Corrosion under insulation (CUI) is an aging degradation issue in long-term service vessels and pipes made of carbon steel and low-alloy steel. One of the problems in managing CUI is an equivocal evaluation technique of thinning detected by inspection. A replacement period with more accuracy can be evaluated more appropriately by performing fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment in this equipment. It is important to verify the validity of the FFS assessment using actually corroded pipes in order to promote the spread of FFS assessment in the domestic industry. In the present paper, pipes with complicated metal-loss due to CUI that were used in a chemical plant are burst in burst tests. An estimated burst pressure, which is calculated based on the assessment of metal-loss and through finite element analysis (FEA) based on FFS assessment, is compared with experimentally obtained burst pressures in order to validate the integrity evaluation. The burst pressure is then estimated by FEA, in which the ductile fracture under the multiaxial stress condition is considered. The burst pressure estimated by FFS approximately matched the burst pressure obtained based on experimental results. Fitness-for-service is sufficiently valid for investigating the remaining strength or burst pressure of corroded pipe. In addition, the burst pressure estimated by FEA that considered the ductile fracture under the multiaxial stress condition agreed with the experimental results and is valid so long as the remaining strength factor (RSF) is less than 0.6.

Coke drums undergo cyclic operations typically in temperatures ranging from the ambient temperature to about 500°C. Generally, coke drums are fabricated from clad plates consisting of chromium-molybdenum low alloy steel as the base metal and ferritic stainless steel typically Type 410S stainless steel (TP.410S) as cladding material. TP.410S cladding material is used for protection against sulfide corrosion. Coke drums frequently display major cracking on the inside surface of their circumferential weld along the fusion line between restoration weld and the TP.410S cladding. Moreover, an array of cracks commonly referred to as “elephant skin” are typically observed proximity to the major cracks. These cracks have been reported by multiple papers, particularly in the API Technical Report 934-G, up to the present and primarily attributed to the thermal fatigue which occurs from the repeated thermal loads experienced during each operating cycle. When the existence of severe cracks is recognized, users are forced to schedule extensive repairs. The authors conducted fatigue tests employing coupons made from two kinds of cladding material, TP.410S and Alloy 625, which simulate the circumferential weld seam of coke drums. The paper summarizes the essential properties for the cladding material in order to delay cracking on the inside surface and proposes new common cladding materials which could be employed for coke drums based on test results.

The determination of stress intensity factors (SIF) and crack opening area or displacements (COA or COD) is important constituent when performing the “leak before break” analysis of piping systems in NPPs. The tabulated parametrical results of their calculation are widely presented in modern scientific and normative literature. Nevertheless, there is one aspect of crack behavior, at least in thin walled pipes, which still had not obtained its due attention. We mean here the geometrically nonlinear effect, which can be the big enough to be accounted for in practical applications. It is considered in geometrically linear analysis that only the inner pressure opens the crack, and COA and SIF are directly proportional to it. SIF is presented usually as solution for infinite plate multiplied by so-called bulging factor, BF, which depends on dimensionless crack length, i.e. ratio of crack length divided on square root of product of radius, R , and wall thickness, t . Two loading factors in thin walled pipes can contribute to geometrically nonlinear behavior. The first one is axial stresses induced by value of axial force or bending moment. The second one – is the inner pressure itself. The most attention in present paper is given to influence of the axial force. With this goal the numerical models were created for pipes with different ratios of R/t (20, 30, 40, 50) and different dimensionless crack length (2, 4, 6, 8). To exclude the nonlinearity due to circumferential stress the inner pressure is kept as a very small value and dimensionless SIF and COD values are calculated with respect to axial force. To prove the correctness of choosing the finite element types, meshing, number of elements along the thickness, loading steps the auxiliary problem of nonlinear modeling of transverse beam loaded additionally by very big axial force is considered. The very good correspondence was attained. For the pipe with axial crack the careful verification of numerical model was performed by comparison with linear results existing in literature. The results obtained are presented as a percentage of difference between the linear and nonlinear results. They show that influence of geometrical nonlinearity is fairly essential to be accounted in practice and can reach for practically real cases almost 3–10%. The change of SIF in percentages due to geometrical nonlinearity for different axial stress levels and for different crack lengths can be fairly well presented as unique dependence from product of stresses, radius to thickness ratio, and square root of dimensionless crack length. The change COD in central point of crack is slightly bigger than for SIF and the same unique dependence can be formulated for COD with only exception for small cracks λ < 3.

