Experiments and calculations on crack opening and leak rate of a pipe branch within the HDR-Program

In this paper experiments and calculations on crack opening and leak rates of a pipe branch are presented. The pipe branch has an artificial through-crack located in the weldment between nozzle and the larger pipe. A superposition of internal pressure and bending load is considered. The experiment was part of a series of experiments on straight pipes, branches and elbows, which were performed at the HDR-facility at Karlstein/Germany. For the pipe branch under consideration experimental and numerical results and comparisons between both are presented.