NDLI: Fatigue Crack Initiation and Growth in Stainless Steel Pipe Welds

Content Provider	The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Digital Collection
Author	Green, D. Smith, R. D. Taggart, J. P. Beardsmore, D. Robinson, S.
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Thermal fatigue cracks have been found in austenitic pipe work in many pressurised water reactors, caused by thermal cycling due to the passage of water at different temperatures along the pipe inner surface. The rates of crack initiation and growth for this situation are not well understood because of the stochastic nature of the temperature fluctuations. Therefore, large allowances must be made when assessing the integrity of this pipe work to this failure mechanism. Improved assessment of crack initiation and growth could enable increased plant availability, and better safety cases. A programme of work has been completed consisting of fatigue tests on thick 304L butt-welded pipe specimens, and accompanying predictions of crack initiation and growth. In each test, uniform thermal cycles were generated using a water jet on a small area of the pipe. The magnitude of the cycles differed between the tests. Crack initiation and growth were monitored using a dye penetrant technique, applied to the pipe inner and outer surfaces, together with destructive examination. Crack initiation predictions were made using fatigue data derived from mechanical fatigue tests on the same material as in the pipe specimens. Good predictions were made using a strain-life endurance curve at a temperature corresponding to the average temperature of the metal surface during the thermal cycle. Crack growth predictions were based on an inelastic finite-element model accounting for cyclic hardening, and an enhanced R5 procedure (1) with crack closure taken into account. A linear elastic fracture mechanics definition of a Paris law for crack growth was used, and plastic redistribution effects were included. Predictions were good for all of the experimental scenarios carried out. A further experimental and analytical programme is in hand using the same experimental arrangements, concerning variable amplitude thermal loading.
Sponsorship	Pressure Vessels and Piping
Starting Page	557
Ending Page	566
Page Count	10
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9780791843666
DOI	10.1115/PVP2009-77986
e-ISBN	9780791838549
Volume Number	Volume 3: Design and Analysis
Conference Proceedings	ASME 2009 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference
Language	English
Publisher Date	2009-07-26
Publisher Place	Prague, Czech Republic
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Water Cycles Temperature Fatigue testing Fracture mechanics Accounting Clearances (engineering) Fatigue Fracture (materials) Welded joints Hardening Finite element model Metal surfaces Stainless steel Fluctuations (physics) Safety Pipes Fatigue cracks Failure mechanisms
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in