A number of large heavy wall reactors showed severe stress corrosion cracking in the high strength low alloy steel shells. The stress corrosion was mainly caused by the fact that no PWHT was performed which resulted in very high hardness of the Heat Affected Zone; this made the HAZ extremely sensitive for stress corrosion cracking in the feed water environment. The extent of the cracking was such that replacement of all reactors was unavoidable. The redesign and fabrication of the new reactors would take over a year. Fitness for Service methodologies were used keep the reactors running safely until the replacements were installed with minimized down time. This resulted in large economic benefits over several years. The paper covers the FFS assessments performed, the special NDT methods required to get the necessary crack size information at operating conditions as well as failure mode and repair options. It demonstrates an application and the benefits of Fitness for Service assessments on key equipment.

The flying of missile will severely jeopardize the structural integrity in control rod ejection accident. In order to analyze the strength of a new type of shielding plate under control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) missile impact, this article develops the simulation model and conducts the response analysis of the missile under 4 cases. In addition, the strain analysis and evaluation of protection shielding plate at the most dangerous case are performed. The motion analysis of CRDM missile indicates that the fracture at trapezoid thread place as well as the shielding plate rim under impact is most dangerous because the maximum kinetic energy of the impact can be obtained. So only this case should be examined when performing the evaluation of the shielding plate. Stress analysis shows the maximum stress intensity of the shielding plate will exceed the yielding stress and thereby local plasticity will occur. Strain analysis shows that compared with the extension ratio at structural failure, the computed strain still has margin to ensure the shielding plate will not be penetrated. Meanwhile the strain analysis of bolts which fix shielding plate are calculated. The strain level of two bolts are exceed limit and others is relatively low. The shield plate can be firmly fixed. Hence, this new type of the protection shielding plate is capable to prevent the damage of other components by the flying of CRDM missile.

Codified fitness for service methods such as API 579 or BS 7910 require consideration of residual stresses in fracture assessments, and guidance is given for upper bound residual stress distributions in common weld geometries. However, these distributions are not appropriate for some welding processes currently or historically used in the manufacture of linepipe, such as high frequency induction welding or flash butt welding. In addition, some linepipe manufacturing routes generate large plastic strains which result in high residual forming stresses, or mechanically relax residual stresses generated in earlier stages of production. This paper first reviews the code recommendations for the effects of plastic strains and stresses from high level pressure testing on residuals stresses. The paper then briefly describes the major methods of producing carbon steel linepipe and provides recommended residual stress levels for the seam weld and parent material of linepipe using the code recommendations. These are based on assumed uniform residual stresses combined with mechanical stress relaxation due to manufacturing steps such as cold expansion and hydrostatic testing. The recommendations are compared with measured residual stress levels from the open literature. Proposals are given for reduced residual stress levels when assessing axial cracks in carbon steel linepipe.

In Japan, the Design Fatigue Curve (DFC) Phase 1 and Phase 2 subcommittees were organized under the Atomic Energy Research Committee in the Japan Welding Engineering Society and have proposed new design fatigue curves for carbon, low-alloy, and austenitic stainless steels. To confirm the validity of the proposed design fatigue curves, a Japanese utility collaborative project was launched. In this project, fatigue tests were conducted on large-scale and small-sized specimens, and the test data were provided to the DFC Phase 2 subcommittee. This paper discusses the best-fit curves proposed by the DFC Phase 1 subcommittee, focusing on the results of large-scale fatigue tests for carbon steel and low-alloy steel plates. The fatigue test results for large-scale specimens were compared with the best-fit curve proposed by the DFC Phase 1 subcommittee. This comparison revealed that the fatigue lives given by the proposed curves correspond to those of approximately 1.5–4.0-mm-deep crack initiation in large-scale specimens. In this program, fatigue tests with a mean strain were also carried out on large-scale specimens. These tests found that the fatigue lives were almost equivalent to those of approximately 4.4–7.0-mm-deep crack initiation in large-scale specimens. In determining a design fatigue curve, strain-controlled tests are usually performed on small-sized specimens, and the fatigue life is then defined by the 25% load drop. It is reported that the cracks reach nearly 3–4-mm depth under those 25% drop cycles. The test results confirm that the fatigue lives of large-scale specimens agree with those given by the best-fit curve for carbon and low-alloy steels, and no remarkable size effects exist for the crack depths compared in this study.

