Fatigue and evolving assessment of integrity (FEVAS)

The project FEVAS focuses on the structural integrity aspects of the pressure vessel and primary circuit with special emphasis on developing novel models, tools and techniques that help to ensure safe plant operation over the whole plant lifetime. The project has focused on the development of a Fen model to take into account the effect of the environment and temperature on the fatigue endurance of the primary circuit, conducted a study of surface crack behavior under cyclic thermal loads followed development of experimental and numerical techniques to capture it and developed techniques needed for the assessment of pressure-pulsation induced piping vibrations. Additionally, the project concentrated on the development of surface crack repair welding techniques through mock-up manufacturing, its material characterization and numerical simulations of the welding process.