A comparison between Japanese and French A16 defect assessment procedures for thermal fatigue crack growth

This paper presents the results of a benchmark on thermal fatigue crack growth evaluation for a thick-wall cylinder subjected to cyclic thermal transients. The simplified crack growth evaluation methods of both JNC in JAPAN and A16 procedures proposed by CEA in France are presented. The predictions obtained using both methods are compared with the experimental data. The JNC method, which accounts for the non-linear stress component provides predictions of crack advance in a good agreement with the experimental data. In contrast, significant differences are observed between the A16 predictions and the experimental data. The discrepancies are mainly due to the non-linear stress component which is not accounted for in the A16 method. When using the JNC stress intensity factor solution determined by finite element analysis to account for the non-linear stress component, the A16 method well predicts the thermal fatigue crack growth behavior.