Beneficial influence of the weldment rupture of cask impact limiter case on the impact absorbing behavior

In the cask impact limiter design, the functions of steel case should be evaluated for the protection of the filler materials and the impact energy absorption by the buckling deformation in both the fire and impact accidents. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the beneficial influence of the intermittent weldment of the cask impact limiter case on the cask impact behavior. This paper describes the test results for the joint strength evaluation of intermittent weldment and the cask impact analysis considering the weldment rupture of the impact limiter case. The weldment rupture of the impact limiter case causes to lose their constraining effect for the wood blocks, which are filled into the metal incasement between the case and the gussets. The weldment rupture of the impact limiter case reduces the impact force which acts on the impact target significantly in vertical and horizontal drop impacts. Therefore the beneficial effect of weldment rupture should be considered in the impact limiter design and the cask impact analysis.     

Experimental determination of heat transfer from transport casks with axial fins

Abstract

In order to achieve higher heat dissipation, the outer surface area of a transport and storage cask for radioactive material can be increased by the use of cooling fins. CASTOR^® casks are fitted with cooling fins machined into the cask body, which run circumferentially around the outer surface of the cask. The first-generation CONSTOR^® casks have a smooth outer surface without fins, which is made from a steel plate. This is possible because the heat capacity of their contents is relatively low. For CONSTOR^® casks to have a higher heat capacity it is necessary to develop a special solution to allow heat to be dissipated from the outer surface of the cask. For the CASTOR^® cask series it is also desirable to achieve higher rates of heat dissipation. From an economic point of view, a solution whereby separate cooling fins are attached to a smooth outer surface would be preferable to the currently machined fins. Several possible solutions are available for achieving this and one of the ideas has been investigated in detail. This concept comprises a series of aluminium profiles which are strapped to the smooth outer cask surface. This in effect provides a cask with axial fins. This solution also allows for the inclusion of moderator material within certain areas of the aluminium profiles. Several experiments have been performed to investigate this concept. A test specimen was investigated, consisting of a 2 m by 0.4 m segment of the finned profile attached to a heating plate. In order to simulate various cask orientations during transport and storage, measurements were taken for different test-piece orientations. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the various tests were also performed.     

Vulnerabilities of legacy fuel casks when evaluated using modern structural analysis tools

Abstract

Cylindrical fuel casks often have impact limiters surrounding the ends of the cask shaft in a typical 'dumbbell' arrangement. The primary purpose of these impact limiters is to absorb energy to reduce loads on the cask structure during impacts associated with a severe accident. Impact limiters are also credited in many packages with protecting closure seals and reducing peak temperatures during fire events. For this credit to be taken in safety analyses, the impact limiter attachment system must be shown to retain the impact limiter following normal conditions of transport (NCT) and hypothetical accident conditions (HAC) impacts. Large casks are often certified by analysis only because of the cost associated with testing. Therefore, some cask impact limiter attachment systems have not been tested in real impacts. A recent structural analysis of the T-3 spent fuel containment cask found problems with the design of the impact limiter attachment system. Assumptions in the original safety analysis for packaging (SARP) concerning the loading in the attachment bolts were found to be inaccurate in certain drop orientations. This paper documents the lessons learned and their applicability to impact limiter attachment system designs.     

A simple sizing optimization technique for an impact limiter based on dynamic material properties

According to IAEA regulations, a transportation package for radioactive material should perform its intended function of containing the radioactive contents after a drop test, which is one of the hypothetical accident conditions. Impact limiters attached to a transport cask absorb most of the impact energy. So, it is important to determine the shape, size and material of impact limiters properly. The material data needed in this determination is a dynamic one. In this study, several materials considered as those of impact limiters were tested by drop weight equipment to acquire the dynamic material characteristics data. The impact absorbing volume of the impact limiter was derived mathematically for each drop condition. A size optimization of the impact limiter was conducted. The derived impact absorbing volumes were applied as constraints. These volumes should be less than the critical volumes generated based on the dynamic material characteristics. The derived procedure to decide the shape of the impact limiter can be useful at the preliminary design stage when the transportation package's outline is roughly determined and applied as an input value.     

