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Within the last years BAM has carried out numerous drop tests with prototype casks made of ductile cast iron onto targets according to the requirements for final disposal of non-heat generating waste in the German KONRAD repository. The results have shown that the target specifications in the acceptance criteria have to be defined more accurately to get reproducible test results with high precision. Hence, a suitable test stand foundation was developed with much effort. The integrity of the upper concrete layer of this target must be preserved during a test.
Recently the geometrical properties of a tested cubic cast iron container led to a concentration of the impact forces beneath the container walls. The target was damaged strongly with the consequence of inadmissible reduction of cask stresses. For that reason the target construction was modified. However, the basic design was not changed. A prefabricated concrete slab was still joined by a mortar layer to the IAEA target of the BAM drop test facility. In the course of the optimization of the test stand foundation the concrete slab dimensions and the reinforcement were enlarged. During the drop test repetition the target kept intact. Additionally, the mechanical behavior of the cast iron container and the target was analyzed by finite element calculations.
This improved target construction is suggested as a reference target for drop tests with casks whose mass and base area are covered by the container types VI or VII respectively according to the KONRAD repository acceptance criteria.
The measurements during the drop tests with cast iron casks have provided the strains on the cask surface at selected positions. This allows the verification of finite element simulations of drop tests which show the stress distribution also inside the component. In September 2008 a drop test was carried out with a cylindrical cast iron cask containing an artificial material defect which was designed under consideration of critical stress states in the cask body. This drop test could demonstrate the safety against failure by fracture of a cask made of a special cast iron with reduced fracture toughness.
Practical methods for the safety assessment of postulated crack-like material defects of cubic containers made of ductile cast iron are presented. A formula for the stress intensity factor of a crack in a fillet with a radius from 20 to 200 mm under static load conditions is given. From that, an assessment diagram is derived for the critical depth of a crack in a fillet. The formula may be used to estimate the stress intensity factor of a dynamically loaded crack for special cases. As an application the results of the estimation procedure are compared with the results of a dynamic finite element calculation.
BAM is the responsible authority in Germany for the assessment of the mechanical and thermal design safety of packages for the transport of radioactive materials. The assessment has to cover the proof of brittle fracture safety for package components made of potentially brittle materials. This paper gives a survey of the regulatory and technical requirements for such an assessment according to BAM's new 'Guidelines for the application of ductile cast iron for transport and storage casks for radioactive materials'. Based on these guidelines, higher stresses than before will be permissible, but it is necessary to put more effort into the safety assessment procedure. The fundamentals of such a proof using the methods of fracture mechanics are presented. The recommended procedure takes into account the guidelines of the IAEA's advisory material which are based on the prevention of crack initiation. Examples of BAM's research and safety assessment practices are given. Recommendations for further developments towards package designs with higher acceptable stress levels will conclude the paper.
In the present study, ductile cast iron from an original DCI container with a wide variety of microstructure was
investigated in order to determine the materials fracture toughness under impact loading conditions. Three-point bending
specimens with thickness of 140 mm from a cubic DCI container were investigated at elevated loading rates to
provide reliable fracture toughness parameters for the assessment procedures. In contrast to static fracture behaviour,
the fracture toughness values of thick-walled DCI at higher loading rates show a remarkable reduction with decreasing
temperature up to 50 °C and a significant shift of the transition range. The lower bound fracture toughness value used
in the BAM DCI safety concept was confirmed for impact loading conditions by these fracture mechanics tests using
large specimens. These measurements are relevant to the licensing tests for storage containers without shock absorbers,
especially to the assessment of the dynamic behaviour of crack-like defects inside a cask structure under drop test conditions.
Using extensive dynamic numerical analyses it could be shown, that for special crack configurations the dynamic
crack tip parameter (KI, or J) may be estimated by static formulae even under mechanical impact. These results
of the safety assessment were verified according to the German Konrad repository acceptance criteria by a drop test
with a cubic waste container with artificial crack-like defects from 5 m height onto a representative storage facility
foundation.
In the approval procedure of transport packages for radioactive materials, the competent authority mechanical and thermal safety assessment is carried out in Germany by BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing. The combination of experimental investigations and numerical calculations in conjunction with materials and components testing is the basis of the safety assessment concept of the BAM. Among other mechanical test scenarios, a 1 metre drop test onto a steel bar has to be considered for the application of the hypothetical accident conditions to Type B packages according to IAEA regulations. Within the approval procedure for the new German package design of the HLW cask CASTOR® HAW 28M, designed by GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service Germany, a puncture drop test was performed with a half-scale model of the cask at -40°C. For independent assessment and to control the safety analysis presented by the applicant, BAM developed a complex finite element (FE) model for a dynamical ABAQUS/ExplicitTM analysis. This paper describes in detail the use of the FE method for modelling the puncture drop test within an actual assessment strategy. At first, investigations of the behaviour of the steel bar were carried out. Different friction coefficients and the material law of the bar were analysed by using a 'rigid-body' approximation for the cask body. In the next step, a more detailed FE model with a more realistic material definition for the cask body was developed. The validation of calculated strains was carried out by comparison with the results of the strain gauges located at the relevant points of the cask model. The influence of the FE meshing is described. Finally, the validated FE half-scale model was expanded to full-scale dimension. Scaling effects were analysed. The model was used for safety assessment of the package to be approved.
The test data for static burst strength and load cycle fatigue strength of pressure vessels can often be well described by Gaussian normal or Weibull distribution functions. There are various approaches which can be used to determine the parameters of the Weibull distribution function; however, the performance of these methods is uncertain. In this study, six methods are evaluated by using the criterion of OSL (observed significance level) from Anderson-Darling (AD) goodness of Fit (GoF), These are: a) the norm-log based method, b) least squares regression, c) weighted least squares regression, d) a linear approach based on good linear unbiased estimators, e) maximum likelihood estimation and f) method of moments estimation. In addition, various approaches of ranking function are considered. The results show that there are no outperforming methods which can be identified clearly, primarily due to the limitation of the small sample size of the test data used for Weibull analysis. This randomness resulting from the sampling is further investigated by using Monte Carlo simulations, concluding that the sample size of the experimental data is more crucial than the exact method used to derive Weibull parameters. Finally, a recommendation is made to consider the uncertainties of the limitations due to the small size for pressure vessel testing and also for general material testing.