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Stress intensities for nozzle cracks in reactor vessels

Six frozen-stress photoelastic tests are conducted to investigate the distribution of stress-intensity factor along a crack which occurred at the juncture of a pipe (nozzle) with a cylindrical pressure vessel

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Abstract

A series of six frozen stress photoelastic tests was conducted to investigate the distribution of stress-intensity factor (SIF) along a crack which occurred at the juncture of a pipe (nozzle) with a cylindrical pressure vessel. Typical photoelastic-fringe patterns are shown for slices which were taken mutually orthogonal to the flaw border and the flaw surface. A typical plot of normalized apparent SIF vs. square root of normalized distance from the crack tip is presented. The variation in SIF along the flaw border is given for all six different crack geometries and, also, the variation of SIF with varyinga/T is presented.

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Abbreviations

n, t, z :

local rectangular Cartesian coordinates along the flaw border (mm)

σ ij i,j i, j=n, z :

stress components in plane normal to the flaw surface and flaw border near crack tip (kPa)

σ ij ° i, j=n, z :

part of regular stress field near crack tip (kPa)

r, θ:

polar coordinates, measured from crack tip (mm, rad)

K I :

Mode I—stress-intensity factor (kPa-m1/2)

K II :

Mode II—stress-intensity factor (kPa-m1/2)

K Ap :

Mode I—apparent-stress-intensity factor [τ max (8 πr)1/2] (kPa-m1/2)

f :

material-fringe value (N/m)

t′ :

slice thickness (mm)

p :

internal pressure (kPa)

α:

angle of rotation from point of flaw intersection with vessel wall (deg)

α:

flaw depth at α=45 deg (mm)

T :

vessel-wall thickness at α=45 deg (mm)

a v :

flaw depth along vessel wall (mm)

a N :

flaw depth along nozzle wall (mm)

r z :

inside nominal radius of the nozzle (mm)

ν:

Poisson's ratio

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 24061, Blacksburg, VA

    C. W. Smith (Professor) & W. H. Peters (Assistant Professor)

  2. University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, IN

    M. Jolles (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. C. W. Smith
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  2. M. Jolles
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  3. W. H. Peters
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Additional information

Research performed by Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University under subcontract No. 7015 under contract W-7405-ENG-26 with Union Carbide Corporation.

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Smith, C.W., Jolles, M. & Peters, W.H. Stress intensities for nozzle cracks in reactor vessels. Experimental Mechanics 17, 449–454 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02324667

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