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Title: Experiments to evaluate behavior of containment piping bellows under severe accident conditions

Abstract

Bellows are an integral part of the containment pressure boundary in nuclear power plants. They are used at piping penetrations to allow relative movement between piping and the containment wall. In a severe accident they may be subjected to high pressure and temperature, and a combination of axial and lateral deflections. A test program to determine the leak-tight capacity of containment penetration bellows is being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several different bellows geometries, representative of actual containment bellows, are being subjected to extreme deflections along with pressure and temperature loads. The bellows geometries and loading conditions are described along with the testing apparatus and procedures. A total of thirteen tests have been conducted. The tests showed that withstanding relatively large bellows are capable of deformations, up to, or near, the point of full compression before developing leakage. The test data is presented and discussed.

Authors:
;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
10105285
Report Number(s):
SAND-93-1606C; CONF-931079-9
ON: DE94003106; BR: GB0103012; TRN: 94:000780
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Conference: 21. water reactor safety information meeting,Bethesda, MD (United States),25-27 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; CONTAINMENT BUILDINGS; CONTAINMENT SHELLS; LEAKS; BELLOWS; PERFORMANCE TESTING; PIPES; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; OPENINGS; 220200; COMPONENTS AND ACCESSORIES

Citation Formats

Lambert, L.D., and Parks, M.B.. Experiments to evaluate behavior of containment piping bellows under severe accident conditions. United States: N. p., 1993. Web. doi:10.2172/10105285.
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Lambert, L.D., & Parks, M.B.. Experiments to evaluate behavior of containment piping bellows under severe accident conditions. United States. doi:10.2172/10105285.
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Lambert, L.D., and Parks, M.B.. Mon . "Experiments to evaluate behavior of containment piping bellows under severe accident conditions". United States. doi:10.2172/10105285. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/10105285.
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@article{osti_10105285,
title = {Experiments to evaluate behavior of containment piping bellows under severe accident conditions},
author = {Lambert, L.D. and Parks, M.B.},
abstractNote = {Bellows are an integral part of the containment pressure boundary in nuclear power plants. They are used at piping penetrations to allow relative movement between piping and the containment wall. In a severe accident they may be subjected to high pressure and temperature, and a combination of axial and lateral deflections. A test program to determine the leak-tight capacity of containment penetration bellows is being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several different bellows geometries, representative of actual containment bellows, are being subjected to extreme deflections along with pressure and temperature loads. The bellows geometries and loading conditions are described along with the testing apparatus and procedures. A total of thirteen tests have been conducted. The tests showed that withstanding relatively large bellows are capable of deformations, up to, or near, the point of full compression before developing leakage. The test data is presented and discussed.},
doi = {10.2172/10105285},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993},
month = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993}
}
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Technical Report:
View Technical Report (4.25 MB)
DOI:  10.2172/10105285
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  • ;
    Containment piping penetration bellows are an integral part of the pressure boundary in steel containments in the United States (US). Their purpose is to minimize loading on the containment shell caused by differential movement between the piping and the containment. This differential movement is typically caused by thermal gradients generated during startup and shutdown of the reactor, but can be caused by earthquake, a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), or ``severe`` accidents. In the event of a severe accident, the bellows would be subjected to pressure, temperature, and deflection well beyond the design basis. Most bellows are installed such that they wouldmore » be subjected to elevated internal pressure, elevated temperature, axial compression, and lateral deflection during a severe accident. A few bellows would be subjected to external pressure and axial elongation, as well as elevated temperature and lateral deflection. The purpose of this experimental program is to examine the potential for leakage of containment bellows during a severe accident. The test series subjects bellows to various levels and combinations of internal pressure, elevated temperature, axial compression or elongation, and lateral deformation. The experiments are being conducted in two parts. For Part 1, all bellows specimens are tested in ``like-new`` condition, without regard for the possible degrading effect of corrosion that has been observed in some containment piping bellows in the US Part I testing, which included 13 bellows tests, has been completed. The second part of the experimental program, in which bellows are subjected to simulated corrosive environments prior to testing, has just just begun. The Part I experiments have shown that bellows in ``like-new`` condition can withstand elevated temperatures and pressures along with large deformations before leaking. In most cases, the like-new bellows were fully compressed without developing any leakage.« less

