Publications Details

Over-the-road tests of nuclear materials package response to normal environments

Gwinn, K.W.; Glass, R.E.; Edwards, K.R.

In support of the development of American National Standards Institute standards for the transport of radioactive materials, Sandia has a program to characterize the normal transport environment. This program includes both analytical modeling of package and trailer responses, and over-the-road tests to measure those responses. This paper presents the results of a series of over-the-road tests performed using Chem-Nuclear equipment in the Barnwell, SC, area. The test events included a variety of road types such as rough concrete, shock events such as railroad grade crossings, and driver responses such as sharp turns. The response of the package and trailer to these events was measured with accelerometers at various locations to determine the inertial loads. Either load cells or strain gages were used to measure tiedown response. These accelerations and loads were measured on systems with flexible and ``rigid`` tiedowns. The results indicated that while significant accelerations occur on the trailer bed, these do not translate into equivalent loads in either the package or the tiedown system. This indicates that trailer-bed response should not be used in determining the load factor for fatigue calculations of the package components or in determining design loads for tiedowns.