Analytic study of the steel liner near the equipment hatch in a 1:4 scale containment model

A containment scale-model test, performed at Sandia National Laboratories, was loaded by overpressurization and the first leak was concluded to be caused by tears in the steel liner found near the equipment hatch. These tears were located in the vicinity of the vertical fold in between the general curved part and the embossment (vertical bend line). A 3D finite element analysis of the region near the equipment hatch, shows that high localized strains will develop in the vicinity of the bend line. It is shown that the liner separates from the concrete wall near the bend line when the containment expands. The tensioned liner will be in contact with the surface of the concrete wall in general, but near the vertical bend line the liner tends to be straightened out. This flexural behaviour cause high strains in the weld located in the bend line. The actual peak strain level is depending on the detailed geometry in the bend line and the failure strain level of a welded biaxial stressed zone is difficult to define. However, the analysis presented in this paper shows that the flexural behaviour in the bend line most likely contributed to the liner tears found in the scale-model test. A general conclusion from the study presented in this paper is that, the non-linear plastic behaviour of the liner is very sensitive to the detailed design and the interaction between the liner and the concrete.