Designing against low-cycle fatigue at elevated temperature

Factors that are important in determining low-cycle fatigue damage at elevated temperature are discussed. The linear damage rule for computing creep-fatigue damage is shown to be unsatisfactory in many situations. The damage-rate equations developed at Argonne National Laboratory have been generalized to include multiaxial creep-fatigue under complicated loading histories. Available creep-fatigue data under combined axial-torsion loading can be explained in a consistent manner by the damage-rate approach.     

Cumulative damage fatigue tests on nuclear reactor Zircaloy-2 fuel tubes at room temperature and 300°C

Cumulative damage fatigue tests were conducted on the Zircaloy-2 fuel tubes at room temperature and 300°C on the modified Moore type, four-point-loaded, deflection-controlled, rotating bending fatigue testing machine. The cumulative cycle ratio at fracture for the Zircaloy-2 fuel tubes was found to depend on the sequence of loading, stress history, number of cycles of application of the pre-stress and the test temperature. A Hi-Lo type fatigue loading was found to be very much damaging at room temperature and this feature was not observed in the tests at 300°C. Results indicate significant differences in damage interaction and damage propagation under cumulative damage tests at room temperature and at 300°C. Block-loading fatigue tests are suggested as the best method to determine the life-time of Zircaloy-2 fuel tubes under random fatigue loading during their service in the reactor.     

Effect of nonproportional loading on creep-fatigue properties of 304 stainless steel at low strain ranges near the elastic region

The effect of nonproportional strain path on fatigue/creep-fatigue properties was investigated with 304 stainless steel at 550°C under strain controlled biaxial conditions. The fatigue/creep-fatigue life reduction due to nonproportional strain path occurred even at the lowest strain range investigated, that is, 0.2% for fatigue loading and 0.3% for creep-fatigue loading. The Mises-type path-dependent equivalent strain range was employed in order to evaluate the fatigue/creep-fatigue strength under nonproportional loading conditions. Stress relaxation behavior under nonproportional loading was examined. It was shown that stress relaxes proportionally toward the origin of stress plane even under nonproportional loading. Fatigue damage and creep damage were calculated based on the linear damage summation rule. Life prediction was shown to be possible within an accuracy of a factor of about 2 for nonproportional loading along with other waveforms including pure axial loading, pure torsional loading and combined proportional loading.     

Creep-fatigue damage assessment by subsequent fatigue straining

A series of creep-fatigue tests has been conducted with modified 9Cr-1Mo steel at 873 K in a high vacuum environment of 0.1 mPa. In order to investigate the accumulation of creep-fatigue damage, the creep-fatigue test programme includes changes in strain waveform during the test: from creep-fatigue type to fatigue type and from fatigue type to creep-fatigue type. The conventional linear cumulative damage rule for fatigue and/or creep-fatigue damage fails in evaluating the creep-fatigue life under the present complicated strain wave history. The linear summation of the life fraction is smaller than unity when the prior loading is creep-fatigue type and larger than unity when the prior loading is fatigue type. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation of the fracture surface was also conducted. In the case where the strain waveform changes from prior creep-fatigue type to subsequent fatigue type, the crack mode changes from transgranular to intergranular with an increase in the prior creep-fatigue loading history. In the case where the strain waveform changes from prior fatigue type to subsequent creep-fatigue type, the primary crack mode is generally intergranular regardless of the prior fatigue loading history.     

Investigation on the Fatigue Characteristic in Support Structure of HL-2M Tokamak

In order to obtain enhanced plasma parameters a complete new tokamak HL-2M is now under construction in Southwestern Institute of Physics. To assure the structural safety of the device for the entire operation cycle, one of the most important issues is the lifetime-limiting effects due to the pulsed operation mode. Fatigue is one of the major failure modes to be considered in mechanical design, and pulsed operation imposes stress with significant alternating components on the support structure （SS）. Therefore, the reliability of the whole device is strongly affected by the stress and fatigue characteristic of the SS as the interface structure. This article introduces the SS design and details the fatigue life calculation methods based on the different characteristics of the sub-structures. The fatigue life in hazardous areas of the toroidal field coils anti-torque structure （TFCs-ATs） has been determined by non-linear analysis results. And with the stress- time history data of the vacuum vessel ＆ poloidal field coils support structure （VV＆PFCs SS）, the fatigue analysis of the hot spots has been completed based on rain-flow counting method and linear cumulative damage method. The calculated minimum fatigue life on TFCs-ATs and VVSzPFCs SS is 4.743E＋05 and 1.805E＋06 cycles, respectively. And the calculated fatigue life on sub-structures can meet the required life for HL-2M tokamak： 1.0E＋05 cycles.     

