FR0200412

Proceedings of ICONE 9
9th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering
April 8-12, 2001, Nice Acropolice, France

Paper Number xxxx

v

RELATION BETWEEN DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR AND WALL THINNING

EVALUATION OF ASME CODE CASE N-597 FOR PIPES
Kunio Hasegawa
Power & Industrial Systems
Nuclear System Division, Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi-shi, 317 8511, Japan
Tel: 81 294 23 5407, Fax 81 294 23 6664
E-mail: kunio_hasegawa@pis.hitachi.co.jp

Katsumasa Miyazaki
Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory
Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi-shi, 317 8511, Japan
Tel: 81 294 23 5789, Fax: 81 294 23 6959
E-mail: kmiya@merl.hitachi.co.jp

Seok-Hwan Ahn
School of Mechanical Engineering
Pukyong National University
Busan, 608 739, Korea
Tel: 82 51 620 1617, Fax: 82 51 620 1405
E-mail: shahn@mail1.pknu.ac.kr

Kotoji Ando
Faculty of Engineering
Yokohama National University
Yokohama, 240 8501, Japan
Tel: 81 45 339 4016, Fax: 81 45 339 4024
E-mail: andokoto@ynu.ac.jp

KEYWORDS

Wall Thinning, Erosion/Corrosion, Pipe, Crack, Ovalization, Buckling, General Yielding

ABSTRACT
In accordance with the pipe wall thinning evaluation of
the ASME Code Case N-597, piping items for Class 1, 2 and 3
containing local wall thinning are accepted for continued
service, when predicted remaining pipe wall thickness tp are
greater than 87.5% of / where tnom is the nominal pipe wall
thickness. Piping items for Class 2 and 3 are also accepted for
continued service, when pipe wall thickness tp are greater than
90% of tmin, where / is the minimum pipe wall thickness
required for design pressure. When pipe wall thickness tp are
less than 20 to 30% of tmm, the piping items are not accepted to
continue operation for Class 1, 2 and 3 piping.
From the monotonic bending tests of full-scale carbon steel
pipes, deformation and fracture behaviors of locally thinned
pipe were manifested. This paper indicates the physical
meaning of these criteria of wall thickness of Code Case N-597
from the experimental data of the pipe tests.
INTRODUCTION
Local wall thinning is a very common volumetric defect in
pipe. The degradation mechanism of the local wall thinning is
one of enhanced mass transfer caused by erosion/corrosion.
Local wall thinning impairs the load carrying capacity of a pipe.

In December 1986, severe erosion/corrosion wall thinning

led to failure of a feed water piping at Surry Unit 2. Since the
failure event, a number of nuclear power industries have
aggressively developed wall thinning inspection program and
basis for predicting the location where wall thinning might be
expected in pressure boundary.
In addition, burst and bending experiments on full-scale
pipes with local wall thinning were performed by Japan Atomic
Energy Research Institute to obtain load carrying capacity.
Authors also had carried out pipe bending experiments to make
clear the fracture behavior of locally thinned pipes. From these
experiments, methodologies were developed for evaluating the
acceptability of localized thinning of piping components.
As a result, in recent years industry experience with
erosion/corrosion program has increased, the ability to locate
and trend degradation within piping systems has created the
necessity for evaluation of degraded piping components. The
need for Code-sanctioned acceptance criteria to accommodate
degradation beyond that presently allowed by the design
equations was recognized in the world.
Analytical evaluation guidance on erosion/corrosion
phenomena was established in Belgian, based on ASME III NB
3600 stress indices. British Standard (BS) has provided

Copyright 2001 by SFEN

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guidance for determining the acceptability of areas of loss of
wall thickness caused by erosion/corrosion. The American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) considered the need
for providing guidance on erosion/corrosion and approved
Code Case N-480 in May 1990. Furthermore, it was recognized
that significant improvements could be made to meet the
industry needs. In August 1995, a new task group formed under
Section XI was charged with developing a code case that would
supercede Code Case N-480. This effort resulted in Code Case
N-597 in March 1998. This code cases provided rules for
acceptance criteria without having any inspection requirements.
This paper describes the deformation and fracture
behaviors of locally thinned pipes, and indicates a relation
between the criteria of wall thickness in Code Case N-597 and
deformation/fracture behavior obtained from pipe bending tests.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CODE CASE N-597
The acceptable standards of localized wall thinning for
carbon and low-alloy steel pipes are ruled as ASME Code Case
N-597 "Requirement for Analytical Evaluation of Pipe Wall
Thinning". Decisions concerning repair or replacement and
continued monitoring of the thinned component can be made
based on guidance from the code. Evaluation flow charts for the
acceptance standards for Class 1 and 2, 3 piping are shown in
Figs.l and 2, respectively. After an eroded indication detected
during in-service examinations, predicted remaining wall
thickness tp at the time of the next scheduled examination is
calculated for piping items under evaluation, where the methods
predicting the rate of wall thickness loss and the value of tp are
the responsibility of the owner.
When the predicted remaining wall thickness tp is greater
than required thickness of 0.875 of the nominal pipe wall
thickness tmm> the local wall thinning in a pipe is accepted to
continue operation for Class I, 2 and 3 piping, except for short
Class 1 Piping Item
Examination results

