Abstract
Metal components in LMFBR's are subjected to random temperature fluctuations. These are caused by the turbulence in the liquid sodium coolant and the existence of jets at differing inlet temperatures. Here an LEFM approach to crack propagation is used. The metal surface temperature is characterised by the power spectral density of the fluctuations and these fluctuations are assumed to be a Gaussian stochastic process. This enables the frequency distribution of peaks of the stress intensity factor to the determined—and hence the crack propagation rate. The results depend on the thermal and mechanical boundary conditions and on two parameters derived from the thermal fluctuation power spectral density—the microscale and the mean square stress intensity function. Only thin components, such as tubes or plates, are considered explicitly in this paper, but the method is of general application.
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