Containment, also called safety tank, is a safety device of nuclear power plants. Containment includes the nuclear reactor containment and is to protect the plant’s environment from damage during normal operation but mainly in case of accidents.
Containment also means the protection from failing, fast rotating components by accordingly designed housings. If e.g. a grinding wheel cracks, the fragments must not exit the protecting housing.
In case of a cracking pump rotor, it must be granted that fragments are not to be released outside.
In case of cracking rotor blades in powertrains, it must be granted that the blades do not exit the housing.
Merkle & Partner focuses on containment analyses of pumps, compressors, turbines and flywheels. These are explicit analyses (Crash) with underlying failure criteria in the material.
Here, corresponding standards predetermine shape and size of the fragment. In case of overspeed, the crack of the rotating part is initiated by calculation and the behaviour is calculated over a corresponding period of time until a large proportion of energy is destroyed.
Further application ranges are e.g. protective devices for robots. If the robot arm encounters the safety casing with certain energy, no break-through is allowed to happen.
Grinding wheels, flywheels, pumps, axial fans, radial fans, turbines, turbochargers, robot workspaces
Bursting of grinding wheels
Rupture of pump rotors
Rupture of flywheels
LS-DYNA, ABAQUS Explizit
Here you can find the complete software and hardware by Merkle & Partner.