Predicted thickness at
next examination, tp

No

Yes

tP ^ 0.3fni

Except: Class 1 short radius elbow

No Yes
Accepted
as is

1.

Analytical evaluation
Owners
responsibility

Repair or
replacement

radius elbows of Class 1 piping. It comes from that straight pipe

Class 2 and 3 Piping
Examination results
Predicted thickness at
next examination, tp
Yes
tp g; 0.875fno,

No
Class 2

Class 3

Yes

No
Yes

Yes
Analytical
evaluation

No
Accepted
as is

Monitor

Repair or
replacement

Figure 2 Evaluation flow chart for Class 2 and 3 pipng.

and elbows purchased to nominal pipe specification have
allowable wall thickness undertolerance of 12.5 %.
When tp at any location is less 0.3 tmm, fiirther evaluation is
not allowed for Class 1 and 2 piping. For Class 3 piping, when
tp at any location is less than 0.2 tmm or 0.5 tmin, whichever is
less, further evaluation is not permitted. The pipes with such
localized thinned wall thickness shall be repaired or replaced.
For the condition of tp between the 0.875 tnom and 0.3 tnom
for Class 1 piping, analytical evaluation is conducted in
accordance with evaluation methods and criteria developed by
the owner. When tp is less than 0.875 tmm and greater than 0.3
tmm for Class 2 piping, 0.2 tnom or 0.5 /, for Class 3 piping, tp is
compared with 0.9 tnom. When tp is less than 0.9 tnom, analytical
evaluation is provided. The analytical evaluation of piping
components involves two independent assessments, both of
which have to be met for the thinned pipe component to be
acceptable for continued operation. The first is a thickness
evaluation to assure that there exists a minimum wall thickness
for internal pressure loading. The second is a stress evaluation
to ensure that primary and secondary loads on the pipe
component do not exceed the material allowable limits specified
in the Code of Construction. Piping items under evaluation with
tp less than the 0.875 tnom shall be monitored for continued
degradation for any Class 2 and 3 piping.
Now attempt to account these values of wall thickness of
0.875 tmm, 0.3 tnom or 0.2 tnom in the code with referring
deformation behavior of pipe experimental data.

Figure 1 Evaluation flow chart for Class 1 piping.

Copyright 2001 by SFEN

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EXPERIMENTS ON WALL THINNING PIPES
Materials
Full-scale pipe experiments were performed on 4-inch and
3.5-inch nominal diameter schedule 80 JIS STS 410 and 370
(Japanese Industrial Standards: Carbon Steel Pipes for High
Temperature Service) pipes with localized wall thinning. The
carbon steel STS 410 and 370 are similar to those of ASTM
A333 Gr. 6. Chemical composition and mechanical properties
are shown in Table 1.

U4.3*

102.0c()
2G=360dee.

Table 1 Chemical composition and mechanical properties.

Chemical compos Bon, wt %
Material
Si

Mn

STS 410 0.14

0.3

1.2

0.009 0.001

326

490

STS 370 0.15

0.25

0.43

0.008 0.007

227

406

1100

Mechanical Properties
Yield stress Ultimate strength
MMPa)
o\j (MPa)

The pipe configuration and dimensions are shown in Fig. 3.

The local wall thinning was machined on the inside of STS 410
pipes (Series of TP specimens) and the outside of STS 370
pipes (Series of LWT Specimens). All of the local wall thinning
were machined by grindstone to simulate erosion-corrosion
defects. The depth d is the depth of metal loss in the thickness
direction, the angle 26 is the circumferential wall thinning angle
and the length X is the wall thinning length in the axial direction.
Loading Conditions
A quasi static bending load was applied to the specimen by
four-point loading without internal pressure at ambient
temperature. The major and minor spans of the four-point
bending loading were 960 and 300 mm for STS 410 pipes, and
900 and 245 mm for STS 370 pipes, respectively. Two types of
pipe bending tests were conducted, one in which the locally
thinned area was positioned at the tensile stress side of bending

(2) LWT Specimen(20=360 dcg.)

