Publications Details
Crashworthiness of the AT-400A shipping container
Shipping containers used for transporting radioactive material must be certified using federal regulations. These regulations require the container be tested or evaluated in severe mechanical and thermal environments which represent hypothetical accident scenarios. The containers are certified if the inner container remains leaktight. This paper presents results from finite element simulations of the accidents which include subjecting the AT-400A (for Pu from dismantled nuclear weapons) to a 30-foot (9 m) drop onto an unyielding target and crushing the container with an 1100 lb (500 kg) steel plate dropped from 30 feet. The nonlinear PRONTO3D finite element results were validated using test results. The simulations of the various impacts and crushes identified trends and worst-case orientations. They also showed that there is a significant margin of safety based on the failure of the containment vessel.