Abstract
In the integrity assessment of reactor pressure vessels the emergency core cooling system injection is one of the main load cases to be analysed. For a more generic assessment, parametric analyses are done concerning the load pattern, the postulated crack geometry and the material properties. With detailed axisymmetric and 3D-finite element (FE) models of reactor pressure vessels, temperature distributions in the structures and the deformations are calculated by elastic-plastic FE analyses for axisymmetric and asymmetric strip-like cooling assumptions. With it, boundary conditions for FE detail models with partly and 360° circumferential cracks are determined. Different material properties for the circumferential weld near the core mid-height, the cladding and the base metal with estimated influence of neutron irradiation are considered. Crack loading based on the J-integral is calculated for different crack geometries, and different parameters describing the constraint on the crack ligament with proposals for a fracture assessment concept are discussed. Furthermore, simplified methods based on analytical formulas to calculate the stress distribution in the wall and the stress intensity factor are applied and compared with FE results.
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