Structural Analysis of Shipping Casks, Vol. 9. Energy Absorption Capabilities of Plastically Deformed Struts Under Specified Impact Loading Conditions (Thesis)

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the energy absorption characteristics of plastically deformed inclined struts under impact loading. This information is needed to provide a usable method by which designers and analysts of shipping casks for radioactive or fissile materials can determine the energy absorption capabilities of external longitudinal fins on cylindrical casks under specified impact conditions. A survey of technical literature related to experimental determination of the dynamic plastic behavior of struts revealed no information directly applicable to the immediate problem, especially in the impact velocity ranges desired, and an experimental program was conducted to obtain the needed data. Mild-steel struts with rectangular cross sections were impacted by free-falling weights dropped from known heights. These struts or fin specimens were inclined at five different angles to simulate different angles of impact that fins on a shipping cask could experience under certain accident conditions. The resisting force of the deforming strut was measured and recorded as a function of time by using load cells instrumented with resistance strain gage bridges, signal conditioning equipment, an oscilloscope, and a Polaroid camera. The acceleration of the impacting weight was measured and recorded as a function of time during the latter portion of the testing program by using an accelerometer attached to the drop hammer, appropriate signal conditioning equipment, the oscilloscope, and the camera. A digital computer program was prepared to numerically integrate the force-time and acceleration-time data recorded during the tests to obtain deformation-time data. The force-displacement relationships were then integrated to obtain values of absorbed energy with respect to deformation or time. The results for various fin specimen geometries and impact angles are presented graphically, and these curves may be used to compute the energy absorption capacity of a longitudinal fin on a shipping cask as a function of its geometry and the percentage of deformation it is expected to experience as well as the peak force to which the fin would be subjected during the impact resulting from a 30-foot free drop onto an essentially unyielding horizontal surface.