Open AccessA Special Thermal Fatigue Failure Mode of Pipe in Nuclear Power Plant and Its Countermeasures
Author(s) -
Qinye Yin,
Huixing Feng,
Donglin Xue,
Guo Shu
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1885/3/032063
Subject(s) - piping , nuclear power , coolant , nuclear engineering , thermal power station , nuclear power plant , thermal , nuclear reactor , failure mode and effects analysis , thermal fatigue , pipeline (software) , pipeline transport , penetration (warfare) , structural engineering , materials science , environmental science , engineering , forensic engineering , mechanical engineering , waste management , physics , meteorology , nuclear physics , operations research
Thermal fatigue phenomenon is well known and feedbacked in the nuclear power industry. Targeted screening principles has been developed and applied. However, a thermal fatigue failure, “Swirl Penetration” of small-diameter pipeline, was identified through a Reactor Coolant System (RCS) leakage in a nuclear power plant. Unexpectedly, this failure is not within the scope of previous screening principles of thermal fatigue. It is characterized in that the high-temperature main piping is connected downward with a certain length of vertical small-diameter piping, and then the vertical piping turns horizontally through an elbow. The reactor coolant in the lower pipeline does not flow under normal operation conditions. Subject to long-term cyclic thermal fatigue, cracks initiate and propagate in the elbow. Through researches, corrective measures are put forward to prevent, mitigate or discover it.