Issue 50

R. Boutelidja et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 50 (2019) 98-111; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.50.10 98 Focused on Fracture Mechanics versus Environment Environmental effects on the reliability of an AISI 304 structure Boutelidja Racim University of Badji Mokhtar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Annaba, Algeria boutelidja.racim@gmail.com Guedri Abdelmoumene, Belyamna Mohammed Amine University of SoukAhras, INFRA-RES Laboratory, SoukAhras, Algeria guedri_moumen@yahoo.fr , beelyamina@gmail.com Merzoug Bachir University of Badji Mokhtar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Annaba, Algeria merzougbachir@yahoo.fr A BSTRACT . This work is based on the application of probabilistic fracture mechanics models to predict the reliability of pressure pipelines in nuclear power reactors. The simulation of cracking of stainless steel piping under the conditions of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) is based on the improved modified piping reliability analysis including seismic events (PRAISE) code. The IGSCC is characterized by a unique damage parameter that depends on residual stresses and environmental conditions. Case studies of IGSCC failures in nuclear power plants are presented and the contribution of environmental effects on crack initiation and leakage is discussed. For small damages we observed that the change in temperature or oxygen concentration does not affect the initiation process but their decrease contribute favourably to the decrease in the leakage probabilities. K EYWORDS . Modified PRAISE code; Stress Corrosion Cracking Environment; Reliability. Citation: Boutelidja, R., Guedri, A., Belyamna, M. A., Merzoug, B., Environmental effects on the reliability of an AISI 304 structure, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 50 (2019) 98-111. Received: 02.03.2019 Accepted: 16.04.2019 Published: 01.10.2019 Copyright: © 2019 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. I NTRODUCTION amage detection and quantification mean knowing when and where it initiates; determining its propagation mode(s) and its interactions with the microstructure. Thus, it leads us to the understanding, modelling, and prediction of environmentally assisted cracking processes, i.e., stress corrosion, fatigue-corrosion, and hydrogen embrittling. It is, therefore, possible to evaluate the respective role of the different chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical intervening parameters, and necessary steps to establish phenomenological models. It made enables us to quantify the effect of these D