Accepted Manuscript

Ultimate bearing capacity analysis of a reactor pressure vessel

subjected to pressurized thermal shock with XFEM

Xin Sun, Guozhong Chai, Yumei Bao

PII: S1350-6307(16)30132-7
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2017.06.015
Reference: EFA 3180
To appear in: Engineering Failure Analysis
Received date: 1 April 2016
Revised date: 11 May 2017
Accepted date: 1 June 2017

Please cite this article as: Xin Sun, Guozhong Chai, Yumei Bao , Ultimate bearing capacity
analysis of a reactor pressure vessel subjected to pressurized thermal shock with XFEM,
Engineering Failure Analysis (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.engfailanal.2017.06.015

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Ultimate bearing capacity analysis of a reactor pressure vessel

subjected to pressurized thermal shock with XFEM
Xin Sun, Guozhong Chai*, Yumei Bao
Key Laboratory of E&M (Zhejiang University of Technology), Ministry of Education & Zhejiang
Province, Hangzhou 310014, PR China
Corresponding author’s email: 371228520@qq.com; Tel: +86 571 88320211

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The first author's email: 1049087232@qq.com

Abstract

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Under pressurized thermal shock (PTS), the structure integrity of reactor pressure vessel
(RPV) meets a potential challenge. The vicinity of inlet nozzle is the weak link and hazardous area

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of the vessel. Once crack initiation occurs here, the stress concentration around the crack tip
would lead to plastic deformation, crack propagation, and even the failure of the whole structure.
Based on ABAQUS, the beltline region around the inlet nozzle was modeled to calculate the
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response of the transient temperature field and stress strain field. In order to demonstrate the
ultimate bearing capacity of the RPV with the critical crack sizes, the dynamic process of crack
propagation was simulated with the XFEM. Through the quantitative analysis of the Mises stress
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and circumferential stress through the wall thickness, the crack propagation paths in different
directions were confirmed. The above analysis and calculation provide an important reference for
the safety and reliability assessment of RPV.
Keywords: ultimate bearing capacity; RPV; pressurized thermal shock; XFEM.
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1. Introduction
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The most serious incident in a nuclear power plant is the catastrophic accident of reactor
pressure vessel (RPV), which leads to the release and leakage of a large number of radioactive
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substances. The accurate and reliable design can protect the safety of RPV, but the improper
design or poor operation could bring the potential threats to the safe operation of reactors, and
even result in disastrous consequences. Considering, the safety testing of RPV under working
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conditions is very difficult and dangerous. Therefore, the integrity assessment of the RPVs in
service is a very important subject [1].
In the loss of coolant accident (LOCA), the inner surface of RPV is subjected to pressurized
thermal shock (PTS). Under the combined action of the internal pressure and the thermal stress
produced by cooling water, a higher stress is generated around the inlet nozzle [2]. On the other
hand, when the nuclear power plant runs to the end of its life, the internal neutron irradiation has a
brittle effect , which leads to the decrease of the toughness of the material [3]. If there is a defect
in the inner surface of the RPV, it would propagate rapidly and even through the wall thickness.
So the safety of RPV would undergo a great challenge, and it is necessary to analyze the structural
integrity of RPV under the PTS.
The methods for evaluating the defects of RPV include deterministic fracture mechanics
analysis and probability fracture mechanics analysis [4]. In deterministic fracture mechanics
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analysis[5,6], the temperature and stress distributions through the vessel wall are obtained
according to the internal pressure and the PTS transient under different working conditions. By the
manufacturing process and nondestructive detection, the shape, size and location of defect are
characterized. Based on the stress distribution along the wall thickness, the stress intensity factor
at the crack tip is calculated by the finite element method or engineering calculation method. Also,
the fracture toughness of material is estimated according to the information of the crack tip
temperature, material composition and neutron fluence. And then, the stress intensity factor is
compared with the fracture toughness of material to evaluate the structural integrity of RPV.
In the integrity assessment of the RPV with defect, the structural failure may occur even if
the requirement of the deterministic analysis is satisfied. Based on the deterministic fracture

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mechanics method, probability fracture mechanics analysis is used to describe the uncertain
factors of the parameters, including crack size, fracture property data, the ductile-brittle transition

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temperature, etc. The number of random variables is generated using the Monte Carlo method on
the basis of the random distribution of the parameters, and then the performance function is

