Post Test Calculation of Tube Creep Failure Experiments

For numerical simulations of Lower Head Failure experiments like OLHF or FOREVER it is necessary to model creep and plasticity. Therefore a FE Model is de-veloped using a numerical approach which avoids the use of a single creep law. In-stead of this a numerical creep data base (CDB) is developed where the creep strain rate is evaluated in dependence on the current strain, temperature and stress. For this approach the generation and validation of the CDB is necessary. For an evalua-tion of the failure times a damage model according to Lemaitre [1] is applied.
The validation of the numerical model is performed by the simulation of and compari-son with experiments. This is done in 3 levels: the simulation of single uniaxial creep tests, which is considered as a 1D-problem; so called “tube-failure-experiments”: the RUPTHER-14 and the “MPA-Meppen”-experiment. These experiments are consid-ered as 2D-problems. Finally the numerical model is applied to scaled 3D-experiments, where the lower head of a PWR is represented in its hemispherical shape, like in the FOREVER-experiments.
An interesting question to be solved in this frame is the comparability of the French 16MND5 and the German 20MnMoNi55 RPV-steels, which are chemically nearly identical. If these 2 steels show a similar behavior, it should be allowed to transfer experimental and numerical data from one to the other.