PWSCC Growth Assessment Model Considering Stress Triaxiality Factor for Primary Alloy 600 Components

We propose a primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) initiation model of Alloy 600 that considers the stress triaxiality factor to apply to finite element analysis. We investigated the correlation between stress triaxiality effects and PWSCC growth behavior in cold-worked Alloy 600 stream generator tubes, and identified an additional stress triaxiality factor that can be added to Garud's PWSCC initiation model. By applying the proposed PWSCC initiation model considering the stress triaxiality factor, PWSCC growth simulations based on the macroscopic phenomenological damage mechanics approach were carried out on the PWSCC growth tests of various cold-worked Alloy 600 steam generator tubes and compact tension specimens. As a result, PWSCC growth behavior results from the finite element prediction are in good agreement with the experimental results.