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established according to the fracture mechanics assessment criteria. Finally, the failure probability
can be obtained by statistic calculation of the reliability data. In recent years, people have used
probability fracture mechanics method to develop a lot of computer codes, such as PASCAL [7],
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FAVOR [8]. This method has been widely used for the structural integrity analysis of RPV [9-10].
The current two methods are confined to the study of static fracture problems, and most of
them are based on the assumption of linear elasticity, which will generate certain limitation. In this
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paper, A 3-D finite element model with temperature-related material was adopted to calculate the
transient thermo-mechanical combined field. By indirect coupling method, the impact of
temperature load on the failure of the RPV structure was analyzed. According to the elastic-plastic
stress and strain field around the inlet nozzle, the initiation position the crack of mode I was
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pointed out. By analyzing the ultimate bearing capacity of the RPV with the critical crack sizes
under the extreme PTS, the laws of crack propagation were found.
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2. General description of the XFEM

Compared with the traditionalfinite element method, the extended finite element method
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(XFEM) [11,12] is used to deal with the problem of crack propagation. The stress singularity near
the crack tip is expressed by the asymptotic function, and the displacement jump at the crack
surface is described by the discontinuous function. The integral displacement function is defined
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as [13]

 
u x    N i x ui   N j x  H x   H x j  a j   N k x  x    xk bk
nc ns nt
(1)
i 1 j 1 k 1

Where, nc , ns and nt respectively represent the number of regular nodes, the number of

reinforced nodes and the number of crack-tip nodes; N i  x  , N j x  , and N k x  is the node

shape function; ui is the node displacement vector; a j and b k is the node enriched variables;
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H  x  is the Heaviside function across the crack surface;    x  the asymptotic function at

crack tip.

The discontinuous jump function H  x  is expressed as

1 if (x - x  )  n  0
H x    (2)
 1 otherwise

Where x is the sample point, x  is the closest point to x , and n is the unit outward normal

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vector.

For isotropic materials , the asymptotic function    x  can be given as [14]

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    
 r ,    r sin , r cos , r sin  sin , r sin  cos  (3)

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 2 2 2 2

  , ,  
r    , ,     , ,   , and   arctan
2 2
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(4)
  , ,  

Where r ,   is the polar coordinate system established at the crack tip. r is used to simulate
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the singular stress field near the crack tip.  ,  , and  are all isoparametric element local
coordinates.

The asymptotic function  r ,   is not only applicable for the modeling of the elastic
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material, but also can be used for the elastic plastic material. The form of the asymptotic function
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is related to the crack location and the degree of deformation for the nonlinear material.
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For three-dimensional hexahedral element, the displacement field u( ) is approximated by

the displacement function u h ( ) , which is showed as

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np
u h ( )   N i ( )ui  aT p( ) (5)
i 1
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Where np is the number of interpolation points; a T is the coefficient matrix for the dimension

of 3  n p ; p( ) is the polynomial basis array; Ni is the shape function matrix.

For the hexahedral element with 8 nodes, the polynomial basis is

p( )  1,  , ,  ,  , ,  ,  T (6)

By point interpolation, the displacement function can be expressed by the following relation

u h ( )  aT p( )  U T q 1 p  (7)

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 1  1  1 
  i 8 
 1  
 1  i  8 
  u1  ui  u8 
 i  8 
, U  v1  vi  v8 

Where q   1 T
(8)
 11   ii  88   
  w1  wi  w8 
 1 1   i i  8 8 
   i i   88 
 1 1 
11 1   ii i  88 8 

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From formula (5) ~ (8), the element shape function is written as

Ni 
1
1  i 1  i 1   i  (9)

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Similarly, by introducing some special basis functions, the displacement field of hexahedron

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element with arbitrary nodes can be obtained.

3. Analysis model
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3.1. Finite element model
The inside of the nuclear reactor vessel is considered to be under pressure and thermal shock,
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and the outer surface is assumed to be adiabatic. Fig. 1 shows a simplified physical model with a
postulated crack. In order to evaluate the integrity of the RPV structure, the elastic–plastic analysis
was carried out by the finite element analysis software ABAQUS v 6.13 [15]. The main pump
nozzle is the weak link of the RPV, so beltline region around the nozzle was selected and only half
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of it was modeled due to the symmetry of the structure. Fig. 2 shows the boundary conditions and
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finite element mesh of the semi-structure. The inner diameter of the vessel is 3988mm, the wall
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thickness is 200mm, and the nozzle diameter is 800mm. The normal constraint is applied to the
symmetry surface. The bottom of the model is constrained to limit the displacement of the rigid
body, and the upper part is made in a free state.
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In order to deal with the coupling of the thermo-mechanicall field, the element type of
C3D8R was used in the stress analysis, and DC3D8 element was selected in the thermal analysis.
From the inlet nozzle, the cooling water flows through the inner wall of the downcomer and
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produce a high temperature stress. Thus, the mesh is refined around the inlet nozzle, and the size
of the adjacent elements is 1/10 of the wall thickness of the vessel. The mesh in the transition
region is made rough to improve the computational efficiency. The number of the whole elements
is 30830 and the number of nodes reaches 58378.
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Fig. 1. The physical model of a real RPV with an inner surface crack.
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Fig. 2. Load, boundary conditions and finite element mesh of the half RPV.

