Scope:

The scope of this FEA is to evaluate the structural integrity of seawater filter vessel used in nuclear power plants as per ASME VIII D2.

Methodology:

Seawater filter is used in nuclear power plants. Pythagoras Engineering was contracted to evaluate the the structural integrity of seawater filter vessel design subjected to

•       Internal Pressure

•       Nozzle loads which resulted from the thermal expansion of pipe routing

•       Self-weight

•       Seismic Loads

The FEA was carried using four load combinations based on the SRSS method.

Linear Static Structural Analysis was performed as per ASME VIII D3 Elastic methodology. The ANSYS Spaceclaim was used to perform the geometry corrections on the CAD model of the filter vessel.  FE model was generated using SOLID 186 elements. Mass 21 Element was used to replicate the weight of components which are not conserved in the CAD model.  The structural evaluation of the vessel was carried using four load cases. The seismic loads are applied as body loads due to ground accelerations.

The FE model was solved using ANSYS mechanical and the results are evaluated.  At the region of stress concentrations, stress linearization was performed to understand the nature of the stress and failure mode. The stress results are compared with the allowable stress limits as per ASME VIII D2.