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The paper focuses on the preliminary determination of the bar length and the experimental performance of the 1m-puncture test in compliance with the guidelines of the IAEA under the given boundary conditions. Following aspects have to be considered concerning the determination of an appropriate length of the bar to obtain maximum damage to the specimen: the design of the package, its drop orientation and the impact point as well as a pre-damage of the package resulting from a previous 9m drop test. According to the Regulations the minimum length of the bar is defined as 20 cm, which has to be adapted to the outer surface of the package, especially to packages with large impact limiters.
In this context, two main aspects are important: First, the realisation of a maximum puncture load applied to the package while no other component of the package has contact with the impact target. Second, the reduction of the risk of buckling and maximising the stiffness of the bar by a length which is as short as possible. In order to optimize the bar length, finite element calculations are often done by simulating the global behaviour of the package during the puncture test. The evaluation of the conducted puncture test regarding IAEA compliance is done by analysing deceleration measurements. The paper presents a possible approach to determine the length of the bar and the construction of a form-fitted connection to the target showing various examples of puncture tests.
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) is assessing the mechanical and thermal safety performance of packages for the transport of radioactive materials. Drop testing and numerical calculations are usually part of the safety case concepts, where BAM is performing the regulatory tests at their own test facility site.
Among other mechanical tests the 1 meter drop onto a steel puncture bar shall be considered for accident safe packages. According to the IAEA regulations “the bar shall be of solid mild steel of circular section, 15.0 ± 0.5 cm in diameter and 20 cm long, unless a longer bar would cause greater damage…”.
Particularly with regard to the German transport- and storage cask designs, often made from ductile cast iron, an accurate determination of the puncture bar length to guarantee a load impact covering the worst case scenario can be imperative. If the fracture mechanical proof for the cask material shall be provided by a test, small deviations in the concentrated load applied can be decisive for the question if the cask fails or not.
The most damaging puncture bar length can be estimated by iterative procedure in numerical simulations. On the one hand, a sufficient puncture bar length shall guarantee that shock absorbers or other attachments do not prevent or reduce the local load application to the package, on the other hand, a longer and thus less stiff bar causes a smaller maximum contact force. The contrary influence of increasing puncture bar length and increasing effective drop height shall be taken into account if a shock absorber is directly placed in the target area. The paper presents a numerical approach to identify the bar length that causes maximum damage to the package. Using the example of two typical package masses the sensitivity of contact forces and puncture bar deformations to the initial length are calculated and assessed with regard to the international IAEA package safety requirements.