Session: CS-03-02 Environmental Fatigue Issues (Joint M&F)

Paper Number: 61793

Start Time: Tuesday, July 13, 2021, 08:00 PM

61793 - INCEFA-SCALE (Increasing Safety in NPPs by Covering Gaps in Environmental Fatigue Assessment - Focusing on Gaps Between Laboratory Data and Component-Scale) 

INCEFA-SCALE is a five year project supported by the European Commission HORIZON2020 programme. It is the successor to the INCEFA-PLUS programme that ran from 2015 to 2020. INCEFA-SCALE kicked off in October 2020. The objective is to continue work, advancing the ability to predict lifetimes of Nuclear Plant components when subjected to Environmental Assisted Fatigue loading.

EPRI, in the USA, is leading a series of component scale environmental fatigue tests which are expected to advance data availability significantly; however, the ability to address transferability of laboratory scale tests to real component geometries and loadings will still be constrained by limited test data. This is the knowledge gap addressed by INCEFA-SCALE; it is recognised worldwide as significant. The project strategy will be (1) the development of comprehensive mechanistic understanding developed through detailed examination of test specimens and MatDB data mining, and (2) testing focussed on particular aspects of component scale cyclic loading. The project will begin by analysing and extracting a maximum understanding from the vast amount of test data within JRC's MatDB database (from the predecessor INCEFA-PLUS project, and from other external sources such as USNRC, EPRI, MHI and the AdFaM project). In parallel the test programme needs will be agreed. Testing will commence after one year and run for three years. Finally, the project will deliver guidance on the use of laboratory scale data for component scales.

This paper will report progress in agreeing data gaps, mechanistic understanding needs, and testing requirements.

Presenting Author: Kevin Mottershead Jacobs

Authors:

Kevin Mottershead Jacobs
Roman Cicero Inesco Ingenieros
Alec Mclennan Jacobs
Stephan Courtin EDF
Caitlin Huotilainen VTT
Sergio Cicero University of Cantabria