• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4146-4158
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• 2023

This paper proposes a combined plastic and creep constitutive model of A533B1 pressure vessel steel to simulate progressive deformation of nuclear pressure vessels under severe accident conditions. To develop the model, recent tensile test data covering a wide range of temperatures (from RT to 1,100 ℃) and strain rates (from 0.001%/s to 1.0%/s) was used. Comparison with experimental data confirms that the proposed combined plastic and creep model can well reflect effects of temperature and strain rate on tensile behaviour up to failure. In the companion paper (Part II), the proposed model will be used to simulate OECD lower head failure (OLHF) test data.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제56권7호
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• pp.2859-2874
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• 2024

This paper presents the finite element deformation and failure simulation of a typical Korean high-power reactor vessel under a severe accident characterized by large break loss of coolant (LBLOCA) with in-vessel retention of molten corium through external reactor vessel cooling (IVR-ERVC) conditions. Temperature distributions calculated using Modular Accident Analysis Program Version 5 (MAAP5) as thermal boundary conditions were used, and ABAQUS thermal and structural analyses were performed. After full ablation, the temperature of the inner surface in the thinnest section remained high (920 ℃), but the stress remained relatively low (less than 6 MPa). At the outer surface, the stress was as high as 250 MPa; however, the resulting plastic strain was small owing to the low temperature of 200 ℃. Variations in stress, inelastic strain, and temperature with time in the thinnest section suggest that the plastic and creep strains are saturated owing to stress relaxation, resulting in low cumulative damage. Thus, the lower head of the vessel can maintain its structural integrity under LBLOCA with IVR-ERVC conditions. The sensitivity analysis of internal pressure indicates the occurrence of failure in the thinnest section at an internal pressure >9.6 MPa via local necking followed by failure due to high stresses.