Study of Hydrogen Embrittlement in Pipelines and Nuclear Power Plants: Estimates for Durability

Abstract

Due to the increasing need to further develop the world gas and oil industry and the increased public attention to clean energy sources, studying and preventing Hydrogen Induced Cracking is one of the main safety concerns in nuclear power plants, oil pipelines and platforms. In this article, the growth and incubation times for internal Hydrogen Induced Cracks (HIC) are examined. Specifically, these times are modeled in two separate phases - the first phase (I) is a long time approximation, when the crack growth is believed to be slow such that the equilibrium state for gas concentration establishes instantaneously, and the stationary diffusion problem can be solved for each moment of time. The second phase (II) is a short time approximation, when the crack growth is rapid and the concentration of atomic hydrogen is dependent on time. Closed-form solutions are obtained in both cases and are then coupled using a Padé approximation.