Prometey local approach to brittle fracture: Development and application

Approach for prediction of brittle fracture proposed by the authors over recent years and known now as Prometey approach is briefly reviewed and new results for its development and application are represented. The physical and mechanical aspects of cleavage microcrack nucleation and propagation are considered. Application of the Prometey local approach is considered for prediction of the effect of irradiation and the shallow crack effect on the fracture toughness transition curve of RPV steels. The effect of the radiation damages on the cleavage microcrack nucleation is discussed.