FRACTURE-MECHANICS EVALUATION OF IN-SERVICE INSPECTION ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

The aim of this paper is to analyse and compare, in terms of their str uctural integrity significance, the flaws acceptance/rejection criteri a defined by in-service inspection (ISI) standards. The analysis is ma de by evaluating, by means of fracture mechanics, the impact on struct ural integrity induced by the presence of the maximum allowable flaws defined by ISI acceptance rules. Two codes (ASME and RSEM), three comp onents (vessel, pressurizer and piping) and three different operating conditions (A+B,C,D) were selected for analysis. In performing the com parison between ASME and RSEM, some general considerations are outline d.