Protecting against corner impacts: sensitivities discovered during a rail cask impact limiter design

Type B packages for the transportation of radioactive materials must remain ‘essentially leak tight’ under severe regulatory accident conditions, defined in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s 10 CFR 71·73 and the International Atomic Energy Agency’s TS-R-1. The 9-m free drop test requirement onto an unyielding surface is performed in an orientation ‘for which maximum damage is expected’. Analytical techniques are used to evaluate various possible impact orientations before testing, and historically these maximal damage orientations have been side, slap-down, end, and centre-of-gravity over corner. Other orientations are rarely considered. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was asked by Equipos Nucleares SA (ENSA) to design, analyse, and test an impact limiter system for a newly designed rail cask. During the conceptual design process, SNL performed due diligence and evaluated a wide spectrum of possible impact orientations, in order to assure that peak cask body acceleration design goals were not exceeded. However, design of the impact limiter, including not only crush strength of constituent materials (which can be orientation and temperature dependent), but also the shape of the impact limiter, greatly affects peak acceleration response during 9-m drops in various orientations. Although many impact limiter design shapes resemble truncated right circular cylinders attached to each end of the cask, some tend to round the outer corners or truncate those corners with conical sections. SNL’s original conceptual design followed a similar theme, intending to use polyurethane foam or aluminium honeycomb within a bevelled corner shaped cylindrical shell. Detailed finite element analyses indicated excellent impact resistance at regulatory cold temperatures in the stereotypically tested side, slap-down, end, and CGOC impact orientations. Shortly before proceeding to engineering design, a rarely-considered impact orientation of 45° from horizontal indicated that cask body acceleration levels jumped unexpectedly, exceeding the design goal due to insufficient crushable material protecting the sharp corner of the cask. A complete re-design of the impact limiter was necessary, and the lessons learned from this experience could have implications for future impact limiter designs, and possibly existing designs that may not have considered this atypical impact orientation during the design process.     

Dynamic impact characteristics of KN-18 SNF transport cask – Part 1: An advanced numerical simulation and validation technique

Domestic and international regulations for the transportation of radioactive materials strictly prescribe the design requirements for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) transport casks. According to the applicable codes, a transport cask must withstand a free-drop impact of 9 m onto an unyielding surface and a free-drop impact of 1 m onto a mild steel bar. However, the structural performance of a transport cask is not easy to evaluate precisely because the dynamic impact characteristics of the cask, which includes impact limiters to absorb the impact energy, are so complex.     

Finite element modelling of the one meter drop test on a steel bar for the CASTOR cask

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the 1 m drop test on a steel bar of a CASTOR AVR cask where the impact is in a region with cooling fins as well as in a region where the fins have been locally removed. The paper consists of two parts: (i) a parameter study with an overall objective to derive an analysis methodology and (ii) comparison with experimental data. The parameter study includes parameters that can not be, or were not, defined directly from the experimental data as well as parameters linked to the numerical procedures within the finite element procedure. The parameters are validated by their influence on the model responses and effort needed for the assessment of their appropriate values. Then the model with the “best” parameter set is verified against the experimental results. The agreement between experimental and simulation results are very good.     

Topical BAM cask design evaluation using drop tests and numerical calculations: accidental cask drop without impact limiters onto storage building foundation

Abstract

Cask impacts without impact limiters onto unyielding targets result in totally different mechanical reactions from those of relatively smooth impacts using impact limiters. During the licensing procedure of the new GNS CASTOR HAW 28M design for vitrified high activity waste, BAM therefore decided to perform an additional drop test with a 1 : 2 scale test cask (CASTOR HAW/TB2). In spite of a small drop height of only 0˙3 m onto the unyielding target of the BAM drop test facility, which conservatively covers any storage building foundation, the impact caused considerable stresses to the cask structure with high stress and strain rates. This paper presents the evaluation strategy of BAM including the drop test results and the development and qualification of appropriate finite element modelling to achieve sufficient agreement between test and calculation results. Further steps include mechanical analyses of reduced and full scale cask designs to determine the most critically stressed areas of the structure, verify scaling factors and demonstrate safety with respect to cask integrity and tightness.     

