The Energy Approach of Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics Applied to the Analysis of the Warm Pre-Stress Effect

Abstract

An experimental program was recently carried out in the context of a MPA-EDF collaboration, in order to study the “Warm Pre-Stress” effect on CT25 side-grooved specimens made of 18MND5 (equivalent to A508) ferritic steel. At EDF, an energy approach has been developed and an energy release rate, called Gp, has been defined. Conversely to the J-approach, this energy approach is, in principle, valid in all situations, and can be used in particular to study the “Warm Pre-Stress” effect in RPV structural integrity assessment. For the WPS cycle called “LCF” (Loading + Cooling + Fracture), the comparison to the experimental results and to the results obtained with the Beremin model is very satisfactory, all the results being in a good agreement. For the WPS cycle called “LUCF” (Loading + Unloading + Cooling + Fracture) the results obtained with the energy method, compared to experimental results, show a conservatism which is not very important, anyway smaller than the conservatism obtained with the Beremin model.