Crack arrest in high cycle thermal fatigue crazing

Thermal crazing in high cycle thermal fatigue due to thermal fluctuation in residual heat removal (RHR) system of some nuclear power plants is explained by crack arrest in the depth due to a decreasing stress intensity factor. This is related to high frequencies of thermal loading. An attempt has been made through a parametric study to acquire some knowledge about the loading, knowing the crack depth. For this purpose, analytical as well as finite element simulations of crack propagation in 2D- and 3D-semi-elliptical cracks have been performed. In periodic loading, bounds for the number of cycles to fatigue life are proposed. Moreover, it is shown that in the absence of mean stress, fatigue damage in RHR may be produced in the macroscopic elastic-plastic regime. Finally, it is shown by FE simulations that for a semi-elliptical crack, a small error on stress intensity factor may result in significant error on crack length at high number of cycles, due to error accumulation cycle by cycle. Moreover in this paper is given the reason as to why shielding effect has not been taken into account in the study of crack arrest in RHR.     

Statistics of cumulative damage parameters based on hysteretic energy dissipated

The statistics of hysteretic energy dissipated by nonlinear-hysteretic oscillators under random dynamic loading are discussed. It is observed that the first two moments (mean and variance) of the hysteretic energy dissipated behave in the same manner as the corresponding statistics of cumulative damage parameters based on linear damage accumulation. The paper also discusses how the hysteretic energy dissipated per loading cycle or some appropriate functions of it may be used as a measure of cumulative damage for some non-deteriorating and deteriorating structural components. Then, statistics of cumulative damage parameters based on the hysteretic energy dissipated per loading cycle are computed using random vibration analysis.     

不锈钢管道焊缝金属240℃循环变形行为的试验研究

基于增量步和成组法低周疲劳试验,研究了1Cr18Ni9Ti不锈钢管道焊缝金属在240℃下的循环变形行为。结果表明,材料为循环软化材料,具有轻微Non-masing行为特征。相同总应变范围的循环应力、应变（CSS）行为存在很大分散性,意味着任何外载,即使恒幅载荷也将导入一个随机应变载荷史,现有确定性方法可能导致偏于危险的设计分析,有必要引入概率方法表征材料的循环变形行为。基于验证的应力幅统计分布－正态分布,建议了概率Ramberg-Osgood CSS曲线的描述方法。文中试验结果分析验证了方法的有效性。     

1Cr18Ni9Ti焊缝的物理疲劳短裂纹扩展实验

应用复型技术研究了1Cr18Ni9Ti管道焊缝金属的物理疲劳短裂纹行为。结果表明,依照“有效短裂纹准则”,在物理短裂纹（PSC）阶段,主导有效短裂纹（DESFC）扩展和有效短裂纹（ESFCs）的扩展及合并对疲劳损伤做出直接贡献,在DESFC裂尖前沿区域的ESFCs密度通过影响DESFC扩展,对疲劳损伤做出问接贡献。DESFC受到减弱的微观结构条件影响,逐渐演化为单条长裂纹扩展行为。ESFCs密度在微观结构短裂纹（MSC）阶段反映DESFC萌生区域、在PSC阶段反映其裂尖前沿的微观结构扩展条件,其统计演化特征与DESFC扩展率的统计演化特征一致。这说明了这一微观结构扩展条件的差异和演化,是随机疲劳性能与演化特性的本质原因。疲劳损伤是一个由初始混沌状态演化到MSC与PSC两阶段交界处独立无关的随机状态,然后到史相关随机状态的过程。     

Multiaxial creep-fatigue damage

This paper presents an alternative method for extending the various methods of creep-fatigue damage assessment from the uniaxial to general multiaxial regimes. Specifically, the method gives a procedure for determining a reasonable strain range in multiaxial situations where loading may not be proportional. In determining this strain range, factors which influence crack initiation and growth, such as the plane of maximum sheer strain range and the strain normal to that plane, are considered.     

A unified time dependent model for low cycle fatigue and ratchetting failure based on microcrack growth

In this paper, a unified time dependent model for low cycle fatigue and ratchetting failure has been developed based on the microcrack growth. The model utilized fracture mechanics theory using J-integral under creep–fatigue loading and assumed that the microcrack propagation determines the failure life. The microcrack rates are separated into three parts: (1) the time independent fatigue crack growth, (2) the time dependent fatigue crack growth and (3) the time dependent ratchetting crack growth. The cyclic failure criteria under different loading conditions were derived from the microcrack growth. Some simplified models were obtained and they can characterize the time dependent low cycle and ratchetting failure lives with hold time and loading frequency effects.     

BWR fuel reloads design using a Tabu search technique

We have developed a system to design optimized boiling water reactor fuel reloads. This system is based on the Tabu Search technique along with the heuristic rules of Control Cell Core and Low Leakage. These heuristic rules are a common practice in fuel management to maximize fuel assembly utilization and minimize core vessel damage, respectively. The system uses the 3-D simulator code CM-PRESTO and it has as objective function to maximize the cycle length while satisfying the operational thermal limits and cold shutdown constraints. In the system tabu search ideas such as random dynamic tabu tenure, and frequency-based memory are used. To test this system an optimized boiling water reactor cycle was designed and compared against an actual operating cycle. Numerical experiments show an improved energy cycle compared with the loading patterns generated by engineer expertise and genetic algorithms.     

