Beneficial influence of the weldment rupture of cask impact limiter case on the impact absorbing behavior

In the cask impact limiter design, the functions of steel case should be ev aluated for the protection of the filler materials and the impact energy ab sorption by the buckling deformation in both the fire and impact accidents. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the beneficial influence of the intermittent weldment of the cask impact limiter case on the cask impact b ehavior. This paper describes the test results for the joint strength evalu ation of intermittent weldment and the cask impact analysis considering the weldment rupture of the impact limiter case. The weldment rupture of the i mpact limiter case causes to lose their constraining effect for the wood bl ocks, which are filled into the metal incasement between the case and the g ussets. The weldment rupture of the impact limiter case reduces the impact force which acts on the impact target significantly in vertical and horizon tal drop impacts. Therefore the beneficial effect of weldment rupture shoul d be considered in the impact limiter design and the cask impact analysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.