Abstract
Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) components need to tolerate thermal constraints, internal pressure and thermal transients. These thermal transients being repeated again and again can lead to thermal fatigue of the component. It has significant effect on the degradation of the NPP components in long term. Studies of thermal fatigue on different NPP components such as mixing tees and valves have been carried out before but the charging line in the chemical and volume control system (RCV) of the NPP seems to have been ignored for thermal fatigue analysis. Charging Line is the connection from RCV towards Reactor Coolant System (RCP). To enhance the safety of the charging line, thermal fatigue evaluation of piping system was performed using the Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) analysis. Temperature distributions in the pipes were determined via thermal hydraulic analysis (CFX) and the results were applied to the structural model of the piping system to determine the thermal stress (Transient Structural). Results revealed the location of fatigue cracks. Types of stress were identified that caused the fatigue damage. The CFD analysis enabled us to clarify the role of turbulence with respect to the thermal loading of the structure. The study will provide valuable information for establishing a permanent methodology to help minimize thermal fatigue damage in NPP components.
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