Structural performance of an IP2 package in free drop test conditions: Numerical and experimental evaluations

•Vertical free drop test.•Qualification of an IP2 type Italian packaging.•Numerical and experimental investigation of the package integrity.•Demonstration the Italian packaging meets safety requirements.

The casks or packaging systems used for the transportation of nuclear materials, especially spent fuel elements, have to be designed according to rigorous acceptance requirements, like the IAEA ones, in order to provide protection to human beings and environment against radiation exposure and contamination.This study deals with the free drop test of an Italian design packaging system to be used for the transportation of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes. Impact drop experiments were performed in the Lab. Scalbatraio of the DICI – University of Pisa.Dynamic analyses too have been carried out, by refined models of both the cask and target surface to predict the effects of the impact shock (vertical drop) on the package. The experimental tests and numerical analyses are thoroughly compared, presented and discussed.The numerical approach shows to be suitable to reproduce with good reliability the test situations and results.