Comparison of the Structural Integrity of Ductile Iron and Stainless Steel Casks for Transport of Radioactive Material

Abstract

The results are presented of 9 m (30 ft) drop simulations of three different types of transport casks, a monolithic ductile iron (DI) cask, a monolithic stainless steel (SS) cask, and a lead-shielded stainless steel (SS/Pb) sandwich cask. Each simulation involves two casks, one lying horizontally on an unyielding surface and the other positioned 9 m (30 ft) above the top surface of the lower cask. The top cask then free falls onto the lower cask, resulting in a more severe impact than the standard drop test required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The drop tests were simulated using DYNA3D, a non-linear, explicit, three-dimensional finite element code for solid and structural mechanics. The results show that the monolithic casks are much stiffer than the stainless steel/lead sandwich cask. The largest difference was observed between the DI cask and the SS/Pb sandwich cask. Although the SS/Pb cask experiences considerable plastic deformation, none of them experiences failure by rupture, and they all perform within the requirements of Regulatory Guide 7.6, Revision 1 and IOCFR71. The better to compare the results, stress- and strain-based factors of safety were calculated for all of the simulations. These calculations show that the DI cask has a larger margin of safety than the SS/Pb sandwich cask, while the monolithic SS cask has a larger margin of safety than the monolithic DI cask. Finally, to address the concern over the brittleness of the DI casks, critical flaw sizes were calculated. All flaws required for crack propagation were larger than those detectable by current inspection techniques. Overall, the results of this study indicate that DI has sufficient strength, ductility, and fracture toughness to be considered as a structural material for transport casks.     

Safety Analysis of Casks Under Extreme Impact Conditions

Abstract

The determination of the inherent safety of casks under extreme impact conditions has been of increasing interest since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. For nearly three decades BAM has been investigating cask safety under severe accident conditionslike drop tests from more than 9 m onto different targets and without impact limiters as well as artificially damaged prototype casks. One of the most critical scenarios for a cask is the centric impact of a dynamic load onto the lid-seal system. This can be caused, for example, by a direct aircraft crash (or just its engine) as well as by an impact due to thecollapse of a building, e.g. a nuclear facility storage hall. In this context BAM is developing methods to calculate the deformation of cask components and — with respect to leak-tightness — relative displacements between the metallic seals and their counterparts. This paper presents reflections on modelling of cask structures for finite-element analyses and discusses calculated results of stresses and deformations. Another important aspect is the behaviour of a cask under a lateral impact by aircraft or fragments of a building. Examples of the kinetic reaction (cask acceleration due to the fragments, subsequent contact with neighbouring structures like the ground, buildings or casks) are shown and discussed in correlation to cask stresses which are to be expected.     

Experimental testing of impact limiters for RAM packages under drop test conditions

In context with new cask designs and their approval procedure, the experimental testing of impact limiters under drop test conditions becomes more and more important in order to assess the damage mechanics behaviour and safety margins for validation reasons. In recent years, various designs of impact limiters have been tested by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing within specific component testing and particularly with regard to type B package design approval procedures. The paper focuses on the experimental realisation of impact limiter tests and presents implemented measurement techniques to determine the amount of deformation and to explain the impact behaviour by means of photogrammetric metrology and three-dimensional fringe projection method, high speed motion analysis and adjusted deceleration measurements.     

Finite element analyses and verifying tests for a shock-absorbing effect of a pad in a spent fuel storage cask

A spent fuel storage cask is required to prove the safety of its canister under a hypothetical accidental drop condition which means that the canister is assumed to be free dropped on to a pad of the storage cask during the loading of the canister into a storage cask. In this paper, finite element analyses and verifying tests for a shock-absorbing effect of a pad in a spent fuel dry storage cask were carried out to improve the structural integrity of the canister under a hypothetical accidental drop condition. The pad of the storage cask was originally designed as cylindrical steel structure filled with concrete. The pad was modified by using the structure composed of steel and polyurethane-foam instead of the quarter of the upper concrete as an impact limiter. The effects of the shape and the thickness of the steel structure and the density of the polyurethane-foam which was used in between steel structures were studied. As the optimized pad of a spent fuel dry storage cask, the quarter of the upper concrete was replaced with 12 mm thick circular steel structure and polyurethane-foam whose density was 85 kg/m³. The drop tests of a 1/3 scale model for the canister on to the original pad and the optimized pad were conducted. The effect of the pad structure was evaluated from the drop tests. The optimized pad has a greater shock-absorbing effect than the original pad. In order to verify the analysis results, strains and accelerations in the time domain by the analytical methods were compared with those by a test. The numerical method of simulating the free drop test for a dry storage cask was verified and the numerical results were found to be reliable.     

