue fracture mechanics steel Pressure vessel components will invariably experience nonuniform loading histories during their service life. The unpredictable nature of random fatigue has been the basis...

.... This method is an extension of probabilistic fracture mechanics approach but is capable of modeling crack initiation, crack propagation, and crack depth density distribution at a given cycle. To verify the methodology, crack depth distribution observed in thermal fatigue test specimens was evaluated...

..., Hibbit, Karlsson and Sorensen, Inc. Anderson , T. L. , 1995 , “ Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications ,” 2nd ed. , CRC , Boca Raton, FL . Atkins A. G. , and Mai Y.-W. , 1985 , “ Elastic and Plastic Fracture: Metals, Polymers, Ceramics, Composites, Biological...

... of emergency core cooling was performed, and the leading leak size was determined. A fracture mechanics based assessment was carried out for extended circumferential flaws in the weld joint between the RPV shell and the flange, as well as for axial flaws in the nozzle corner. These flaw geometries postulated...

... monotonically, the midsection of the crack front will advance first, which will be followed by crack growth along the rest of the crack front, leading to the formation of a thumbnail shaped crack-front profile. From the viewpoint of fracture mechanics, crack tunneling will occur if the operating fracture...

... loads for input to the required fracture mechanics analysis. For this example, finite element results from another vessel with a misaligned center girth weld were scaled to provide a credible through thickness distribution. The through thickness stress distributions for the outbound (full) inbound...