Stress intensity factor calculation in sharp and beveled edge nozzle corners

• Fracture Mechanics Assessment of large nozzle corners.
• Stress Intensity Factor determination under Internal pressure and thermal shock loading.
• Compendia including sharp angle and beveled edge configurations.

This paper presents the work performed for the development of Stress Intensity Factor compendia for defects in nozzle corners. For that purpose, a large set Finite Element modeling were performed in order to cover the geometries, the defect sizes, the loading situations … encountered by large nuclear components. Then, based on that set of Finite Element modeling, an approximate solution relying on a fit of the stress field along the bisector line of the nozzle corner is proposed. This solution allows determining accurately the mean and maximum Stress Intensity Factor along the crack front for pressure loading and at the maximum of cold thermal shock loading. It is validated through a comparison to existing solutions or Finite Element modeling results.