Nuclear Structures Course

Intro to creep and Mechanisms of creep
To introduce creep and creep relaxation behaviour of material at elevated temperatures. Mathematical model of creep will be introduced, and simple sec-ondary creep model will be presented in detail. Stress, time and temperature effects on creep behaviour will be discussed. Larson-Miller Relation for creep rupture will be presented as well. Finally this session will be concluded by demonstrating analytical examples of both creep of an uniform bar loaded by a constant force and stress relaxation of an uniform bar with a fixed displacement load.

Creep analysis – Case Study (1)
To present both analytical and numerical creep analysis case studies. The analytical creep analyses discussed include 1) Creep Analysis of a Beam subjected to Pure Bending Moment; 2) Stress Relaxation (Creep) in a Bolt. The numerical creep analysis case study is for a practical creep analysis of an engine inner casing by using FE analysis.

Creep analysis – Case Study (2)
To present both analytical and numerical creep analysis case studies. The analytical creep analysis case study includes 1) Time delay contact switch with creep mechanism; 2) Creep analysis of a two bar structure; 3) Creep analysis of a three bar structure. The numerical creep analysis case study introduces a practical bolt relaxation analysis for a steam turbine outer casing.

Intro to fatigue and assessment methods
To introduce fatigue and fatigue assessment methods of material or component subjected cyclic or repeated loads. General characteristics of fatigue will be discussed in detail. Both high cycle fatigue and low cycle fatigue assessment methods will be introduced, and the topics cover the S-N curve, different fatigue design parameters, Goodman Diagram, Endurance Limits, Improving fatigue life, Stabilized Cyclic Hysteresis Loop, Coffin and Manson Law, Low Cycle Fatigue Data, Neuber’s Rule for Fatigue Analysis and Cumulative Damage Rule, etc.

Intro to creep fatigue damage
To introduce creep fatigue mechanism and its damage assessment for components subjected to cyclic loads and high temperature creep condition. The topics covered in the session include creep-cyclic plasticity interaction, elastic follow-up, creep enhanced plasticity, cyclically enhanced creep, creep ratch-etting and creep fatigue interaction.

Creep and Creep/Fatigue relevant design codes
To introduce creep and creep/fatigue relevant design codes including ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Code and R5 Assessment Procedure for the High Tem-perature Response of Structures.

Assessment and treatment of creep fatigue
To introduce assessment and treatment of creep fatigue damage of nuclear components. The introduced assessment methods include rule-based methods, novel direct methods and detailed step-by-step analysis method.

About the Lecturer
Prof Haofeng Chen is a Reader and leads the Structural Integrity and Life Assessment (SILA) Research Group at the University of Strathclyde. He is also a visiting Professor of East China University of Science and Technology, the Royal Academy of Engineering/ Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow, Fellow of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a chartered engineer. He obtained his BEng, MEng and Ph.D. from Tsinghua University in 1994, 1995 and 1998, respectively. He was then a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, and subsequently a senior research fellow at the University of Leicester, and then a senior engineer at ALSTOM Power Technology Centre (Rugby, UK) before he joined the University of Strathclyde in 2008. His research expertise centers on solid mechanics, structural integrity assessment and advanced finite element methods, and he has published more than 110 research papers as either 1st or corresponding author. As a pioneering developer of the Linear Matching Method (LMM), which can be applied to the entire sequence of procedures required for high-integrity structural life assessment, he has successfully transferred the LMM from research into the engineering industry where it is being used to improve and optimize structural life assessment procedures. He has held up to two million pounds in research funding as the principal investigator from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the EPSRC Nuclear EngD Centre, and many industrial partners including EDF Energy, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens UK. He has served as Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology and the Editorial Board Member of other international journals.

Duration: 1 Day

Cost: £385 + VAT

Nuclear Structures Training Scotland, Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and onsite courses throughout Scotland