Modeling Cracking in Irradiated SS Plate Material Using Phase Field Model and SIF Predictions

A modeling methodology is explored for irradiation damage in stainless steel (SS) materials including a phase field modeling (PFM) theory. Different profiles (spatial variations in 1-D) of irradiation are explored to understand the damage through the length/height of plate. These are used for allowing parametric study for linear versus constant irradiation profiles. In addition, a periodic perturbation to provide initiation pressure/sites is explored which provides local regions that can provide energy levels to initiate a crack. These are correlated to potential initiation and propagation of cracks in an irradiated environment. Closed form analytical solutions are explored to predict the stress intensity factor (SIF) solutions which include different combinations of cracks, namely center cracks (CC), edge cracks (EC) under applied tensile loads in a finite sized plate geometry. To a certain extent the possibility of crack interactions and some of the relevant work in ASME Section XI and other published work are referred and highlighted. The crack interactions are accounted for within the 1-D treatment of mathematical relations leading to the SIF predictions from single, and multiple parallel cracks in infinite plate geometry and corrected for finite size crack to plate width effects.