Socket weld integrity in nuclear piping under fatigue loading condition

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the integrity of socket weld in nuclear piping under the fatigue loading. The integrity of socket weld is regarded as a safety concern in nuclear power plants because many failures have been world-widely reported in the socket weld. Recently, socket weld failures in the chemical and volume control system (CVCS) and the primary sampling system (PSS) were reported in Korean nuclear power plants. The root causes of the socket weld failures were known as the fatigue due to the pressure and/or temperature loading transients and the vibration during the plant operation. The ASME boiler and pressure vessel (B & PV) Code Sec. III requires 1/16 in. gap between the pipe and fitting in the socket weld with the weld leg size of 1.09 × t1, where t1 is the pipe wall thickness. Many failure cases, however, showed that the gap requirement was not satisfied. In addition, industry has demanded the reduction of weld leg size from 1.09 × t1 to 0.75 × t1. In this paper, the socket weld integrity under the fatigue loading was evaluated using three-dimensional finite element analysis considering the requirements in the ASME Code. Three types of loading conditions such as the deflection due to vibration, the pressure transient ranging from P = 0 to 15.51 MPa, and the thermal transient ranging from T = 25 to 288 °C were considered. The results are as follows; (1) the socket weld is susceptible to the vibration where the vibration levels exceed the requirement in the ASME operation and maintenance (OM) code. (2) The effect of pressure or temperature transient load on socket weld in CVCS and PSS is not significant owing to the low frequency of transient during plant operation. (3) ‘No gap’ is very risky to the socket weld integrity for the systems having the vibration condition to exceed the requirement specified in the ASME OM Code and/or the transient loading condition from P = 0 and T = 25 °C to P = 15.51 MPa and T = 288 °C. (4) The reduction of the weld leg size from 1.09 × t1 to 0.75 × t1 may induce detrimental effect on the socket weld integrity.