Equipment and facilities

The drop test facility consists of a 36-metre high drop tower with a maximum load of 200 tons, a closed test hall with an 80-ton overhead crane and an unyielding target.

Hoist for loads up to 200 tons (enlarged picture)

The load capacity of the hoist (200 tons) and the unyielding base (2450 tons of concrete mass, 103 tons of steel reinforcement, 77 tons of steel impact plate) have been designed to allow for the new-generation of spent fuel transport and storage containers to be tested in their original size.

Detachment device for momentum-free release of containers (enlarged picture)

The detachment devices, developed by BAM, utilise a cracking of bolt by hydraulic impression cylinder which permits a momentum-free release for up to 200 ton heavy test objects.

The high dynamic strain- and deceleration-time history of container impact can be recorded and analysed by multi-channel data acquisition systems.

Type B containers requiring design approval to transport radioactive material must have an accident-safe design and require mechanical tests, e.g. by means of a free fall from a height of 9 m onto the unyielding target as well as from a height of 1 m on a rigidly mounted mild steel bar.

The maximum hook lift of 30 m enables substantially greater drop heights than 9 m, so that the actually available safety margins of containers can be quantitatively determined for research purposes. Relations between the impact on an unyielding target and "softer" real targets such as soil can be determined by modifying the impact surface. Knowledge gained from drop tests on "softer" targets can be applied to load scenarios, like those researched by BAM in the legal field of nuclear issues, e.g. a hypothetical crash of a spent fuel element transport container from a lift frame or in another management situation in nuclear plants.

top