Evaluating the NESC-I test and the integrated approach to structural integrity assessment

The NESC-I spinning cylinder test was designed to simulate selected conditi ons associated with an ageing reactor pressure vessel (RPV) subjected to se vere pressurised thermal shock (PTS) loading and containing hypothetical fl aws. It formed the focal point of the first project of the Network for Eval uation of Structural Components (NESC), with the objective of validating th e combination of non-destructive inspection and structural mechanics assess ment procedures for evaluating the integrity of such an aged structure cont aining postulated flaws. The huge amount of data generated over the seven-y ear project has been evaluated and is now available to the international co mmunity. The test demonstrated that, for the specific conditions considered , defects of up to 74 mm depth in material related to that of an ageing RPV would not propagate to cause catastrophic failure under a severe PTS-type thermal shock. This outcome was fully in line with the pre-test analysis fo recasts, which combined the defect-size information supplied from blind ins pections trials, a comprehensive materials data set, and a range of structu ral analysis tools. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.