Effect of Nozzle on LBB Evaluation for Small Diameter Nuclear Piping

LBB(Leak-Before-Break) analysis is performed for the highest stress location of each different type of mateerials in the nuclear piping line. In most cases, the highest stress occurs in the pipe and nozzle interface location. i.e. terminal end. The current finite element analysis approach utilizes the symmetry condition both for locations near the nozzle and for locationa away from the nozzle to minimize the size of the finite element model and to make analysis simple when calculating the J-integral values at the crack tip. In other words, the nozzle is not included in the finite element model. However, in reality, the symmetric condition is not applicable for the pipe-nozzle interface location. Because the pipe-nozzle interface location is asymmetric due to different stiffenss of the pipe and nozzle(both material and dimensions). The simplified analysis approach for pipe-nozzle interface locaiton is too conservative for a smaller diameter piping. In tlhis paper, various analyses are performed for the range of materials and crack sizes to evaluate the nozzle effect for a LBB anlaysis. This paper presents methodology for developing the piping evaluaiton diagram at the pipe-nozzle interface location.