Ductile Failure Simulation to Predict Burst Pressures of Steam Generator Tubes With Multiple Axial Cracks

This paper a new simple numerical method to predict burst pressures of Alloy 600 steam generator tubes with multiple through-wall cracks, based on the stress-modified fracture strain damage model with stress reduction technique. To validate the new method, simulated results using the proposed method are compared with thirty-on published test data of Alloy 600 thin plates and tubes with single or multiple through-wall cracks. Simulated results showing that predicted loads are within 10% of experimentally-measured ones for all cases considered. Moreover, a parametric study is performed to investigate the interaction effect of two axial surface cracks in Alloy 600 steam generator tubes under internal pressure.