Lessons learned from drop testing

摘要

The Department of Energy (DOE) has developed a set of standard canisters for the handling, interim storage, transportation, and disposal in the national repository of DOE spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The canister was developed to withstand a drop from 30 feet onto a rigid (flat) surface, sustaining only minor damage - but no rupture - to the pressure (containment) boundary. The design concept was validated through a drop testing program and finite element analyses. The drop-testing program consisted of seven drop tests of smaller test specimens and five drop tests of full-scale representative canisters. This paper addresses fabrication of the test specimens, instrumentation, data acquisition, data processing, and details of the actual drops. The author discusses the problems encountered during the test program, the solutions applied, and some lessons learned. For seasoned drop test engineers, many of the things presented in this paper many seem trivial or obvious. This paper is mainly for those embarking on their first drop test program. It is hoped the information presented herein will make their first drop test go smoother. It is the simple overlooked things that tend to cause problems on test day, rather than the obvious complicated problems that have been well thought out prior to test day.