Evaluation of Select Heat and Pressure Measurement Gauges for Potential Use in the NRC/OECD High Energy Arc Fault (HEAF) Test Program

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1204110· OSTI ID:1204110

Lopez, Carlos ^[1]; Wente, William Baker ^[1]; Figueroa, Victor G. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

In an effort to improve the current state of the art in fire probabilistic risk assessment methodology, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Regulatory Research, contracted Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct a series of scoping tests to identify thermal and mechanical probes that could be used to characterize the zone of influence (ZOI) during high energy arc fault (HEAF) testing. For the thermal evaluation, passive and active probes were exposed to HEAF-like heat fluxes for a period of 2 seconds at the SNL's National Solar Thermal Test Facility to determine their ability to survive and measure such an extreme environment. Thermal probes tested included temperature lacquers (passive), NANMAC thermocouples, directional flame thermometers, modified plate thermometers, infrared temperature sensors, and a Gardon heat flux gauge. Similarly, passive and active pressure probes were evaluated by exposing them to pressures resulting from various high-explosive detonations at the Sandia Terminal Ballistic Facility. Pressure probes included bikini pressure gauges (passive) and pressure transducers. Results from these tests provided good insight to determine which probes should be considered for use during future HEAF testing.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USNRC
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1204110
• Report Number(s): SAND--2014-0779; 508103
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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