102.00

1100

(3) LWT Specimen

Figure 3 Pipe specimens with local wall thinning.

at the compressive stress side. The total elapsed time from start
of loading until failure ranged from 10 to 20 minutes.
Experimental Results
The results of bending tests for STS 410 and 370 pipes in
which locally thinned areas were subjected to tensile stress are
shown in Table 2. There are two types of behaviors at maximum
moments, crack initiation at the thinned area and oval
deformation of cross section at thinned area.
The results of bending tests for STS 410 and 370 pipes in
which locally thinned areas were subjected to compressive
stress are shown in Table 3. There are also two types of
behaviors at maximum moments, occurrence of local buckling
at thinned area and oval deformation of cross section at thinned

Table 2 Test results in case that wall thinning areas were subjected to tensile stresses.
Specimen Material
No.
TP-1
TP-2
TP-3
TP-4
TP-5
STS410
TP-6
TP-7
TP-8
LWT-09
LWT-10
LWT-17 STS370
LWT-18
LWT-19

d (mm)
1.7
4.3
6.9
6.9
3.0
4.3
4.3
6.9
4.0
6.0
5.0
6.0
7.0

Wall thinning configuration

29/271
dlt
28(deg.)
0.20
180
0.5
0.50
180
0.5
0.80
180
0.5
0.80
90
0.25
0.35
180
0.5
0.50
90
0.25
0.17
0.50
60
0.80
60
0.17
0.49
46.1
0.13
0.74
56.7
0.16
0.62
48.9
0.14
0.74
53.9
0.15
0.86
57.9
0.16

moment and the other in which the thinned area was positioned

A, (mm) '

100

25
102
37.5
41
44

Max.moment
(kN-m)
39.6
38.4
29.5
33.5
38.8
37.5
38.6
38.1
28.8
26.6
26.2
26.4
22.3

Behavior at
max. moment
Ovalization
Crack initiation
Crack initiation
Crack initiation
Ovalization
Ovalization
Ovalization
Crack initiation
Ovalization
Ovalization
Ovalization
Crack initiation
Crack initiation

area.

Copyright 2001 by SFEN

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Maximum Moment and General Yielding
The maximum moments for locally thinned pipes were
obtained by experiment as shown in Tables 2 and 3. The
maximum moment means a plastic collapse moment. The
plastic collapse moment for a thinned pipe is estimated by netsection stress approach using the following equation.
For the more common situation where P < 7t-9,
= 2ane,R2t(2sm J3 - *sin 6)
(1)
and
(2)
= 1 ( * -x0)
For the less common case where (3 > TI-9

Mmlx = 2anelR2t{2(l-x)sin

General yielding of pipes without local wall thinning is

calculated using x = 0.0, 9 = 0.0 and P = 0.0 in Eqs. (1) and (3).
The moment MGY at general yielding is written as,
(5).
Mm =
From the comparison of the moments of Mmax and MGY, it is
obtained the boundary of the sizes of local wall thinning
whether the general yielding occurs at the location of nonthinned area of a pipe containing local wall thinning.
DEFORMATION BEHAVIOR OF LOCALLY THINED
PIPE
The behavior at maximum moment for locally thinned

(3)

and
J3 = n

(4)
1- x

where x denotes the ratio of the depth of metal loss to the wall
thickness (x = d/t), anel is the net-section stress at thinned
section, R is the mean radius of the pipe, / is the pipe wall
thickness and (3 is the neutral angle of the pipe at the bending
moment.
When estimating the collapse moment for a
circumferentially cracked pipe, the net-stress cne, in the Eqs. (1)
and (3) is used generally as the flow stress given by the average
of yield stress a y and ultimate tensile strength Oj,. As the stress
concentration at the thinned area is not larger than that at a
cracked tip, ultimate tensile strength aB instead of flow stress is
preferable to use as the <5na for predicting plastic collapse
moments for locally thinned pipes.

(1) Wall thinning area subjected to tensile stress

Ovalization

(2) Wall thinning area subjected to compression stress

Ovalization

pipes subjected to bending moment is summarized in Fig. 4.

When local wall thickness of a pipe is thin and the thinned area
Figure 4 Deformation patterns for locally thinned pipes
subjected to bending moment.
Table 3 Test results in case that wall thinning i

Specimen
No.

Material

TP-9
TP-11

STS410

LWT-01
LW T-02
LW T-03
LWT-04
LWT-05
LffT-06
LWT-07
LWT-08
LWT-11
LWT-12
LWT-14
LWT-15
LWT-16

d (mm)

STS370

Wall thinning configuration

dlt
26(deg.)
29/2rc

4.3
6.9

0.50
0.80

2.0
3.0
4.0
6.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
6.0
4.0
6.0
5.0
6.0
7.0

0.25
0.37
0.49
0.74
0.25
0.37
0.49
0.74
0.49
0.74
0.62
0.74
0.86

180
180
360
360
360
360
360
360
360
360
46.1
56.7
48.9
53.9
57.9

0.5
0.5
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
1.0
0.13
0.16
0.14
0.15
0.16

Jl(mm)
100

25

102

37.5
41
44

M axjn om ent
(kN-m)
33.7
28.2
25.9
23.0
18.5
6.3
23.4
19.0
15.5
6.3
27.0
25.4
25.8
25.5
26.1

Behavior at
Max. Load
Local buckling
Local buckling
Ovalization
Ovalization
Local buckling
Local buckling
Ovalization
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling
Local buckling

is located in tensile stress side, crack initiates at the locally

thinned area. Before the crack initiation, local necking occurs

Copyright 2001 by SFEN

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first, then crack initiates and grows in the circumferential
direction. Total displacement after crack initiation is relatively
small and drop in load occurred abruptly. When local wall
thickness of a pipe is thin and thinned area is located in
compressive stress side, local buckling occurs at the locally
thinned area. Although total displacement after occurrence of
local buckling is large, the pipe with local buckling is prone to
break when considering cyclic loading.
When the locally thinned thickness is thick, oval
deformation occurs at the maximum moment. Crack initiation
and growth or local buckling at thinned area are not observed at
and after maximum moment. Load decreases slowly after
maximum point accompanying deformation of ovalization and
the total displacement is considerably large.
The phenomena of crack initiation, local buckling and
ovalization depend on initial geometry of local wall thinning.
The boundary between crack initiation and ovalization is shown
in Fig. 5, and the boundary between local buckling and
ovalization is shown in Fig. 6.

deformation occurs only at wall thinning area, and not at nonthinning area. The portion of very thinned area will be subjected
to higher plastic strain concentration with deeper metal loss and
larger thinning angle. Then the load carrying capacity of the
entire piping system is small and pipe shows low tolerance
against fracture.
In the area bellow the general yielding line in Fig.7, pipe
deforms at not only locally thinned area but also non-thinned
area. As the deformation area is not limited to be only local wall
1.0
0.9

0.8

0.7

. o

| 0.6

CD O

. 0.5

Crack Initiation

\A

& 0.4

CORRESPONDENCE OF PIPE DEFORMATION AND

CODE
Flow of Coolant
One of the main roles of piping system is to retain coolant
flow even when receiving large external loading. Oval
deformation of a pipe with locally thinned wall thickness is not
an essential problem from the viewpoint of coolant flow.
Because leakage or blockade of coolant by the external loading
does not occur at the pipe.
Figure 7 shows the schematic drawing of the boundary
among ovalization, crack initiation/local buckling and general
yielding. The wall thickness criterion of 0.875 tmm for Class 1, 2
and 3 piping in the code is equal to d/tmm = 0.125, which
deformation corresponds to ovalization of pipe cross section, as
shown in Fig. 7. The permissible wall thickness of 0.857 tmm
implies ovalization phenomena of pipes, whichever under
tensile stress or compressive stress at the locally thinned
position. Therefore, the criteria of 0.875 tmm are pertinent with
large safety margin for continued operation.
Load Carrying Capacity
Piping systems are generally designed to be elastic
condition of the entire piping systems and to have sufficient
flexibility to prevent pipe movements from causing failure from
overstress. When piping system receives large external loading,
plastic straining occurs at many points or over relatively wide
regions. Such piping system shows high tolerance against the
external loading because of large absorbed energy in the piping
system. On the other hand, when the piping system is
unbalanced produced by local reduction in pipe cross section,
the portion of the small cross section in the piping system
undergoes large plastic strain and pipe fails by external loading.
General yielding for a locally thinned pipe is calculated by
Eqs. (1), (3) and (5). The schematic relation of metal loss depth
and thinning angle for the general yielding is illustrated in Fig.
7. In the area above the general yielding line in Fig. 7, pipe

