Validation of the R6 defect assessment procedures by wide plate and pressure vessel tests

The R6 Procedure for the assessment of the integrity of structures containing defects is widely accepted and used. Continuing development includes validation work to both assess the methodology and to reduce inbuilt conservatisms. In this paper pressure vessel and wide plate tests are reported. The former tests address a defect in a repair weld, and a through wall defect in a strain ageing steel. For each case the R6 Procedure is shown to give reasonable assessments of performance. The wide plate tests assess the interaction between multiple defects and show that the currently employed recharacterization rules can lead to over-conservative assessments. 5 refs., 9 figs., 4 tabs