applied fracture mechanics

276Applied Fracture MechanicsFigure 9. Temperature profile in the FE model of RPVOnce the pressure and the temperature profiles are implemented in the FE model, the stressanalysis can be executed. An example result is shown in Figure 10.Figure 10. Von Mises stressesThe knowledge of the stress profile inside the RPV wall is the basis for the application of theWeight Function (WF) method that is described in the next paragraph for the calculation ofthe stress intensity factor.7. Fracture mechanicsMost numerical methods require a separate calculation of the stress intensity factor for eachgiven stress distribution and each crack length. The weight function procedure developed