Stress Analysis of Hydride Bed Vessels Used for Tritium Storage

A prototype hydride storage bed was fitted with strain gages to measure strains occurring in the stainless steel bed vessel caused by expansion of the storage powder upon uptake of hydrogen. The strain remained low in the bed as hydrogen was added, up to a bed loading of about 0.5 hydrogen to metal atom ratio. The strain then increased with increasing hydrogen loading, up to the maximum loading ratio of ∼0.8. Different locations exhibited greatly different levels of maximum strain, suggesting that the powder does not flow as a fluid would to equalized the pressure. In no case was the design stress of the vessel exceeded.