Case study of the propagation of a small flaw under PWR loading conditions and comparison with the ASME code design life. Comparison of ASME Code Sections III and XI

摘要

A cooperative study was performed by EG and G Idaho, Inc., and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to investigate the degree of conservatism and consistency in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section III fatigue evaluation procedure and Section XI flaw acceptance standards. A single, realistic, sample problem was analyzed to determine the significance of certain points of criticism made of an earlier parametric study by staff members of the Division of Engineering Standards of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The problem was based on a semielliptical flaw located on the inside surface of the hot-leg piping at the reactor vessel safe-end weld for the Zion 1 pressurized-water reactor (PWR). Two main criteria were used in selecting the problem; first, it should be a straight pipe to minimize the computational expense; second, it should exhibit as high a cumulative usage factor as possible. Although the problem selected has one of the highest cumulative usage factors of any straight pipe in the primary system of PWRs, it is still very low. The Code Section III fatigue usage factor was only 0.00046, assuming it was in the as-welded condition, and fatigue crack-growth analyses predicted negligible crack growth during the 40-year design life. When the analyses were extended past the design life, the usage factor was less than 1.0 when the flaw had propagated to failure. The current study shows that the criticism of the earlier report should not detract from the conclusion that if a component experiences a high level of cyclic stress corresponding to a fatigue usage factor near 1.0, very small cracks can propagate to unacceptable sizes.