Critical Crack Sizes of Pressure Vessels Based on Failure Assessment Diagram Under Design Requirements

Standards or codes for defects assessment usually accompany their own design standards, such as, ASME BPVC section VIII and API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, GB 150 and GB/T 19624. The development of defects assessment standards should be adapted to the design requirements of pressure vessels. The consistency between fitness-for-service (FFS) procedures and design requirements of pressure vessels is discussed in this work. As a key link between FFS procedures and design standards, the required material fracture toughness not only depends on the methods of FFS procedures such as failure assessment diagram, but also on the design requirements. A procedure based on failure assessment diagram under design requirements is proposed to calculate critical crack sizes. The result can give some meaningful suggestions for the development of standards or codes.