0.3

^
Ovalization

0.2
0.1
0.0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Angle, 29/271

Figure 5 Boundary between ovalization and crack

initiation.
I.U

0.9
0.8

<>

o
o
o

0.7
0.6
0.5

6
Local Buckling

0.4

0.3

<>

AY
Ovalization

0.2

0.1
nn
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Angle, 26/27t

Figure 6 Boundary between ovalization and local buckling,

thinning area, load carrying capacity of such locally thinned

Copyright 2001 by SFEN

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pipe is large. The pipe shows high tolerance against large
external load.
The wall thickness of 0.3 tmm for Class 1 and 2 piping and
0.2 tmm for Class 3 piping criteria in the code are equal to d/tnom
= 0.7 and 0.8 in Fig.7. The wall thickness of 0.5 tmUl for Class 3
piping is approximately equal to 0.25 tmm, because, although
depending on piping systems, many piping systems are designed
to be tnin = 0.5 tnom. The wall thickness of 0.5 tmin approximately
corresponds to d/tmm = 0.75.
The wall thickness of these 0.3 tmm, 0.2 tnom and 0.5 tmin
roughly correspond to the boundary of general yielding, as
shown in Fig. 7. When the wall thickness is less than such
values, load carrying capacity of the pipe is inferred to be
extremely low. When the predicted remaining wall thickness is
less than these thickness, the code does not allow further
evaluation. It is conceivable that the wall thickness of 0.3 tnomt
0.2 tnom and 0.5 tmin in the code is at least pertinent for small
thinning angle.
When the predicting remaining wall thickness for Class 2
and 3 piping is less than 0.9 tmim analytical calculation is
provided based on internal pressure loading and stress
evaluation. The wall thickness of 0.9 tmin is roughly 0.45 tmm. In
1.0
\ts'

0.9
0.8

General Yielding

tp= 0.2tnom

0.7

X.

tp = 0.3fnom

0.6
0.5
CD

0.4
0.3
0.2

A
^1^

r?^".
W
r

0.1
0.0

"

Ovalization
l

0.0

^S>>*>Si

Crack Initiation or
Buckling

Local

0.2

tp

= 0.875tnom

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Angle, 2e/2rc
Figure 7 Schematical drawing of deformation behavior and
required wall thickness in Code Case N-597.

or local buckling in Fig. 7. However, the pipe has enough

margin for strength shown by Krishnaswany, et al.
CONCLUSIONS
There are three types of behavior patterns at maximum
loads from the monotonic bending tests on locally thinned pipes,
that is, crack initiation, local buckling and oval deformation.
Crack initiation or local buckling occurs when local wall
thickness in a pipe is thin, and ovalization occurs when local
wall thickness is thick. When local wall thickness in a pipe is
thinner, general yielding occurs only at the thinned portion.
From comparison of the deformation behavior obtained
from pipe bending experiments, it is found that the wall
thickness criterion of 0.875 /, in the ASME Code Case N-597
corresponds to ovalization, and the criteria of 0.2 tmm, 0.3 tmm
and 0.5 tmin roughly correspond to the subject of general
yielding of a pipe.
REFERENCES
Isozaki, T., Shibata, K., Ueda, S., Kurihara, R., Onizawa,
K. and Kohska, A., March 1993, "Technical report on the
piping reliability proving tests at the Japan Atomic Energy
Research Institute", JAERI-M 93-076
Miyazaki, K., Kanno, S., Ishiwata, M., Hasegawa, K., Ann,
S. and Ando, K., 1998, "Fracture strength and behavior for
carbon steel pipes with local wall thinning", ASME PVP-Vol.
371
Miyazaki, K., Kanno, S., Ishiwata, M., Hasegawa, K., Ann,
S. and Ando, K., 1999, "Fracture behavior of carbon steel pipe
with local wall thinning subjected to bending load", Nuclear
Engineering and Design, Vol. 191, pp. 195-204
Mathonet, J.F, Cherasse, J.M. Leblois, C.L. and Guyette,
M.A., 1995,"Belgian Methodology for evaluation of
erosion/corrosion phenomena in Units 1; 2; 3 & 4 of the Doel
nuclear power plant (NPP), ASME PVP, Vol.303, pp.393-399
British Standard, BS 7910, 1999, "Guide on methods for
assessing the acceptability of flaws in fusion welded structures"
Cases of ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, N-597,
"Requirement for Analytical Evaluation of Pipe Wall Thinning"
March 1998
Krishnaswamy, K., Wilkowski, G., Rudland, D. and Scott,
P., July 2000, "Acceptance criteria for blunt erosion-corrosion
type of flaws in piping - comparison of analyses and full-scale
experiments", ASME PVP 2000, Seattle, USA

this case, pipe with 0.45 tnom is in the region of crack initiation

Copyright 2001 by SFEN