TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Drop testing of a container for the storage, transport and disposal of intermediate level waste N2 - Impact tests were performed, as part of a corresponding container’s substantiation, during design development of a shielded container proposed for use at Sellafield for waste retrieval from the First Generation Magnox Storage Pond (FGMSP) in the UK. The mechanical test program comprised a 9m free drop test onto an unyielding target in a container long lid edge down orientation at ambient conditions. Further, a 0,5m free drop test onto a punch target was performed. Here, the container was orientated with the lid downwards in a way that the punch, a mild steel bar, impacts a filter lid. The test specimen was instrumented with strain gauges and accelerometers for the drop tests. Transient strains at selected points of the inner and outer container walls, at the shielding lid, as well as at the lid bolts were measured during the container’s impact. Furthermore, decelerations of the container body, container lid, and the skip were measured. The complex geometrical changes of the container due to impact were determined by optical 3d- deformation measures using the projected fringes method in combination with multi-image photogrammetry. This paper summarizes the performance of the drop tests and various drop test results in context with the design development as well as aspects regarding the associated Finite Element (FE) analyses and post-test evaluation. T2 - WM2018 Conference CY - Phoenix, Arizona, USA DA - 18.03.2018 KW - Drop testing KW - Container PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44859 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Internal cask content collisions during drop test of transport casks for radioactive materials T2 - 17th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 2013) CY - San Francisco, CA, USA DA - 2013-08-18 PY - 2013 AN - OPUS4-31555 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Experimental testing of RAM packages within Japanese German projects N2 - The paper presents two cooperative projects focused on project management, testing performance and experimental results. T2 - 18th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials PATRAM 2016 CY - Kobe, Japan DA - 18.09.2016 KW - Drop testing KW - Package PY - 2016 AN - OPUS4-37558 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Historical and Technical Facts of the Drop Test Facility at the BAM Technical test Side Horstwalde T2 - International Symposium "Non-Destructive Testing in Civil Engineering" CY - Berlin- Germany DA - 2015-09-15 PY - 2015 AN - OPUS4-34447 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Comparsion of Experimental Results from Drop Testing of a Spent Fuel Package Design Using a Full-scale Prototype Model and a Reduced-scale Model T2 - PATRAM 2007 CY - Miami, FL, USA DA - 2007-10-21 PY - 2007 AN - OPUS4-18595 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Waste container drop tests onto a concrete target. T2 - PATRAM 2010, 16th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transport of Radioactive Materials CY - London, England DA - 2010-10-03 PY - 2010 AN - OPUS4-22938 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Interactions Between Cask Components and Content of Packaging for the Transport of Radioactive Material During Drop Tests T2 - 17. International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor (SmiRT 17) CY - Prague, Czech Republic DA - 2003-08-17 PY - 2003 AN - OPUS4-5281 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Internal Cask-Content-Collisions During Drop Test of Transport Casks for Radioactive Materials T2 - Radioactive Materials Transport and Storage Conference and Exhibition 2012, Royal Geographical Society CY - London, England DA - 2012-05-23 PY - 2012 AN - OPUS4-25996 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - Full-scale drop testing with a heavy-weight package for radioactive waste N2 - Packages for the transport of radioactive materials shall fulfil the requirements of the IAEA regulations for the safe transport. The requirements define mechanical and thermal test conditions including criteria ensuring the package design’s ability to withstand severe accidents and provide a high level of technical safety. Different methods can be used for safety demonstration showing compliance with the regulations. The central part of a safety demonstration which is presented in this paper was a comprehensive drop test program with a full-scale model of a transport package accompanied by pre- and post-test FE analyses. Using full-scale drop test models allow the benefit that similarity and scaling issues become a significant smaller issue, additional material investigations can be limited and analyses for transferring test results to the original package design are reduced. Additionally, experience for the future serial packaging manufacturing and handling procedures can be collected in a very early state of the design approval process. The pre-test finite element analyses derived and justified the drop test program consisting of several drop sequences with different drop orientations of the specimen. The performance and the results of the drop test sequences shows the manageability and the advantage e.g., in view of the direct availability of test results for the package licensing. On the other hand, the drop test performance shows the difficulties during handling and the need for additional equipment during preparation of the specimen. The package presented was intended for the transport and storage of compacted radioactive waste from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel assemblies - designed and applied for approval by the AGC consortium. The project ended in 2021. The package design was characterized by a cask body made of a forged thick stainless-steel shell, a bolted double lid system with metallic gaskets and wood filled shock absorbers at both ends. The total mass of the entire transport package including content was 120,000 kg, the total length was about 7000 mm and the diameter approximately 3000 mm, both measures include the shock absorbers. The paper provides an insight into the performance of a full-scale drop testing campaign within the package safety evaluation and shows some selected test results. T2 - 20th International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials (PATRAM 22) CY - Juan-Les-Pins, France DA - 11.06.2023 KW - Full-scale KW - Drop testing KW - Package KW - Radioactive waste PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57731 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Quercetti, Thomas T1 - A fire test stand for thermal testing of extra-large packages N2 - Packages for the transport of high-level radioactive materials are designed to withstand severe accidents. These packages must adhere to the specification-based criteria of the International Transport Regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). To ensure compliance with these requirements, specific mechanical and thermal tests need to be addressed with respect to the package type. Typically, the Regulations prescribe mechanical tests followed by a thermal test as part of a cumulative test scenario. The thermal test is specified by the exposure of a test specimen for a period of 30 minutes to a thermal environment that provides a heat flux equivalent to that of a hydrocarbon fuel-air fire with an average fire temperature of at least 800 °C fully flame engulfing the test specimen. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) operates various test facilities for this purpose at their test site (TTS) near Berlin in Germany. Thermal tests for large packages are carried out in an established fire test stand that can be adapted by the test-setup to the geometric boundary conditions of a test specimen. This fire test stand is built for test specimens with masses up to 200,000 kg and geometric dimensions relating to large transport packages including their impact limiters. The test specimen is usually placed on a water-cooled support frame in the middle of the test-stand. The fire is realized by burning propane gas which is released in liquid state from an array of gas nozzles arranged in the form of a burner ring surrounding the test specimen. For particularly extra-large test specimens, two burner rings are used on top of each other and at different heights in order to firstly achieve full fire engulfment with a significantly larger volume of fire and secondly to achieve the required heat output. In advance of a regular thermal test BAM usually performs so-called fire reference tests to determine the test conditions for compliance with the IAEA requirements. These tests are performed using a generic package which corresponds to the external geometric dimensions of the test specimen used later in the approval test. Then, this reference package is exposed to a fire under defined test parameters whereas the corresponding heat input determined from the temperature changes measured is regarded as main criterion for proofing compliance with the IAEA criteria. The paper shows the experimental proof of the suitability of BAM’s fire test stand for thermal testing of extra-large packages. The heat input and fire temperatures fully meet the IAEA criteria but can also be set significantly higher for e.g. extra-regulatory testing. T2 - ASME PVP 2025 CY - Montreal, Quebec, Canada DA - 20.07.2025 KW - Package KW - Thermal testing KW - Test stand KW - Fire PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-63893 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -