Material and structural mechanical modelling and reliability of thin-walled bellows at cryogenic temperatures. Application to LHC compensation system

The present thesis is dedicated to the behaviour of austenitic stainless steels at cryogenic temperatures. The plastic strain induced martensitic transformation and ductile damage are taken into account in an elastic-plastic material modelling. The kinetic law of →' transformation and the evolution laws of kinematic/isotropic mixed hardening are established. Damage issue is analysed by different ways: mesoscopic isotropic or orthotropic model and a microscopic approach. The material parameters are measured from 316L fine gauge sheet at three levels of temperature: 293 K, 77 K and 4.2 K. The model is applied to thin-walled corrugated shell, used in the LHC interconnections. The influence of the material properties on the stability is studied by a modal analysis. The reliability of the components, defined by the Weibull distribution law, is analysed from fatigue tests. The impact on reliability of geometrical imperfections and thermo-mechanical loads is also analysed.