Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Beitrag zu einem Tagungsband (3) (entfernen)
Sprache
- Englisch (3)
Schlagworte
Organisationseinheit der BAM
Fire testing is an essential part of the hypothetical, cumulative mechanical and thermal accident test conditions that shall guarantee package safety in severe accidents. Not only for radioactive material transport packages but also for other containments of dangerous goods international standards require specific thermal load specifications. Following the guideline 'Safety in tech-nology and chemistry' BAM as a scientific and technical German federal government institute operates a 12 km² large open air test facility for experimental investigations of dangerous goods and their containments. On an area besides the well-known 200-ton drop test facility we put into operation new fire test facilities. This facility area provides two fire test stands that are utilized with liquid Propane as fuel from a central earth-covered 60 m³ LPG storage tank. From that stor-age the Propane is pumped via pipelines to the test stands where the gas is released from nozzles, and ignited by ignition burners. The fire exposed test facility areas are 12 m x 8 m. Fire test facil-ity B (with gas release nozzles below water-covered ground) is designed for fire testing of con-tainers that may burst during the test. Fire test facility A (with ring burner systems) is designed for heavy test objects up to 200 tons, e.g. for full-scale spent fuel casks.
The paper will present a detailed description of the facility, insight into first test performances, and results of calorimeter fire tests, using containers of various sizes, to verify the absorbed heat fluxes, demonstrating that regulatory fire test conditions are met, and that the Propane fire can be compared with a kerosene or heating oil pool fire.
Fire testing is an essential part of the hypothetical, cumulative mechanical and thermal test conditions that shall guarantee package safety in severe accidents. Within regulatory approval of transport or storage packages for radioactive material, specific thermal load tests are required in accordance to licensing conditions and international standards, respectively. The specifications of these thermal tests are based on test conditions with equivalent heat input to that of a hydrocarbon fuel fire. In the past, light heating oil, diesel or kerosene was mostly used as the fuel to generate the pool fire. In accordance with IAEA regulations for a fire in an accident, the temperature of 800 °C over a period of 30 minutes must be fulfilled. Furthermore, the delivery acceptance criteria for containers in nuclear waste repositories could reach for example average temperatures of 800 °C during a period of one hour in combination with defined requirements on activity release. BAM as a scientific and technical German federal government institute operates an open air Technical Safety Test Site for experimental investigations of dangerous good and its containment. In this areal a large fire test facility is under operation. Liquid Propane is utilized as fuel which is pumped via pipelines from a central storage tank to the fire exposed test facility areas. In the ring burner system, the gas is released from nozzles, and ignited by ignition burners. The paper includes examples of fire test performance with prototypes of a transport package and a storage container, respectively. In preparation of the thermal load, calorimeter tests have been performed using test specimens of appropriate size and behavior. For the fire test scenario is demonstrated that the IAEA thermal test requirements are fulfilled.
Full engulfment fire tests have been conducted on total containment pressure vessels filled to 50% and 98 % capacity with water. The tests included an unprotected tank and tanks with two different levels of thermal protection. Total containment in this context means there was no pressure relief device. The tests were conducted with 1/3rd linear scale rail tank cars similar to the DOT 111 tank cars used in North America. The 2.4 m3 model tanks were subjected to 100 % engulfing fires fuelled by liquid propane. The fire heat flux was approximately 80 % by radiation and 20 % by convection with a total heat flux to a cool surface of approximately 100 kW/m2.