Salt Tank Testbed: a Test Site Designed to Replicate Floor Buckles Observed in Commercial TES Tanks

A test site has been designed and is under construction to replicate the buckling failure observed in several in-service storage tanks for nitrate salts operating up to 565°C. In commercial tanks multiple factors have been identified that influence the floors susceptibility to buckling, including: the as-manufactured shape of the floor, high compressive stresses due to thermal gradients and/or friction, fluid inventory and absolute temperature. Based on extensive modeling analysis it was determined that similar buckles can be reproduced in a scaled test tank (approximately 9x smaller than a representative commercial tank design). To buckle the scaled tank a radial thermal gradient is generated in the tank with a low fluid level, the fluid level is then increased while maintaining the thermal gradient; based on the modeling results just one of these cycles can plastically deform the tank floor. The test site which is under con-struction is designed to replicate this damaging cycle at lower temperatures. The goal of test-ing will be to reproduce this damaging cycle and buckle the scaled test tank floor, allowing proper model validation and a methodology for comparing different tank designs at a smaller (and less costly) scale.