LOCAL APPROACH TO FRACTURE APPLIED TO REACTOR PRESSURE-VESSEL - SYNTHESIS OF A COOPERATIVE PROGRAM BETWEEN EDF, CEA, FRAMATOME AND AEA

A cooperative research programme in the field of the local approach to cleavage fracture applied to reactor pressure vessels is conducted be tween EDF, CEA, Framatome and AEA Technology. The purpose of such a pr ogramme is to have a better knowledge of this approach for RPV fractur e mechanics integrity assessments regarding the risk of brittle fractu re. This programme includes both an experimental part conducted by sev eral laboratories in order to identify m and sigma(u) parameters of Be remin model on a A508 Cl3 steel, and numerous numerical computations o f specimens and structures. Finite element programs are compared on so me reference calculations in order to validate local approach to fract ure postprocessors. The capability of Beremin model to explain the sha llow flaw effect in cleavage fracture is finally discussed.