Steel Drum Shipping Container Improvement

The steel drum design and manufacturing process has remained largely unchanged for more than half of a century. SIMCenter simulated standard testing procedures to improve the shipping container's design. Customers are intolerant to in-service failure, which leads to an expensive cleanup process and loss of product.

Two scenarios were simulated and analyzed: drop and overpressure loading conditions. These are the two most severe Department of Transportation (DOT) qualification evaluation tests.

Before simulating the failure scenarios, six containers were analyzed: three that passed drop tests and three that failed. All of the containers were of the same design and specification. Material specimens were cut out of the containers' bottom, body, and top sections to undergo quasi-static material testing under tension, compression, and shear.

Afterward, two CAD models were generated: one with detailed chime features and the second with simplified chime features.

The CAD geometry with the simplified chime geometry was then converted into a structural dynamic finite element model. The overpressure and drop tests were simulated to estimate the expected strain rates and residual plastic strain levels.

These simulations were compared to the results from the lab experiments. After the data was analyzed, SIMCenter made recommendations that minimized the amount of material required to manufacture the drum while also creating a stronger, more dependable product.