3.2. Damage model

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From the microscopic view, when the traction force between the material molecules is not
enough to maintain the integrity of material, the interface is separated, and then the macro crack
occurs. The separation at the material interface satisfies the classical linear and nonlinear traction
separation theorem. With the gradual expansion of the interface gap, the value of the acting force
between the interfaces is becoming smaller and smaller. When the interfacial force is reduced to
zero, the interface is completely separated, and the material is broken.
In the simulation of degradation and final failure, the adhesive damage model is used. The
failure mechanism includes damage initiation criteria and evolution law [16,17]. Damage
initiation criteria is the basis for judging whether a crack reaches the growth condition. Here, the
maximum principal stress criterion is used. When the external power meets the crack evolution

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law, crack propagation will occur. The ability against crack propagation is tested by the critical
equivalent energy release rate, which can be calculate by the B-K law [18]. As the damage of steel

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is ductile fracture, the tensile strength is taken as the maximum principal stress. Based on the
plastic failure criterion, the exponential softening model is used to simulate the damage evolution.

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4. Material properties and reference transient NU
4.1. Material property
As cladding is not the main bearing part of the RPV, it has not been considered. The main
material is made of A508 Class 3 steel [19,20]. A508 Class 3 steel has many advantages such as
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good high temperature performance, excellent impact toughness at low temperature, high
hardenability and enhanced resistance to corrosion and neutron irradiation. So it has been widely
used for nuclear reactor materials since 1970s. Table 1 shows the mechanical and physical
properties of the material. The stress–strain curves at different temperatures are listed in Table 2.
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In the service process of nuclear power plant, the fracture toughness of material is decreased
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due to the fast neutron irradiation. Conservatively considering, the inner surface of the RPV is
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subjected to a neutron fluence of 5 1019 n / cm2 at the end of life. According to the ASME-Ш

and 10 CFR 50.61 [21,22], the fracture toughness K IC , the crack-arrest fracture toughness K Ia
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and the reference temperature RTNDT are expressed as

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K IC  36.5  22.78 exp 0.036T - RTNDT 


K Ia  29.45  13.68 exp 0.0261T - RTNDT 
(10)

RTNDT  RTNDTO  M  RTNDT (11)

Where, RT NDTO is the reference temperature without irradiation, M is the average margin,

and RTNDT is the correction value of RTNDT .

According to RG 1.99 Rev. 2 [23], the calculated reference temperature RTNDT  18 °C.

Then Eq. (10) can be simplified by

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K IC  36.5  11.921e0.036T

 (12)
K Ia  29.45  8.55e0.0261T

Table. 1. Material properties of A508 Class 3 steel

Thermal
Coefficient of
Temperature Young modulus Poisson’s conductivity Density Yield stress
thermal expansion
(°C) (GPa) ratio (W/(m°C)) (103kg/m3) (MPa)
(10−6/°C)

20 204 54.6 10.9 588

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0.3 7.6
300 185 45.8 12.9 517

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Table. 2. Stress–strain curves of A508 Class 3 steel

Total strain 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09

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20°C 600 653 700 735 759 782 800 811 823
Stress l(MPa)
300°C 574 626 662 688 708 729 739 750 760
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4.2. Reference transient information
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In the loss of coolant accident (LOCA), the reactor core cooling system will be activated, that
is, the emergency cooling water is quickly poured into the downcomer. Tensile thermal stress is
generated in the inner surface of the downcomer due to the rapid cooling. Also, When the cooling
water touches the inner surface of the high temperature vessel, it is heated and absorbs a large
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amount of heat. The vaporization of the water makes the pressure in the vessel rapidly recovered.
The superposition effect of the repressure and temperature difference makes the inner wall of RPV
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in a rather high stress field.

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The reference PTS transient was selected from the CRP9 project of the IAEA [24]. It is
assumed that the outer surface of the vessel is adiabatic, and the initial stress-free temperature of
the whole model is 295°C. Table 3 presents the heat transfer coefficient between the cooling water
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and the inner surface of the vessel. The transient distributions of the internal pressure and water
temperature are shown in Fig. 3. Note that the pressure load suddenly increases to 16.8MPa at
7185s, so it could be the critical time of the PTS transient. After that, the thermal shock effect
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becomes weak, and the related stress is gradually decreased.

