TY - JOUR
T1 - Reversal bending fatigue test system for investigating vibration integrity of spent nuclear fuel during transportation
AU - Wang, J. A.
AU - Wang, H.
AU - Bevard, B. B.
AU - Howard, R. L.
AU - Flanagan, M. E.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2015.
PY - 2014/9/1
Y1 - 2014/9/1
N2 - Transportation packages for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) must meet safety requirements under normal and accident conditions as specified by federal regulations. During transportation, SNF experiences unique conditions and challenges to cladding integrity due to the vibrational and impact loading during road or rail shipment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been developing testing capabilities that can be used to improve the understanding of the impacts on SNF integrity due to vibration loading, especially for high burn-up SNF in normal transportation operation conditions. This information can be used tomeet the nuclear industry andU.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs in the area of safety and security of SNF storage and transportation operations. TheORNL developed test system can perform reversal bending fatigue testing to evaluate both the static and dynamic mechanical response of SNF rods under simulated loads. The testing apparatus is also designed to meet the challenges of hot cell operation, including remote installation and detachment of theSNF test specimen, in situ test specimen deformation measurement, and implementation of a driving system suitable for use in a hot cell. The system contains a U frame set-up equipped with uniquely designed grip rigs to protect the SNF rod sample and to ensure valid test results, and uses three specially designedlinear variable differential transformers to obtain the in situ curvaturemeasurement.Avariety of surrogate test rods have been usedtodevelop and calibrate the test systemaswell as inperforming a series of systematic cyclic fatigue tests. The surrogate rods include stainless steel (SS) cladding, SS cladding with cast epoxy and SS cladding with alumina pellet inserts simulating fuel pellets. Testing to date has shown that the interface bonding between the SS cladding and the alumina pellets has a significant impact on the bending response of the test rods aswell as their fatigue strength. The failure behaviours observed from tested surrogate rods provide a fundamental understanding of the underlying failuremechanisms of theSNF surrogate rodunder vibration,which has not been achieved previously. The newly developed device is scheduled to be installed in the hot cell in summer 2013 to test high burn-up SNF.
AB - Transportation packages for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) must meet safety requirements under normal and accident conditions as specified by federal regulations. During transportation, SNF experiences unique conditions and challenges to cladding integrity due to the vibrational and impact loading during road or rail shipment. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been developing testing capabilities that can be used to improve the understanding of the impacts on SNF integrity due to vibration loading, especially for high burn-up SNF in normal transportation operation conditions. This information can be used tomeet the nuclear industry andU.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs in the area of safety and security of SNF storage and transportation operations. TheORNL developed test system can perform reversal bending fatigue testing to evaluate both the static and dynamic mechanical response of SNF rods under simulated loads. The testing apparatus is also designed to meet the challenges of hot cell operation, including remote installation and detachment of theSNF test specimen, in situ test specimen deformation measurement, and implementation of a driving system suitable for use in a hot cell. The system contains a U frame set-up equipped with uniquely designed grip rigs to protect the SNF rod sample and to ensure valid test results, and uses three specially designedlinear variable differential transformers to obtain the in situ curvaturemeasurement.Avariety of surrogate test rods have been usedtodevelop and calibrate the test systemaswell as inperforming a series of systematic cyclic fatigue tests. The surrogate rods include stainless steel (SS) cladding, SS cladding with cast epoxy and SS cladding with alumina pellet inserts simulating fuel pellets. Testing to date has shown that the interface bonding between the SS cladding and the alumina pellets has a significant impact on the bending response of the test rods aswell as their fatigue strength. The failure behaviours observed from tested surrogate rods provide a fundamental understanding of the underlying failuremechanisms of theSNF surrogate rodunder vibration,which has not been achieved previously. The newly developed device is scheduled to be installed in the hot cell in summer 2013 to test high burn-up SNF.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941205545&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1179/1746510915Y.0000000002
DO - 10.1179/1746510915Y.0000000002
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84941205545
SN - 1746-5095
VL - 25
SP - 119
EP - 132
JO - Packaging, Transport, Storage and Security of Radioactive Material
JF - Packaging, Transport, Storage and Security of Radioactive Material
IS - 3-4
ER -
