A study on probabilistic fracture mechanics for nuclear pressure vessels and piping

This paper describes some recent research activities on probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) for nuclear pressure vessels and piping (PV&P) performed by the RC111 research committee of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) under a subcontract of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). To establish standard procedures for evaluating failure probabilities of nuclear PV&P, we have set up the following three kinds of PFM round-robin problems on: (a) primary piping under normal operating conditions, (b) aged reactor pressure vessel (RPV) under normal and upset operating conditions, and (c) aged RPV under pressurised thermal shock (PTS) events. The basic problems of the last one are chosen from some US benchmark problems such as EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) and US NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) joint PTS benchmark problems. For the above round-robin problems, various sensitivity analyses are performed to quantify effects of uncertainty of data on failure probabilities. This paper summarizes some sensitivity studies on the above three kinds of problems mainly varying material properties such as flow stress, fracture toughness, fatigue crack growth rate, Cu content. Employed in this study are the PFM computer codes developed in Japan and USA. Failure probabilities of nuclear PV&P are quantitatively discussed in detail. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.