Analysis of leak and break behavior in a failure assessment diagram for carbon steel pipes

The leak and break behavior of a cracked coolant pipe subjected to an internal pressure and a bending moment was analyzed with a failure assessment diagram using the R6 approach. This paper examines the conditions of the detectable coolant leakage without breakage. A leakage assessment curve, a locus of assessment point for detectable coolant leakage, was defined in the failure assessment diagram. The region between the leak assessment and failure assessment curves satisfies the condition of detectable leakage without breakage. In this region, a crack can be safely inspected by a coolant leak detector. (orig.)