A Methodology for Characterizing Brittle Fracture of Solid Waste Forms in Accidental Impacts

Abstract

A general method for characterizing the major practical effects of accidental impacts on waste packages and for evaluation of scale-model tests has been partially developed. Impact fracture of brittle waste forms has been shown elsewhere to produce particulates whose size distributions are described by the lognormal probability distribution.The model proposed for fragment generation involves the transformation of impact (kinetic) energy into elastic strain energy which is followed by fracture and energy dissipation into heat by the fracture particulates.The peak stresses developing during compressions are approximated as a function of time using elastic theory for a wide range of practical impact conditions for typical (glass) waste forms.The proposed methodology requires experimental validation in terms of correlation of stress and energy parameters with particulate parameters describing the results of fracture. Two kinds of preliminary correlations are presented:(1) calculations of stress parameters for a range of impact conditions; and (2) averages of particulate parameters obtained in standard impact tests.