Development of thermal fatigue damage in 1CrMoV rotor steel

Crack initiation endurances have been determined for a 1CrMoV rotor steel in uniaxial service cycle thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) tests formulated to simulate a range of steam turbine start cycles with a maximum temperature of 565 °C. The experimental details for these TMF tests are described.Post test inspection has been employed to characterise the associated thermal fatigue damage mechanisms for the steel which are observed to be dependent on the magnitude of the thermal transient in the TMF cycle.The lowest resistance to thermal fatigue damage development occurs in these tests when the conditions determine that the rate of creep damage accumulation below the surface exceeds the rate of fatigue crack development at the surface.     

Experimental study on uniaxial and nonproportionally multiaxial ratcheting of SS304 stainless steel at room and high temperatures

An experimental study was achieved for the cyclic properties of SS304 stainless steel subjected to uniaxial strain-controlled, uniaxial and nonproportionally multiaxial stress-controlled cyclic loading at room and high temperatures. The effects of cyclic strain amplitude, mean strain, temperature and their histories on the cyclic deformation behavior of the material were investigated under the uniaxial strain-controlled cyclic loading. The uniaxial and nonproportionally multiaxial ratcheting was researched under the asymmetrical stress-controlled cyclic loading with variable stress amplitudes, mean stresses, loading paths and their histories at room and high temperatures. It is shown that the uniaxial cyclic properties under strain-controlled cyclic loading and the ratcheting under asymmetric uniaxial and nonproportionally multiaxial stress-controlled cyclic loading depend not only on the current temperature and loading state, but also greatly on the previous loading history and the shape of loading path. The material presents much greater cyclic hardening and less ratcheting in the range of 400–600 °C than at room temperature, due to the strong dynamic strain aging taken place in this temperature range. Some significant results were obtained for the constitutive modeling of cyclic plastic deformation such as ratcheting.     

Advances in the analysis of prestressed concrete pressure vessels

The paper describes recent developments in the structural analysis of prestressed concrete pressure vessels with particular reference to work carried out by the Central Electricity Generating Board's Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories.

Since the first concrete pressure vessels were designed, considerable advances have been made in the fields of elastic and thermal analysis. The paper shows typical applications of the finite element method to concrete vessels, and discusses the correlation obtained with both site and experimental measurements.

Creep in concrete has been shown to be of importance due to the stress reversals which can occur on cooling. Correlations are shown between strain predictions and site measurements over the first five years of the life of the Oldbury vessels. The time increment type of creep analysis is shown to be valuable in the examination of detail problems. For example, the effect of standpipe reinforcement on the creep behaviour of a top cap has been assessed. Such methods are however, expensive in computer time for the examination of a full non symmetrical vessel geometry. The paper shows how viscoelastic collocation, and other techniques can be used to study creep behaviour with a minimum of computation.

Finally, some criterion is required for assessment of the multiaxial stress states calculated by these advanced computer methods. A simple graphical method is shown, based on experimental results, which allows the rapid assessment of the acceptability of a multiaxial compressive stress state in concrete.     

Statistical evaluation of low cycle loading curves parameters for structural materials by mechanical characteristics

About 300 welded joint materials that are used in nuclear power energy were tested under monotonous tension and low cycle loading in Kaunas University of Technology together with St. Peterburg Central Research Institute of Structural Materials in 1970–2000. The main mechanical, low cycle loading and fracture characteristics of base metals, weld metals and some heat-affected zones of welded joints metals were determined during these experiments. Analytical dependences of low cycle fatigue parameters on mechanical characteristics of structural materials were proposed on the basis of a large number of experimental data, obtained by the same methods and testing equipment. When these dependences are used, expensive low cycle fatigue tests may be omitted and it is possible to compute low cycle loading curves parameters and lifetime for structural materials according to the main mechanical characteristics given in technical manuals. Dependences of low cycle loading curves parameters on mechanical characteristics for several groups of structural materials used in Russian nuclear power energy are obtained by statistical methods and proposed in this paper.     

Multiaxial creep–fatigue rules

Within the UK, a comprehensive procedure, called R5, is used to assess the high temperature response of structures. One part of R5 deals with creep–fatigue initiation, and in this paper we describe developments in this part of R5 to cover multiaxial stress states.To assess creep–fatigue, damage is written as the linear sum of fatigue and creep components. Fatigue is assessed using Miner's law with the total endurance split into initiation and growth cycles. Initiation is assessed by entering the curve of initiation cycles vs. strain range using a Tresca equivalent strain range. Growth is assessed by entering the curve of growth cycles vs. strain range using a Rankine equivalent strain range. The number of allowable cycles is obtained by summing the initiation and growth cycles. In this way the problem of defining an equivalent strain range applicable over a range of endurance is avoided.Creep damage is calculated using ductility exhaustion methods. In this paper we address two aspects: first, the effect of multiaxial stress on creep ductility; secondly, the nature of stress relaxation and, hence, accumulated creep strain in multiaxial stress fields.