YG-1型运输容器跌落分析与结构优化

利用ANSYS/LS-DYNA程序进行了YG-1型运输容器9 m动态压碎试验的显示动力学分析。根据材料力学试验确定金属材料和非金属材料各项参数,建立合理的有限元模型进行模拟。初步计算结果表明,箱盖上的角钢结构不利于碰撞能量的吸收,导致燃料元件应力过大,不满足ASME规范BPVC-Ⅲ的强度要求。经过对容器防撞结构的重新设计,最终使YG-1型运输容器设计满足ASME规范强度要求。     

The use of energy absorbers to protect structures against impact loading

When a flying missible impacts a fixed structure, the interface loading is dependent on the deformation characteristics of both impacting and impacted bodies. If both are too rigid to accommodate the amount of gross deformation required to neutralize the incoming kinetic energy, or if such energy absorption has a chance to proceed in uncontrolled and unreliable ways, then there is a need to interpose a specifically designed “energy absorber” between missile and structure, from which a well-defined load time history can be derived during the course of impact.

The required characteristics of such an energy absorption material are:

• the capability to accommodate large permanent deformation without structural failure; and

• the reliable and controlled “load-deformation” (or “stress-strain”) behaviour under dynamic conditions, with an aim at an optimal square shape curve.

Consideration must also be given to environmental or other disturbing effects, like temperature, humidity, and “out of plane” loading. A short survey is presented of the wide range of energy absorbers already described in technical papers or used in a number of practical safety applications within varied engineering fields (from vehicle crash barriers to high energy pipe whipping restraints). However, with such open a literature, information is usually lacking in the specific data required for design analysis.

The following “energy absorption” materials and processes have thus been further experimentally investigated, with an a aim at pipe whipping restraint application for nuclear power plants:

1. (1) plastic extension of austenitic stainless steel rods;

2. (2) plastic compression of copper bumpers; and

3. (3) punching of lightweight concrete structures.

Dynamic “stress-strain” characteristics have been established for stainless steel bars at several temperatures under representative loading conditions. For this purpose, a test rig has been specifically designed to incorporate a number of adjustable parameters and to behave as a representative “slice” of an actual pipe whipping restraint; typical strain rates are in the 10 sec⁻¹ range. The behaviour of copper bumpers has been compared under static and dynamic conditions (using a conventional drop weight test (DWT) machine); as no significant strain rate effects were emphasized, only static tests have been further developed. The DWT rig was used again to investigate crushing or punching of cellular concrete under varying geometries and loading conditions. To remedy certain deficiencies of the regular commercial grades of cellular concrete, special lightweight mixtures have been studied to optimize material toughness and provide a wider range of specific resistance.Results of this experimental program are presented and discussed. The use of energy absorbers is then illustrated for a few typical pipe whipping restraints. The design of restraints is based on real dynamic characteristics of “energy absorption” material as produced by the test program. To derive design loads of restraints, a number of methods can be used ranging from a simplified “energy balance” graph to sophisticated plastodynamic computer analysis. Typical results are presented and discussed to compare the efficiency of these alternative methods.     

