Stress intensity factors for underclad and through clad defects in a reactor pressure vessel submitted to a pressurised thermal shock

摘要

CEA has launched important work on the development of a Stress Intensity Factors compendium for cracks in a Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) taking into account the cladding. The work is performed by Finite Element analysis with a parametric mesh for two types of defects (under clad defect and through clad defect) and a wide range of geometrical and material parameters. In addition, an analytical stress solution for Pressurised Thermal Shock (PTS) on the RPV is proposed to allow a complete analytical estimation of the stress intensity factor K for the PTS problem. The results are validated by comparison with a complete 3D finite element calculation performed on a complex and realistic case study.