Abstract The ITER Vacuum Vessel (VV) is one of the most important components of the tokamak machine. The severe operating conditions impose a design to withstand strong dynamic loads. A special focus is put on defects embedded in the component that, due to the not total accessibility of the VV to non-destructive examination (NDE), but also to identify their minimum safe dimension, must be assessed through Fracture Mechanics (FM) analyses. Nuclear codes give useful guidelines for design verification using simplified models that, for practical sake, do not give a detailed description of the physical phenomena. Nowadays, Finite Element Method (FEM) is a common tool for the assessment of structural components, and detailed methods for Crack Propagation analyses have been developed. A novel procedure for the crack shape evolution during cyclic loadings will be presented in this article, relying on Finite Elements Analysis (FEA) in conjunction with Radial Basis Function morphing technique, allowing a fast arrangement of the existing mesh to a new configuration. The results of the proposed method are compared with those available in literature references and in nuclear codes.

中文翻译：

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具有径向基函数网格变形的 ITER 真空容器端口短截线的裂纹扩展分析

摘要 ITER真空容器（VV）是托卡马克机最重要的部件之一。恶劣的工作条件要求设计能够承受强大的动态负载。特别关注嵌入在组件中的缺陷，由于 VV 并非完全可以进行无损检测 (NDE)，而且为了确定它们的最小安全尺寸，必须通过断裂力学 (FM) 分析进行评估. 核规范为使用简化模型的设计验证提供了有用的指导，实际上，这些模型并未给出物理现象的详细描述。如今，有限元法 (FEM) 是评估结构部件的常用工具，并且已经开发了用于裂纹扩展分析的详细方法。本文将介绍循环载荷期间裂纹形状演变的新程序，它依赖于有限元分析 (FEA) 和径向基函数变形技术，允许将现有网格快速排列为新配置。将所提出方法的结果与参考文献和核代码中的结果进行了比较。