Study on fracture behaviour of through–wall cracked elbow under displacement control load

Abstract

This paper describes the fracture test and fracture analysis of a cracked pipe under displacement control load. In order to grasp the fracture behavior of the circumferential through-wall cracked pipe, which is important in evaluating the feasibility of leak before break (LBB) in sodium cooled reactor piping, a fracture test in case of a circumferential through-wall crack in the weld line between an elbow and a straight pipe was carried out. From this test, it was found that pipe fracture did not occur in the displacement control loading condition even if a large circumferential through-wall crack was assumed. The fracture analysis of the cracked pipe was carried out using Gurson’s parameters set based on the tensile test results of the same material as the tested pipe. The analytical results agreed well with the test results, and it was found that it will be possible to predict the fracture behavior of sodium cooled reactor piping.