EHTC 2009

FEM-Applications in Nuclear Engineering: Container Drop Test Simulations

Thomas Nierhaus, Evonik

Container drop test simulations by means of FEM of are of frequent interest in the scope of safety analyses for approval processes in nuclear engineering, where it has to be ensured that no nuclear contamination takes place as a consequence of container damage due to a drop. We performed a RADIOSS 9.01 drop test simulation of a nuclear waste container into a storage pit of an intermediate storage facility. The drop onto a rigid floor takes place from a height of 23 meters onto one of the container edges.

The nuclear waste container mainly consists of a reinforced concrete cask. An intermediate steel cask is embedded inside in order to shield radiation. The nuclear waste itself is stored in four primary steel casks that are cast into the intermediate steel cask with mortar. Concrete and mortar are modelled with solid elements and a plasticity-based brittle damage model (LAW24), which assumes that the main two failure mechanisms are tensile cracking and compressive crushing. For all steel materials, the elastic-plastic Johnson-Cook model (LAW2) has been used.

We analyzed the damage of the container in order to predict whether radioactive material is released into the environment. Results show that the primary casks containing the nuclear waste are not crushed due to the damage. No contamination of the environment is expected as a consequence of the drop scenario.

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