Gray cast iron has been used as a component in various mechanical parts, such as the blocks and heads of automobile and marine engines, cylinder liners for internal combustion engines, and machine tool bases. It is desirable because of its good castability and machinability, damping characteristics, and high ratio of performance to cost. On the other hand, the weak graphite flakes present in gray cast iron act as stress concentrators and negatively affect the strength of this material. It is therefore important to know the relationship between the distribution of graphite flakes and the strength or fracture of gray cast iron. In this study, a tensile test of gray cast iron was carried out using a plate specimen in a scanning electron microscope, and the microscopic deformation was observed on the surface of specimen. Particularly, the change in the size of graphite flakes during the tensile test was examined, and the observed trend was discussed. We found from the experimental results that the dimensional changes in the graphite flakes varied in the observed area, and that the final fracture occurred in an area where a relatively large dimensional change was observed. This suggests that the fracture location or the critical parts of gray cast iron, can be predictable from the dimensional changes of the graphite flakes at an early stage of deformation.

Stress intensity factors (SIFs) are a major feature in regulatory analyses of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) components, as they allow to rule on the acceptability of defects when compared to a critical experimental value (K1c). Simplified and robust evaluations of SIFs have been provided in major regulations standards for cracks having usual geometries and locations in major components. However, their evaluations still require a significant effort in the case of important deviations of the geometry of cracks regarding the usual semi-elliptical shape, or in the case of specific geometries of components, and specific locations of cracks in components. In these cases, time-consuming Finite Element meshes must be constructed, either manually or using semi-automatical tools, to represent the components and its defect(s). This method can become particularly costly, especially in the case of fatigue crack propagation. The eXtended-Finite Elements Method (X-FEM) has been proposed to overcome this issue. The representation of the defect is carried out by the level-set method, and specific enrichment functions are used to represent the solution near the crack surface and the crack front. This paper proposes a benchmark of numerical predictions of stress intensity factors using SYSTUS software [5]. It will be based on: a) Available analytical solutions; b) Classical Finite Element method; c) EXtended-Finite Elements Method. The classical case of a circular and elliptical crack in a semiinfinite body is first presented. Then the case of a circumferential crack in a valve under a thermo-mechanical loading is analyzed. The accuracy of the different methods is then compared and discussed.

With the life extension of NPPs world-wide, new challenges have emerged in engineering calculations. These challenges often stem from the difficulty to demonstrate an adequate margin for some key components, which have gradually been ageing during the operation of the plant. In particular, the Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) is impacted by the irradiation, and the risk of brittle fracture under severe cold shocks must be assessed. Over the past decades, the RSE-M code [1], which is used in France and internationally for in-service inspection, has been developing methods using a conventional approach to brittle fracture. Analyses are typically performed either using tabulated indices to evaluate analytically the stress intensity factor, or using more advanced approaches which require more complex and time-consuming FEA calculations. Recently, the ongoing trend has been to rely on the latter to demonstrate an adequate margin on the RPV for potential operation beyond 40 years: the question today is whether these existing methods will still provide adequate margins after 50 or 60 years of operation. In parallel to the conventional approach, a significant amount work has been performed over the past 20 years in France to adapt the historic Griffith energy release-rate approach [2] to engineering space. The work was initiated by Francfort and Marigo [3] who set up a new elastic fracture theory, extended from the Griffith approach. Within EDF R&D, Lorentz et al. [4] and Wadier et al. [5] have then relied on some of their ideas and applied them to the easier case of the propagation onset of a preexisting crack along a given crack path. Several ingredients are involved in this reduced formulation: the application of an energy minimization principle, the definition of a specific damage model and the use of a notch to represent the crack. Among other advantages, the G p method has been developed as a true engineering approach, i.e. not relying on difficult and time-consuming models to set up. It is hence easy to implement in a FE software as a postprocessing of a mechanical calculation. The method has also been applied to various test cases and has shown the potential to increase margins. The drawbacks are that the method is likely restricted to 2D cases for practical reasons. The paper also provides an overview of the methods implemented in the EDF open source tool code_aster with a specific focus on the G p approach.

