COMPILATION OF REFERENCES, DATA SOURCES AND ANALYSIS METHODS FOR LMFBR PRIMARY PIPING SYSTEM COMPONENTS

摘要

A survey and review program for application of fracture mechanics methods in elevated temperature design and safety analysis has been initiated in December of 1976. This is the first of a series of reports, the aim of which is to provide a critical review of the theories of fracture and the application of fracture mechanics methods to life prediction, reliability and safety analysis of piping components in nuclear plants undergoing sub-creep and elevated temperature service conditions.nIn the classical sense fracture mechanics concerns the linear behavior of materials that fail in a brittle manner (that is, below or at the yield limit) with low fracture energy and small deformations. This is called plane strain fracture for which the theory developed by Griffith has been expanded into the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) methodology, involving the crack tip stress intensity K and the single failure fracture parameter K the fracture toughness.