Influence of stresses on deformation process under the irradiation creep and swelling

Approaches for describing the deformation of structural elements made from the material, in which radiation creep and swelling strains develop simultaneously, are discussed. The technique for description of irradiation swelling strains, which is used for calculational analysis of stress-strain state arising in structural elements under the joint action of irradiation and thermal-stress fields, is regarded. A complete system of equations of the boundary –initial value problem is presented, in which elastic and thermal strains, strains of radiation creep and swelling are taken into account. Numerical modelling was carried out using the specialized software FEM Creep, in which the boundary value problem is solved by the Finite Element Method, and the initial one is integrated in time by the difference predictor-corrector method. Two forms are given for the equation of state describing the radiation swelling strains: first is for the components of the strain tensor as well as second is prepared for their rates. The hypothesis about the linear correspondence of the received radiation dose and the deformation time, during which radiation swelling strains develop, are analyzed. A number of questions that require answers when using equations with a complex stress state in which the radiation swelling strains are directly depend on stresses, are discussed. Based on the processing of experimental data on the swelling of tubes made of steel 316Ti in the temperature range of 450-460 °С, a form of the equation for the radiation swelling strain rate is proposed, and the constants included in it are determined. Using the example of numerical modelling of the deformation of tubes were made of steel 316Ti and loaded by inner pressure, the applicability of the classical approach for the analysis of the stress-strain state in the presence of radiation swelling strains is shown.