Creep Characteristics in Thick Welded Joints and Their Improvements (Report Ⅱ): Applicability of a Simple Model for Creep Analysis of Thick Welded Joints

摘要

Reliable predictions of the creep behavior of thick welded joints are very important to secure the safety of elevated temperature vessels like nuclear reactors. Creep behavior is very complex, thus it is difficult to perform the experiment and conduct the theoretical analysis. A simple accurate model for theoretical analysis was developed in the first report. The simple model is constructed of seven one-dimensional finite elements which can analyze not only one-dimensional stress creep behavior but also the three-dimensional situation. The simple model is verified by comparing the analyzed results with the experimental ones in this report. The model is easy to treat, and needs only a little labor and computation time to predict the creep curve and the local strain for a thick welded joint.