材料期刊网

A simulation method for microscopic creep damage at grain boundaries in the finegrain heat-affected zone of low-alloy steel welds involving high energy piping was proposed on the basis of the combination of elastic-creep FEM (finite element method) analysis and random fracture resistance modeling of the materials. The procedure to determine the initiation and growth-driving forces of small defects were briefly described. Then, a simulation procedure combining the stress distribution from elasticcreep FEM and the random fracture resistance model was proposed, and this procedure was applied to the simulation of the microscopic damage progress in a welded joint model test and in actual power piping. The results in terms of the simulated number density of small defects throughout the wall thickness were in good agreement with the observed results.