BCU Snapped Wire Software

We work on a wide and varied range of projects which means that sometimes there just isn’t a piece of software that can be pulled ‘off the shelf’ to provide the answer. At times like this we do not compromise with software. This piece of software was developed as part of a safety case for the nuclear industry. Within the Heysham and Hartlepool nuclear power stations a series of superheater boilers are capped by concrete “plugs” known as boiler closure units (BCU). They contain pre-stressed wire windings to help ensure the integrity of the units. After the discovery of failed wires in some of the BCUs concern was expressed that failure in one wire could lead to offloading, increased tension and failure of adjacent wire layers. DC White CE developed software to assess this possibility. The screen-shots here show some of its capabilities. For basic investigation, the breaks could be set manually at any position in any wire and the effects, recovery of tension and the tensile offloading onto adjacent wires could be investigated and results displayed graphically. To assess the hazards associated with large numbers of wire failures, the software could generate breaks at any number of random positions and compute the loss of BCU confining pressure. It was demonstrated that 100 breaks in 30 turns of wire (roughly a break each 2.5 turns of each layer) would lose 10% BCU confining pressure. If you have a problem that needs to be looked at from a fresh perspective contact us and we will be happy to discuss possible software solutions to your needs.