This paper presents a failure assessment diagram (FAD) and crack size based comparison of the ASME BVPC Section XI Nonmandatory Appendix C and Nonmandatory Appendix H and the British Standard BS 7910:2013 Option 1 assessment methods. The Section XI appendix C evaluates the acceptability of a flaw by determining the expected failure mechanism and by comparing the flaw size with allowable flaw size limits or by comparing the applied stress to the allowable stress. The Section XI appendix H and BS7910 employ a FAD based approach that simultaneously considers brittle fracture, ductile crack extension prior to reaching the limit load and exceedance of the limit load due to the gross plasticity in the cross section. The assessment is performed by calculating the assessment point coordinates and evaluating whether the point is located on the safe side of the FAD line. The three methods are compared for simplified austenitic and ferritic pipes under internal pressure and bending loads with postulated axial and circumferential internal surface flaws. The methods are applied to generate limiting flaw size diagrams for each component under the specified loads. Additionally, the limiting flaw size results are presented in the FAD plots. To maintain comparability between the results, identical input data are used with each analysis approach but using the method-specific formulae. The performed comparison shows that most often the limiting state is governed by the 75 % flaw depth rule in Section XI article IWB-3640. The largest differences between the methods are observed for cracks with a high length to depth ratio. The difference to the tabulated allowable planar flaws in Article IWB-3514 is typically high. When increasing the applied load to values approaching the limit load, differences in the limiting flaw sizes between the methods are observed, mostly due to the different limit load models and different assumptions on the utilization of the post-yield capacity. Besides the presented flaw size comparison, the paper presents a quick tool suitable for ranking different piping segments based on failure potential and for quick scoping evaluations of indications found in inspections. The case specific scoping tool is a map of yearly flaw size lines providing the information on which flaw sizes would grow to the final limiting size in a specified timeframe.

In Elastic-Plastic Fracture Mechanics, several J-estimation schemes are based on the reference stress approach. This approach has been developed initially for creep analyses and later on for elasto-plastic fracture assessments in 1984, then included in the R6 rule. Much later, other methods, based on the reference stress concept, were derived for 3D applications like the J s method introduced in the French RSE-M code in 1997 and the Enhanced Reference Stress (ERS) method in Korea around 2001. However, these developments are based on the J 2 deformation plasticity theory and well established for a pure power hardening law. J s and ERS schemes propose some corrections for recorded behavior laws which cannot be fitted by a power law. Nevertheless, their application to materials governed by a bilinear hardening law has been called into question by several studies. One of these, carried out by M. T. Kirk and R. H. Dodds [1, 2] is of great interest since addressing the practical case of a surface cracked plate.

The change in operation of conventional power plants — due to the increasing use of renewable energies — from a stationary to a more flexible operation, causes additional stresses to the components by a high amount of smaller load cycles. This fact results in a demand for validated new concepts to estimate fatigue life especially for welded joints which are the weak parts within the piping. Resulting from the measured stains during operation in the LCF regime, a non-linear fracture mechanics based concept was chosen. For the development and validation of the model, different experiment types are carried out using various types of specimens. To consider the influence of different microstructures within a welded component, specimens made of X6CrNiNb18-10 (AISI 347) with the microstructure found in the base material on the one side, and as found in the HAZ on the other side are used. To take the influence of a mechanical and microstructural notch into account, notched specimens of X6CrNiNb18-10 (AISI 347), and welded specimens made of X6CrNiNb18-10 (AISI 347, base material) and X5CrNiNb19-9 (weld material) are used. Experiments are performed with all types of specimens with an increasing complexity from constant amplitude loading to operational loading. The developed nonlinear fracture mechanics based lifetime model uses the effective cyclic J-Integral normalized to the crack length to replace crack growth calculation by a linear damage accumulation. To consider the loading history an algorithm for the calculation of crack opening and crack closure is used. The advantages of this approach are shown by a comparison with damage calculations based on the damage parameter by Smith, Watson and Topper and based solely on the strain ranges. The differences in the concepts will be highlighted and used for further considerations of how to advance the lifetime prediction model for variable amplitudes. The presented work gives an overview of the preliminary results of the current work on the AiF research project 18842 N ‘Extended damage concepts for thermomechanical loading under variable amplitudes and plastic deformation’.

