1. General

1.1 Fundamentals of pressure vessel design

In the [A 843] file, the basis for pressure vessel design is presented, identifying the various possible mechanical modes of failure and the criteria for preventing them. Several references are made to Section III of the ASME Code and to the RCC-M, where criteria for damage due to excessive deformation, plastic instability, buckling, progressive deformation, fatigue cracking, creep and sudden rupture are developed.

These are also the types of damage that need to be considered as part of the regulatory risk analysis carried out for pressure equipment. There are, however, two special features that apply to nuclear equipment: