Publications Details
Numerical optimization schemes for the design of transportation packages
Numerical optimization has been successfully used to obtain optimal designs in a more efficient and structured manner in many industries. Optimization of sizing variables is already a widely used design tool and even though shape optimization is still an active research topic, significant successes have been achieved for many structural analysis problems. The transportation cask design problem seems to have the formulation and requirements to benefit from numerical optimization. Complex structural, thermal and radiation shielding analyses associated with cask design constraints can be integrated and automated through numerical optimization to help meet the growing needs for safe and reliable shipping containers. Improved overall package safety and efficiency with cost savings in the design and fabrication can also be realized. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has the opportunity to be a significant contributor in the development of new sophisticated transportation cask design tools. Current state-of-the-art technology at SNL in the areas of structural mechanics, thermal mechanics, numerical analysis, adaptive finite element analysis, automatic mesh generation, and transportation cask design can be combined to enhance current industry-standard cask design and analysis techniques through numerical optimization.