Behaviour of a PWR vessel dissimilar metal weld during a steam line break transient

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and design Vol. 207; no. 3; pp. 327 - 339
• Main Authors: Bhandari, S, Dubois, D, Guichard, D
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.08.2001; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fission nuclear power plants; fracture mechanics; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; pressure vessels; pressurized water reactors; Stainless steel; Steam piping systems; Welds; Finite element method; Stress analysis; Steam pipe; Cracking; Ferritic steel; Modeling; Reactor pressure vessel; Thermomechanical analysis; Pressurized water reactor; Nuclear reactor; Weld
• ISSN: 0029-5493; 1872-759X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0029-5493(01)00341-7

This paper presents the results of a Finite Element analysis conducted on the behaviour of a 15 mm deep fully circumferential crack on the outer surface of a bi-metallic weld of a 900 MWe Pressurized Water Reactor vessel, during a Steam Line Break transient. The typical weld considered connects the stainless-steel hot leg with the ferritic vessel. This work is part of a Benchmark exercise organised in the framework of an European Commission (DG Environment) project on Transition Welds. However, the results presented here concern only those obtained at Framatome using SYSTUS+ code and deal with the thermo-mechanical analysis, the evaluation of the crack driving energy ( J-integral) and a discussion on crack stability. These results are compared with those obtained using a simplified method developed earlier and presented at one of the international conferences.