Consistency of fracture assessment criteria for the NESC-1 thermal shock test

In this report, a best estimate analysis of the NESC Spinning Cylinder test is performed and the consistency of the state of the art application of th e different fracture parameters and assessments criteria is examined. Direc t fracture toughness measurements best describes the fracture behavior of t he NESC Spinning Cylinder in the simulated pressurized thermal shock loadin g. The concept based on the ASME RTNDT reference temperature (either Pellin i or Cv test) does not provide consistent description of the NESC1 fracture assessment. In general the fracture mode, i.e. ductile initiation and tear ing followed by cleavage event, was successfully estimated by 3D FE based f racture assessment, combined with Master Curve description of fracture toug hness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.