Table. 3. Heat transfer coefficient at the inner surface of the vessel

Temperature(°C) 37 48 49 59 69 96 106 115 152

Heat exchange
992 877 790 1147 602 710 1229 1057 1838
coefficient W/(m2 °C))

Temperature(°C) 206 251 261 268 276 279 287 295

Heat exchange
1581 4834 1757 6232 3453 1054 24696 24125
coefficient W/(m2 °C))
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Fig. 3. Pressure and cooling water temperature histories.

5. Results and discussion

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5.1. thermal analysis

In the heat conduction analysis, the initial temperature of the model is 295 degrees. Because
the inner wall of the downcomer and the water inlet pipe are subjected to the thermal shock of the
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cooling water, the level of the temperature field drops continuously. From Fig.3, The water
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temperature history can be seen. Fig.4 shows the temperature fields of the RPV at different
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transient times. In the transient process, there is always a high temperature gradient between the
water and the inner surface of the downcomer.
According to the change of the heat transfer coefficient and water temperature, The heat flux
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through the inner surface of the downcomer may be larger in the early stage of the thermal shock.
Fig. 5 shows the transient distribution of heat fluxs through the wall thickness of the downcomer.
From the inner surface to the outer surface, with the constant decrease of the thermal conductivity
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and temperature gradient, the heat flux is obviously decreased. It is taken into account that the
outer wall is adiabatic, so the corresponding heat flux is close to zero.
As a complex temperature field exists in the joint area between the inlet nozzle and the main
structure of the vessel, this could generate a high temperature stress. Next, the temperature field
will be introduced into the structure analysis of the RPV model.
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Fig. 4. Temperature evolution of the semi-structure at different transient times.
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Fig. 5. Heat flux distribution through the wall thickness of the downcomer at different transient times

5.2. Thermo-mechanical coupling analysis

The combined action of temperature and internal pressure could produce an extreme stress,
which makes the bearing capacity of the RPV under a severe challenge. Indirect coupling method
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is used in thermo-mechanical coupling analysis, and the result of temperature field is introduced
into the structural analysis of the RPV.

5.2.1. Without defect

In the first step of the thermal-mechanical coupling calculation, the RPV model without
defect was analyzed in order to localize the maximal stress. At the critical phase, the internal
pressure caused by the repressure is rapidly increased from 2.5MPa to 16.8MPa. And then, the
stress caused by thermo-mechanical coupling field is enough to cause the material to yield, even
local instability occurs. Fig. 6 shows the Mises stresses and equivalent plastic strain fields around
the inlet nozzle at 7185s. Along the axial direction, the position near the inlet nozzle generates a

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relatively high stress-strain field. Pressurized thermal shock is most likely to form an inner surface
crack of mode I below the nozzle.

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According to the location where crack is easy to be initiated, an element located at the bottom
of the nozzle was selected. For comparison, Fig. 7 plots the corresponding circumferential stress

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curves under two different conditions. In the event of the LOCA, With the decrease of internal
pressure (from 0s to 6015s), the circumferential stress caused by it is also reduced. However, the
thermal shock makes the total circumferential stress curve does not show a monotonic downward
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trend. From 1515s to 4695s, the stress increases obviously. It is noted that the maximum thermal
stress reaches 403MPa. This stress is equivalent to the maximum circumferential stress generated
by the single internal pressure of 12.1MPa at the initial temperature. From 7125 to 7185s, the
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rapid increase of the internal pressure makes the circumferential stress generate a mutation, and
crack initiation tends to occur.
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(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Von Mises stress and equivalent plastic strain distributions on the inner surface near the inlet nozzle at
7185s:(a)Mises stress, and (b) equivalent plastic strain.
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Fig. 7. Circumferential stress distribution for the element close to the bottom of the inlet nozzle from initial time to
7185s
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5.2.2. Crack growth process

Under the PTS, the stress distribution of the RPV without defect has been demonstrated.
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Using the XFEM, the fracture mechanics analysis of the RPV containing defects would be carried
out. The XFEM retains many advantages of the finite element method, and it introduces the crack
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tip jump function and asymptotic function. Crack propagation is no longer confined to the element
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boundary, and is also allowed to pass through the interior of element.

