Effect of cladding material properties on sealing performance of reactor pressure vessel with spherical head

Abstract

308 L stainless steel is a commonly used cladding material of reactor pressure vessel. Due to the difference of surfacing process, its performance is quite different from that given in the standard. In this study, based on the stress-strain data of cladding 308 L measured in the laboratory, the elastic-plastic analysis of the sealing performance of the spherical head reactor pressure vessel were carried out by ANSYS finite element software. It is shown that the elastic-plastic results of the axial separation of flange, bolt load and flange angle are in better agreement with the hydrostatic test results. In addition, the influence of elastic modulus, yield stress and tangent modulus of the 308 L on the sealing performance of spherical head reactor pressure vessel was also investigated under design condition and transient condition. It is shown that the elastic modulus, yield stress and tangent modulus have a certain degree of influence on the axial separation of gasket, the axial separation of flange, bolt load and flange angle.