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R. Citarella et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 26 (2013) 92-103; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.26.10 92 Coupled FEM-DBEM method to assess crack growth in magnet system of Wendelstein 7-X R. Citarella, M. Lepore Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano (Italy) stefano.foletti@polimi.it, antonietta.loconte@polimi.it , stefano.salgarollo@mail.polimi.it, federico.bassi@mail.polimi.it Joris Fellinger, Victor Bykov, Felix Schauer Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, EURATOM Association, Wendelsteinstr. 1, 17491 Greifswald, Germany A BSTRACT . The fivefold symmetric modular stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is currently under construction in Greifswald, Germany. The superconducting coils of the magnet system are bolted onto a central support ring and interconnected with five so-called lateral support elements (LSEs) per half module. After welding of the LSE hollow boxes to the coil cases, cracks were found in the vicinity of the welds that could potentially limit the allowed number N of electromagnetic (EM) load cycles of the machine. In response to the appearance of first cracks during assembly, the Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) were calculated and corresponding crack growth rates of theoretical semi-circular cracks of measured sizes in potentially critical position and orientation were predicted using Paris’ law, whose parameters were calibrated in fatigue tests at cryogenic temperature. In this paper the Dual Boundary Element Method (DBEM) is applied in a coupled FEM-DBEM approach to analyze the propagation of multiple cracks with different shapes. For this purpose, the crack path is assessed with the Minimum Strain Energy density criterion and SIFs are calculated by the J- integral approach. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is adopted to model, using the commercial codes Ansys or Abaqus;, the overall component whereas the submodel analysis, in the volume surrounding the cracked area, is performed by FEM (“FEM-FEM approach”) or alternatively by DBEM (“FEM-DBEM approach”). The “FEM-FEM approach” considers a FEM submodel, that is extracted from the FEM global model; the latter provide the boundary conditions for the submodel. Such approach is affected by some restrictions in the crack propagation phase, whereas, with the “FEM-DBEM approach”, the crack propagation simulation is straightforward. In this case the submodel is created in a DBEM environment with boundary conditions provided by the global FEM analysis; then the crack is introduced and a crack propagation analysis has been performed to evaluate the effects of the crack shape and of the presence of nearby cracks on the allowed number of EM load cycles. S OMMARIO . I nuclei superconduttori del sistema magnetico di Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) sono collegati tramite bulloni su un anello di supporto centrale e connessi tra loro tramite cinque cosiddetti elementi di supporto laterale (LSE) per ogni metà modulo. A valle della saldatura tra gli elementi scatolari LSE e i nuclei superconduttori è stata evidenziata la presenza di cricche in prossimità delle saldature che potenzialmente potevano limitare il numero consentito N di cicli elettromagnetici da applicare alla macchina. In conseguenza dell’apparizione delle prime cricche durante la fase di assemblaggio, si è proceduto al calcolo degli Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) e, tramite la formula di Paris (calibrata con test di fatica a temperatura criogenica), al calcolo delle corrispondenti velocità di accrescimento, per cricche di forma iniziale semicircolare e dimensioni come da evidenza sperimentale, collocate in posizione ed orientazione potenzialmente critiche. In un precedente