Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : September 03, 2017 - September 06, 2017
In nuclear power plants, the structural components that are in contact with coolant are susceptible to thermal loads due to the change in the fluid temperature. If the heating and cooling processes are repeated, the structure will endure thermal fatigue that may lead to failure. Thermal stratification is one of the main loads that can lead to high cycle thermal fatigue damage. The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) has published the evaluation guideline for high cycle thermal fatigue. It treats branch pipe due to thermal stratification, however, it does not contain an analysis method for stress evaluation. This study was aimed at evaluating the thermal stress generation under local temperature fluctuation by thermal stratification at an elbow pipe in a nuclear power plant. A Finite Element Analyses was adopted to study the thermal stress characteristics and their mechanics. In addition, the results were compared with an analytical approach based on a frequency response function.
