Structural integrity assessment of a closure head of a PWR reactor pressure vessel under pressurized thermal shock

Abstract

The pressurized thermal shock induced during the accidental conditions is the potential threat to the structural integrity of reactor pressure vessel. The pressurized thermal shock puts the reactor pressure vessel under detrimental thermo-mechanical stresses, and a small crack on the surface, particularly at highly stressed locations, may initiate, propagate, become critical, and eventually fail the component. Therefore, critical components are needed to be assessed. For structural integrity analysis of class-I components under pressurized thermal shock, a methodology is proposed in this research article. As a case study, the structural integrity assessment of the closure head (class-I component) of the RPV under pressurized thermal shock is presented here.