Fatigue Evaluation of RCS Branch Line for License Renewal Application

The fatigue effects have to be reevaluated in preparing the license renewal application for the continued operation of an old vintage nuclear power plant. This paper presents a complete fatigue analysis for a branch piping with the effect of thermal stratification, induced by turbulent penetration, and environmental factors on fatigue. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics and finite element analyses were performed for the branch line to evaluate the thermal stratification loading. Proposed is a supplementary methodology of considering the effect of environmental factor on the combined conventional peak stress intensity range, based on the NB-3600 of ASME Section III Code, with thermal stratification loading. It can be used for safety enhancement of old vintage nuclear power plants. (authors)