ASME Code-Case Proposal to Explicitly Quantify the Interaction Between the PWR Environment and Component Surface Finish

Abstract

Fatigue rules from ASME have undergone a significant change over the past decade, especially with the inclusion of the effects of BWR and PWR environments on the fatigue life of components. The incorporation of the environmental effects into the calculations is performed via an environmental factor, Fen, which is introduced in ASME BPV code-case N-792 [5], and depends on factors such as the temperature, dissolved oxygen and strain rate. Nevertheless, a wide range of factors, such as surface finish, have a deleterious impact on fatigue life, but their contribution to fatigue life is typically taken through the transition factors to build the fatigue design curve [2] and not in an explicit way, such as the Fen factor. The testing supporting the rules pertaining to Environmental Fatigue Correction Factor (Fen) Method in ASME BPV was performed on specimens with a polished surface finish and on the basis that the Fen factor was applicable without alteration of the historical practice of building the design curve through transition factors. The extensive amount of testing conducted and reported in References [2] and [7] (technical basis for ASME BPV current EAF rules) was used to propose a set of transition coefficients from the mean air curve to the design curve on one hand, and on the other hand to build a Fen factor expression, defined as the difference between the life in air and in PWR environments. The work initiated by AREVA in 2005 [9] [10] [11] demonstrated that there is a clear interaction between the two aggravating effects of surface finish and PWR environment for fatigue damage, which was not experimentally tested in the References [2] and [7]. These results have clearly been supported by testing carried out independently in the UK by Rolls-Royce and AMEC FW [12]. These results are all the more relevant as most NPP components do not have a polished surface finish. Most surfaces are either industrially polished or installed as-manufactured. It was concluded that this proposal could potentially be applicable to a wide range of components and could be of interest to a wider community. EDF/Areva/CEA have therefore authored a code-case introducing the Fen-threshold, a factor which explicitly quantifies the interaction between PWR environment and surface finish. This paper summarizes this proposal and provides the technical background and experimental work to justify this proposal.