• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.1616-1629
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• 2023

To quantify the conservatism of existing ASME strain-based evaluation methods for seismic loading, this paper presents very low cycle fatigue test data of elbows under various cyclic loading conditions and comparison of evaluation results with experimental failure cycles. For strain-based evaluation methods, the method presented in ASME BPVC CC N-900 and Sec. VIII are used. Predicted failure cycles are compared with experimental failure cycle to quantify the conservatism of evaluation methods. All methods give very conservative failure cycles. The CC N-900 method is the most conservative and prediction results are only ~0.5% of experimental data. For Sec. VIII method, the use of the option using code tensile properties gives ~3% of experimental data, and the use of the material-specific reduction of area can reduce conservatism but still gives ~15% of experimental data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.9
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• pp.3764-3774
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• 2024

In accordance with Regulatory Guide 1.207, Rev.1, fatigue assessments must be conducted considering the influence of primary coolant environment in nuclear reactors. Environmental fatigue, resulting from corrosion in the primary coolant, is evaluated in air fatigue life assessments through the application of an environmental fatigue correction factor. This environmental fatigue correction factor depends on sulfur content, operating temperature, dissolved oxygen, and strain rate. It remains constant for sulfur content, operating temperature, and dissolved oxygen, while strain rate introduces potential errors based on the analysis method. The current fatigue evaluation procedure for air, following ASME B&PV Code Sec.III, NB-3200, employs elastic analysis with a simplified elastic-plastic correction factor(Ke). However, Ke factor is considered excessively conservative, prompting less conservative alternatives proposed by JSME, RCC-M, ASME Code Case N-779. This study applied both ASME Ke and JSME Ke for fatigue evaluations considering environmental effects. Additionally, fatigue assessments accounting for elastic-plastic effects were conducted using Neuber and Glinka methods, compared with actual experiments. The analysis systematically examined changes in fatigue life and the environmental fatigue correction factor due to plastic effects in environmental fatigue evaluations.