FRACTURE TOUGHNESS CONSIDERATIONS UNDERPINNING NEW TOUGHNESS RULES IN SECTION VIII, DIVISION 1, OF THE ASME CODE

摘要

This paper summarizes an effort to amalgamate the "good (reliable) service experience" of the pressure vessel industry with concepts of fracture mechanics to update elements of the ASME Code Section VIII, Division 1. Specifically Exemption Curves and toughness requirements for temperatures below the Exemption Curves are developed that provide a Code that is consistent and comparable with several other current codes and the practices of several primary industrial users that are known to give reliable service. Fracture mechanics concepts are used to develop the functional form for Exemption Curves and toughness requirements below the exemption curves that provide a consistent high level of toughness. With the constant toughness requirement expressed in functional form, the absolute level of toughness was established by comparison with current good industrial practice where the results are known to give reliable service experience