Research on the Micro-Mechanical State at Tip of Environmentally Assisted Cracking Based on Latin Hypercube Sampling Method

Abstract

Environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) of nickel-based alloys is one of the most significant potential safety hazards in the primary circuit of nuclear power plants. To understand the influence of randomness on micro-mechanical state at tip of EAC, Latin hypercube sampling method is applied to analyze the uncertainty of stress-strain in the oxide film at the EAC tip considering the uncertainties of load and material properties of base metal and oxide film. Meanwhile, to improve the efficiency of numerical analysis, MATLAB is employed in the secondary development for ABAQUS. With the help of finite element numerical simulation and Latin hypercube sampling method, the uncertainty of mechanical properties at tip of EAC in one-inch compact tension specimen is simulated and analyzed in this study. The results show that the randomness of material properties and load markedly affect the uncertainty of micro-mechanical state. Among the variables, The randomness of load has the greatest influence on uncertainty of strain, and Poisson`s ratio of oxide film is the smallest effect.