Pressure test of the typical vessels flange under pressure loading

The containment vessel of a nuclear power plant is an important structure that prevents the release of radioactive materials into the environment. Since the TMI-2 and Chernobyl accidents, many studies on the integrity of containment vessel in the event of a severe accident exceeding the design conditions have been undertaken. The integrity of the containment vessel flange section has been confirmed with calculations by rules. But in order to assess the limit of integrity beyond the design conditions, it is necessary to make clear the behavior in more detail. In this study, hydraulic tests were conducted for two types of flanges and the behavior of flange were reproduced by analysis. (author)