  • ;
    Bellows are an integral part of the containment pressure boundary in nuclear power plants. They are used at piping penetrations to allow relative movement between piping and the containment wall, while minimizing the load imposed on the piping and wall. Piping bellows are primarily used in steel containments; however, they have received limited use in some concrete (reinforced and prestressed) containments. In a severe accident they may be subjected to pressure and temperature conditions that exceed the design values, along with a combination of axial and lateral deflections. A test program to determine the leak-tight capacity of containment penetration bellowsmore » is being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories under the sponsorship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Several different bellows geometries, representative of actual containment bellows, have been subjected to extreme deflections along with pressure and temperature loads. The bellows geometries and loading conditions are described along with the testing apparatus and procedures. A total of nineteen bellows have been tested. Thirteen bellows were tested in ``like-new`` condition (results reported in Volume 1), and six were tested in a corroded condition. The tests showed that bellows in ``like-new`` condition are capable of withstanding relatively large deformations, up to, or near, the point of full compression or elongation, before developing leakage, while those in a corroded condition did not perform as well, depending on the amount of corrosion. The corroded bellows test program and results are presented in this report.« less

  • ;
    Bellows are an integral part of the containment pressure boundary in nuclear power plants. They are used at piping penetrations to allow relative movement between piping and the containment wall, while minimizing the load imposed on the piping and wall. Piping bellows are primarily used in steel containments; however, they have received limited use in some concrete (reinforced and prestressed) containments. In a severe accident they may be subjected to pressure and temperature conditions that exceed the design values, along with a combination of axial and lateral deflections. A test program to determine the leak-tight capacity of containment penetration bellowsmore » is being conducted under the sponsorship of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission at Sandia National Laboratories. Several different bellows geometries, representative of actual containment bellows, have been subjected to extreme deflections along with pressure and temperature loads. The bellows geometries and loading conditions are described along with the testing apparatus and procedures. A total of thirteen bellows have been tested, all in the `like-new` condition. (Additional tests are planned of bellows that have been subjected to corrosion.) The tests showed that bellows are capable of withstanding relatively large deformations, up to, or near, the point of full compression or elongation, before developing leakage. The test data is presented and discussed.« less

  • The knowledge of the leakage behavior of containments beyond design conditions is required for evaluation of severe accident mitigation strategies, risk studies, emergency preparedness, planning and siting. Strategies for managing these severe accidents will be severely hampered unless a methodology for predicting the timing, mode, and location of containment failure or leakage is developed. Five NRC programs - Experiments on Containment Models Under Extreme Loading Conditions, Containment Integrity Under Extreme Loads, Integrity of Containment Penetrations Under Severe Accident Loads, the Electrical Penetration Assemblies (EPAs), and Isolation Valves - are currently in place to evaluate containment integrity and the potential formore » leakage beyond design conditions. This report will summarize the work performed during FY84 for one of these programs - the Integrity of Containment Penetrations Under Severe Accident Conditions (henceforth called the Containment Penetration program).« less

  • The leakage behavior of containments beyond design conditions and knowledge of failure modes is required for evaluation of mitigation strategies for severe accidents, risk studies, emergency preparedness planning, and siting. These studies are directed towards assessing the risk and consequences of severe accidents. An accident sequence analysis conducted on a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR), Mark I (MK I), indicated very high temperatures in the dry-well region, which is the location of the majority of electrical penetration assemblies. Because of the high temperatures, it was postulated in the ORNL study that the sealants would fail and all the electrical penetration assembliesmore » would leak before structural failure would occur. Since other containments had similar electrical penetration assemblies, it was concluded that all containments would experience the same type of failure. The results of this study, however, show that this conclusion does not hold for PWRs because in the worst accident sequence, the long time containment gases stabilize to 350/sup 0/F. BWRs, on the other hand, do experience high dry-well temperatures and have a higher potential for leakage.« less