The studied pipes are used to guide control mechanisms and help them to get from the outside to the inside of the vessel. These pipes are fastened with the vessel head by a shrink fit connection and a weld. This shrink fit connection is used to position the pipes for the welding operation, but it is currently neglected during the calculation of the structure’s response to thermos-mechanical loadings. This thesis aim is to evaluate the shrink-fit / friction contribution to the structure response. The friction is classically characterized with the Coulomb model and the shear resistance is determined by two characteristics: the statical friction coefficient and the contact pressure between the two parts. The characterization of these two characteristics will be decisive to evaluate the friction contribution implied by the shrink fit operation. The chosen approach can be divided in three stages:
- Theoretical: determine the orders of magnitude for the main parameters and their interactions
- Numerical: accurate simulation of detailed configurations and evolutive thermos-mechanical loading sequences
- Experiments tests: characterize core parameters and validate results and models
Funding: CIFRE
Partner: Framatome, St. Marcel, France (industrial partner)