The damage assessment procedures need to take into account the highly non-linear behaviour of the structural materials, characterised by brittle cracking and consequent stress redistribution, and the important effect of soil structure interaction.
The use of liquid sodium as a heat transfer medium for sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) necessitates a clear understanding of the effects of dynamic sodium on low cycle fatigue (LCF), creep and creep fatigue interaction (CFI) behaviour of reactor structural materials.
Another important consideration is the activation behaviour of the structural material.
CSIR - Structural Engineering Research Centre (CSIR-SERC), Chennai, has state-of-the-art facilities and expertise for carrying out R&D studies in the areas related to fatigue and fracture behaviour of structural components and materials.
To account for the inelastic behaviour of structural steel and concrete materials, a numerical model based on the fibre sectional analysis was developed, which predicts the results in general agreement with the test results.
Some aspects of buckling behaviour of structural elements made of nonlinear materials with strain hardening, for which the stress strain law has no yield plateau (stainless steels, aluminium alloys and others) are discussed.
In particular, the AEH is a useful technique to study the behaviour of structural components built with composite materials.
The continuous strength method (CSM) has been developed to reflect better the observed behaviour of structural sections of different metallic materials.
The long term corrosion behaviour of the two structural materials foreseen in ADS, 316L and T91, was investigated in the design relevant temperature field, i.e. from 300 to 550 °C.
The Lifus 3 loop was designed and constructed in 2001/2002 in ENEA, to evaluate the corrosion behaviour of Fusion reference structural materials, and in particular AISI 316 and Eurofer, in flowing lithium environment.