The fracture toughness J c of a material in the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature region shows a test specimen thickness (TST) effect and temperature dependence, and apparently increases when a compressive residual stress is applied. Many models to explain these phenomena have been proposed that can also consider the large scatter of J c . On the contrary, the authors have focused on the mean J c and have demonstrated that the TST effect on J c and temperature dependence of J c are due to “the loss of the one-to-one correspondence between J and the crack-tip stress distribution” and that the “scaled” crack-tip stress distribution at fracture is independent of the TST effect on J c or temperature. The T-scaling method was proposed and validated for this purpose. In this study, the fracture prediction of a specimen with compressive residual stress was performed using the T-scaling method, and its validity was confirmed for high-strength steel of 780-MPa class and 0.45 % carbon steel JIS S45C.

Coke drums are massive pressure vessels used in the oil and gas industry, which are subjected to demanding cyclic thermomechanical loading. Such conditions generate severe plastic deformation that leads to bulging and cracking during service due to low-cycle fatigue. The cracks are often repaired in programed maintenance shutdowns, and the repair procedures can be significantly different depending on the organization and failure characteristics. In this work, two types of weld repairs are evaluated after six months of service: (1) a full-excavation crack weld repair, and (2) a partial-excavation crack weld overlay repair. The repair welds were executed on a 1.25Cr-0.5Mo steel coke drum after 20 years of service. This work evaluates the microstructure of the base material, the fabrication circumferential welds, and the weld repairs. The results show that, after prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures, the originally normalized and tempered heat-treated steel microstructure has undergone severe aging. Thermodynamic equilibrium and para-equilibrium calculations were used to determine the carbide formation sequence, and SEM analysis was used to characterize the carbides present on the as-fabricated and aged microstructures. Analysis of the repaired regions did not reveal new cracks.

Welding residual stress is one of the main concerns in the process of fabrication and operation because of failures in welded steel joints due to its potential effect on structural integrity. This work focuses on the effect of welding residual stress on the ductile crack growth behavior in AISI 316LN welded CT specimens. Two-dimensional plane strain model has been used to simulate the CT specimen. X-ray diffraction technique is used to obtain residual stress value at the SS 316LN weld joint. The GTN model has been employed to estimate the ductile crack growth behavior in the CT-specimen. Results show that residual stresses influence the ductile crack growth behavior. The effect of residual stress has also been investigated for cases with different initial void volume fraction, crack lengths.

A high pressure carbamate condenser (HPCC) is a shell and tube heat exchanger with low pressure steam/condensate on the shell side and high pressure carbamate solution on the tube side. The inlet channel of the exchanger is protected from the internal corrosive environment by means of an austenitic stainless steel liner. During the first internal inspection after commissioning, a bulge was observed in the liner where a pass partition plate is joined to the liner. Surface-breaking cracks were observed at the partition plate to liner welds in the bulged region. The cracks were removed by shallow grinding, but a fitness-for-service assessment was required to evaluate the suitability of the bulged liner for continued service. Due to the complexity of the geometry, a handheld 3D geometry scanner was used to accurately measure the deformed shape of the bulge. Using the measured geometry, a finite element model was developed and used to perform a level 3 fitness for service assessment. This paper will describe the assessment procedure in detail as well as the complex internal repairs that were ultimately implemented in order to restore the integrity of the equipment.

