On the Simulation of Progressive Deformation in Nuclear Piping

Sammanfattning: In this thesis the performance of different constitutive models in ratchet simulation is investigated. Ratcheting is accumulated plastic strains which may occur when a structure is subjected to a constant load in combination with cyclic loading. In the assessment of nuclear class 1 pressure retaining component ratcheting is one of the three failure modes that are addressed and may limit the design life of nuclear pressurized components and piping systems.A steel structure subjected to a constant load in combination with cyclic loading into the plastic region undergoes a change of the material characteristics in several aspects. These cyclic material characteristics are complex and may vary for different load situations, load levels, temperatures and materials. In addition to this, the presence of a mean stress may also affect the material cyclic characteristics.In previous numerical investigations on ratcheting there has not been a sufficiently robust case of simulation. However, in most of these investigations, the simulation response is compared with ratcheting experiments which either are conducted under load levels which are not common for a nuclear pressurized component, the experimental specimen is not comparable with a pressurized component or only a few experimental tests have been conducted. Hence, it has not been settled which material characteristics need to be considered to accurately simulate ratcheting in a pressurized piping component under load levels common in a nuclear power plants. As a result of this, it is not obvious which types of constitutive material models is needed and how the model parameters should be calibrated in order to simulate ratcheting in a nuclear component accurately.As part of this thesis an extensive experimental program has been conducted on pressurized tube specimens. In total 30 test specimens made of two different materials, 316L and P235, have been manufactured and tested. In order to determine material properties, monotonic tensile load and internal pressure experiments have been performed. The remaining test specimens have been used for ratcheting experiments.The experimental results show ratcheting in the hoop direction when the tube is subjected to certain combinations of internal pressure and cyclic axial strains. The higher the pressure is and the larger the strain ranges are, the higher the ratcheting response becomes. In addition to this, also the cyclic hardening and softening behavior in the tubes axial direction and the direction of the incremental plastic strain tensor is investigated. The results show that the material cyclic hardening or softening behavior and direction of the plastic strain vector varies strongly depending on the level of primary and secondary loads.Measured ratcheting strains are compared to numerical simulations using different constitutive models. In this thesis the interrelated models of Prager, Armstrong-Frederick and Chaboche are investigated. In addition to these, the Besseling model is investigated. Among the constitutive models investigated, the Besseling multi-linear model shows by far the best agreement with the ratcheting experiments. The more advanced models are able to capture the material ratchetingbehavior, but overestimate the hoop strain in the tube tests.Investigation results also indicate that significant cyclic hardening material behavior influence the direction of the plastic stain vector and, hence, affect the accuracy of predicted results when disregarded. This effect is most apparent for the experiments subjected to high pressure and high deformation controlled loads. In the tests which experience significant cyclic hardening, the direction of the plastic strain vector starts to deviate after roughly 20 loading cycles.Simulation of ratcheting should be done with an as simple constitutive model as possible, while still capturing the essential response. Important reasons are that simple models are easier to understand and work with, and that fewer tests are needed for determining model parameters. Based on this the Besseling constitutive model is recommended for simulation of pressure equipment subjected to cyclic plastic deformation. However, if shake-down does not occur at relative early stage, effects related to cyclic softening or hardening may need to be taken into consideration.