From 7125s~7185s, the internal pressure is rapidly increased to 16.8MPa, so it is the
hazardous phase to cause the failure of the structure. It is assumed that the inner crack with
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various sizes is located on the inlet nozzle at the initial time. The numerical results show that when
crack depth ratio a/t ≤ 0.1 or length ratio L/t ≤ 0.2 (refer to figure 1), the severe PTS can’t cause
crack extension. At 7185s, the distributions of the safety zone and failure zone obtained by the
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critical crack sizes are shown in Fig. 8. When a/t ≤ 0.4, the location of the transition zone is close
to the inner surface of the vessel. This reflects that the propagation of the axial long crack is easily
affected by the thermal shock from the inner wall of the downcomer. Whereas, the propagation of
the radial deep crack is very vulnerable to the thermal shock from the cooling water inlet pipe.
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Fig. 8. Critical crack size distribution at 7185s under the PTS

According to the critical crack sizes in Fig.8, One of the critical sizes (a/t=0.5，L/t =0.3) is
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arbitrarily chosen. Fig.9 shows the crack paths and Von Mises stress distributions under two
ultimate bearing states. As the water inlet pipe is not the the major part of the research, it is not
shown. In order to contrast, the circumferential stress distribution through the wall thickness on
the longitudinal symmetry plane (including the crack surface) is shown in fig.10. In the label, l
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denotes the axial distance away from the inlet nozzle.

In Fig.9 (b), the ultimate internal pressure reaches 46.9MPa, which is about three times of the
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extreme internal pressure under the PTS in Fig.9 (a). Because the thermal shock produces high
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temperature stress, the load-bearing capacity of the RPV is greatly reduced. In addition, the
temperature drop caused by the thermal shock makes the fracture toughness of material decreased,
especially near the inner wall. Once crack is extended to a certain extent, instability and damage
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are easy to occur.

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(a) (b)
Fig. 9. Crack paths and Von Mises stress distributions at different iterative steps:(a)under the PTS (from 7125s to
7185s), and (b) under single pressure (at initial time).
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In Fig.9 (a), when the iteration reaches the 48 step, the crack begins to propagate along the
axial direction. At the end of the iteration, the crack expands the size of two elements. When
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l=80mm, and the radial distance from the inner surface is 20~60mm, the peak circumferential
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stress appears (see Fig.10(a)). This locations are consistent with the extended crack tip positions in
Fig.9 (a).
In Figure 9 (b), under high temperature and high pressure conditions, the crack propagates
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along both the radial and axial directions. The initial high temperature field makes the material
maintain a high and uniform toughness. It can be observed, near the nozzle, the extent of the crack
propagation along the radial direction is deeper. Without the thermal shock, the bearing capacity is
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mainly affected by the disadvantages of structure itself. It can be verified that the xfem crack tip
locations are corresponding to the higher stress zones in Figure 10 (b).
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(a)
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(b)
Fig.10. Circumferential stress curves along the wall thickness on the longitudinal symmetry plane:(a)under the
PTS (at 7185s), and (b) under single pressure (at initial time).

6. Conclusions
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The transient temperature field and elastic plastic stress field of the RPV model were
analyzed. The dynamic crack propagation process was simulated using the XFEM. According to
the structural integrity analysis, the following conclusions can be drawn
(1) Under the thermal shock, temperature gradient and heat flow decrease significantly along the
wall thickness, until close to zero. During the PTS transient, the high stress and strain field around
the inlet nozzle is easy to form inner crack of mode I.
(2) For the RPV without defect, the circumferential stress increases with the unloading of internal
pressure during the intermediate stage of the PTS process. This is because the transient thermal
stress increases rapidly, and it contributes more to the total stress. Later on, the thermal stress
drops gradually.

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(3) During the PTS transient, the rapid increase of internal pressure produces an obvious stress
concentration at the XFEM crack tips, and the ultimate bearing capacity of the structure suffers a

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great challenge.
(4) The thermal shock from the inner wall of the downcomer has a great impact on the

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propagation of the axial long crack. Whereas, the propagation of the radial deep crack is easily
affected by the thermal shock from the water inlet pipe.
(5) Due to the temperature drop caused by the severe thermal shock, the toughness of material is
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reduced, which increases the possibility of the unstable crack propagation.
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Acknowledgements
This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No.51105339 and 51275471). Furthermore, the research team is grateful for the technical support
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of the Key Laboratory of Special Purpose Equipment and Advanced Processing Technology of
Ministry of Education.
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Highlights

1) Pressurized thermal shock has a great impact on the crack initiation

and propagation.

2) The XFEM was used to simulate the dynamic crack propagation

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around the inlet nozzle.

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3) The decrease of the fracture toughness caused by cooling is easy to

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cause the failure of material.
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