The fracture toughness K J c of the material in the ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) range exhibits both test specimen thickness (TST) dependence and temperature dependence. Attention has been paid to the master curve (MC) method, which provides an engineering approach to address these two issues. Although MC is intended to be applied to arbitrary ferritic material whose yield stress is within the range of 275 to 825 MPa, the K J c value must be obtained to determine the material dependent reference temperature T 0 . The applicable range of MC method is restricted to T 0 ± 50 °C. Previous studies indicate that additional pre-tests to obtain T 0 are necessary; thus, there might be some unwritten requirement to the test temperature for the K J c temperature dependence prediction in MC method to work effectively. If testing must be conducted for the material of interest at some restricted temperature, a more flexible K J c temperature dependence prediction can possibly be obtained for a wide temperature range in the DBTT range, if the simplified and direct scaling (SDS) method, which predicts fracture “load” from yield stress temperature dependence proposed previously is applied. In this study, the SDS method was applied to two different steels: Cr-Mo steel JIS SCM440 and 0.55% carbon steel JIS S55C. Both tensile and fracture toughness tests were performed over a wide range of temperatures, specifically, −166 to 100 °C for SCM440 and −166 to 20 °C for S55C. The SDS method (i.e., fracture load is proportional to 1/(yield stress)) was initially validated for the specimens in the DBTT range. Finally, a simplified method was proposed and initially validated to predict the K J c temperature dependence, by applying the SDS using the EPRI plastic J functional form.

Coke drums are thin-walled pressure vessels that experience low cycle fatigue due to thermal loadings. The delayed coking process is comprised by three major stages: heating, coking and cooling, which repeat at intervals between 20 and 48 hours. The cyclic changes of temperature increase the growth of bulges and cracks which with the passing of time, propagate and eventually cause failures due to the loss of containment. A better understanding of the phenomena of the thermal gradients and their influence on the generated stresses would reduce the effects of the damage mechanisms afflicting coke drums, for example; a continuous monitoring system could be implemented in order to control the cooling ramp to obtain a more homogeneous quenching around the cylinder of the coke drum and consequently increase its lifetime. It is been widely accepted that there is a relationship between high cooling rates in isolated zones and high axial stresses. However, this relationship has not been fully validated, since there are also been reported events of low cooling rates and high stresses. This study shows a predictable behavior (trend) that relates the spatial thermal gradients and the axial and circumferential stresses generated. A coke drum in an upgrader facility was instrumented with two arrays or grids, each of them having 24 thermocouples and 2 strain gauges in zones with distinct bulges. One arrangement was located at an inward bulge while the other was located at an outward bulge. Computational models were carried out to reproduce the behavior of the instrumented zones with their actual deformations obtained from laser scanning. Finite element models were developed using a sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical analysis to determine the transient temperature and stress distributions. The effect of the circumferential thermal gradients on the stress levels in the instrumented cylindrical sections were analyzed, considering two cases; the first of them a perfect cylinder (without deformation) and the second one considering the presence of bulges in the area of interest. The results indicate that there is a relationship between the circumferential thermal gradients [°C/m] or [°F/ft] and the axial stress levels, i.e., cold zones generate axial tensile stresses, and hot zones produce compressive axial stresses. This relationship is affected — exacerbated or counteracted — by the presence of the bulges. Additionally, the results obtained in this paper confirm those of previous investigations showing that outward bulges subject to pressure and thermal loading generate high stresses on its internal surface and low stresses on its external face whereas inward bulges produce the opposite effect.

For equipment designed to ASME or API standards, it is common practice to perform impact testing of base material and/or weldments to establish the Minimum Design Metal Temperature (MDMT). The impact test is typically a Charpy V-Notch (CVN) test and the test temperature is set equal to the MDMT. The required Charpy energy at MDMT can vary anywhere from 10 ft-lbs to 40 ft-lbs depending on material specification, thickness, and the ASME/API standard. The detailed historical background behind the Charpy energy requirements of different ASME/API standards is not well documented. Additionally, no credit is given for post weld heat treatment (PWHT) of impact tested materials. The CVN tests are used because they are quick and economical for quality control, but the tests only provide a relative indication of material toughness. Consequently, the current impact test requirements lead to inconsistent results in brittle fracture assessments, conducted through explicit fracture mechanics. In this paper, two examples are presented to highlight the inconsistencies of the current impact test requirements. A methodology of estimating MDMT for impact tested materials based on fracture mechanics, consistent with Welding Research Council (WRC) Bulletin 562 [1] is also presented. Furthermore, this methodology explicitly accounts for the effects of PWHT (and the influence of weld residual stress on crack driving force) for impact tested materials. A methodology of adjusting MDMT for in-service impact tested materials is also presented. In the interest of moving towards harmonizing the impact test requirements, an alternative procedure for establishing impact test requirements is presented for ASME/API consideration.