A study on the free drop impact of a cask using commercial FEA codes

The package used to transport radioactive materials, which is called a cask, must be designed to keep its contents safe under normal and hypothetical accident conditions. The design requirements of the cask are verified by test or finite element analysis (FEA). Comparing evaluation procedures for the safety of a new cask, the cost of FEA is generally much less than that test. Therefore, FEA is mainly used to verify safety of a cask under the considered conditions. However, one commercial FEA code may show different results from another FEA code for the same problem due to the modeler's several assumptions for simplifying actual states into the FE model and due to modeling technique. Materials of the components of a cask display elastic–plastic or elastic–perfectly plastic behavior under the considered conditions in which large deformation, impact and contact mechanism are included. The behavior is simulated with difficulty and may have different results depending on FEA codes. In this paper, finite element analysis is carried out for the 9-m free drop and the puncture condition under the hypothetical accident condition by using LS-DYNA3D and ABAQUS/Explicit. Energy and effective stress on each component are presented and compared between the two FEA codes, where the effective stress designates the maximum von Mises stress on inner and outer shells.     

Spent fuel transportation risk assessment: cask impact analyses

Abstract

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently completed an updated Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment, NUREG-2125. This assessment considered the response of three certified casks to a range of impact accidents in order to determine whether or not they would lose their ability to contain the spent fuel or maintain effective shielding. The casks consisted of a lead shielded rail cask that can be transported either with or without an inner welded canister, an all-steel rail cask that is transported with an inner welded canister, and a DU shielded truck cask that is transported with directly loaded fuel. Finite element analyses were performed for impacts at speeds of 48, 97, 145 and 193 kilometres per hour into a rigid target. Impacts in end-on, side-on, and CG-over-corner orientations were analysed for each cask and impact speed. Calculations were performed to equate these impacts onto rigid targets with higher speed impacts onto the yielding targets that exist in the real world. These analyses indicated that a cask with an inner welded canister or a truck cask would not release radioactive material in any impact accident and that only very high-speed impacts onto hard rock targets could result in either release of material or significant degradation of shielding for rail casks without an inner canister. Impacts other than those onto flat unyielding targets were also considered. Analyses show that an impact that bypasses the impact limiters on the ends of the casks does not result in seal failure and neither does an impact by a locomotive also between the impact limiters.     

Spent fuel transport cask thermal evaluation under normal and accident conditions

The casks used for transport of nuclear materials, especially the spent fuel element (SPE), must be designed according to rigorous acceptance criteria and standards requirements, e.g. the International Atomic Energy Agency ones, in order to provide protection to people and environment against radiation exposure particularly in a severe accident scenario.The aim of this work was the evaluation of the integrity of a spent fuel cask under both normal and accident scenarios transport conditions, such as impact and rigorous fire events, in according to the IAEA accident test requirements. The thermal behaviour and the temperatures distribution of a Light Water Reactor (LWR) spent fuel transport cask are presented in this paper, especially with reference to the Italian cask designed by AGN, which was characterized by a cylindrical body, with water or air inside the internal cavity, and two lateral shock absorbers.Using the finite element code ANSYS a series of thermal analyses (steady-state and transient thermal analyses) were carried out in order to obtain the maximum fuel temperature and the temperatures field in the body of the cask, both in normal and in accidents scenario, considering all the heat transfer modes between the cask and the external environment (fire in the test or air in the normal conditions) as well as inside the cask itself.In order to follow the standards requirements, the thermal analyses in accidents scenarios were also performed adopting a deformed shape of the shock absorbers to simulate the mechanical effects of a previous IAEA 9 m drop test event. Impact tests on scale models of the shock absorbers have already been conducted in the past at the Department of Mechanical, Nuclear and Production Engineering, University of Pisa, in the ‘80s. The obtained results, used for possible new licensing approval purposes by the Italian competent Authority of the cask for PWR spent fuel cask transport by the Italian competent Authority, are discussed.     

Analysis of critical heat flux during subcooled boiling for finned fuel elements

Experimental and analytical studies were performed to determine the critical heat flux (CHF) during subcooled boiling on finned fuel elements. Tests were conducted in a vertical, concentric-annulus test section consisting of a glass tube containing a finned heater element with either six, eight, or ten longitudinal fins. The phenomena leading to CHF are described and the parametric trends are discussed.A two-dimensional finite-element heat transfer model using the Galerkin method was used to analyse the experimental data to obtain CHF values. A dimensionless correlation was derived to predict the CHF values during subcooled boiling. Over 90% of the predicted CHF values agreed with those obtained from the two-dimensional analysis within ±30%.