Creep Simulation of the Hydroprocessing Reactor Using a Physically-Based CDM Model

Creep failure is one of the most important failure modes in the design of hydroprocessing reactors at elevated temperatures, and the accurate prediction of the creep behavior in structural discontinuities is a critical issue for component design. A physically-based continnum damage mechanics (CDM) model was adopted to describe all three creep stages of 2.25Cr-1Mo-0.25V ferritic steel widely used in manufacturing modern hydroprocessing reactors. The material constants in the damage constitutive equations were identified using an efficient optimization scheme based on genetic algorithm (GA). The user-defined subroutine implementing the CDM model was developed using user programmable features (UPFs) in ANSYS. Three-dimensional finite element analysis of the hydroprocessing reactor was conducted to determine the critical regions, and the studies on the stress redistribution and the prediction of damage evolution in these regions during creep were carried out. The results show that FE modelling based on CDM theory can provide a good tool for creep design of complex engineering components.Copyright © 2015 by ASME