eferenca

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NATL INST. OF STAND & TECH

AlllDS T73Tai I" /

NBS TECHNICAL NOTE 1158

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/ National Bureau of Standards

Accountability Tank Volume

Calibration Data

-QC

100

.U5753

NO . 1158

19d2
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

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'Headquarters and Laboratories at Gaithersburg, MD, unless otherwise noted; mailing address Washington, DC 20234. 'Some divisions within the center are located at Boulder, CO 80303.

I
Frank E. Jones and John F. Houser

National Engineering Laboratory

Randall M. Schoonover

National Measurement Laboratory

National Bureau of Standards

Washington, DC 20234

Sponsored by:

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

7920 Norfolk Avenue

Bethesda, MD 20555

^f£AU Of

HATIONAL BtJRBAO or STANDAKUa

LIBRARY

SEP 1 5 1982

Accountability Tank Volume ^^^'

Calibration Data ol[oa

,051 ST?

\^i^a.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Malcolm Baldrige, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director

Issued August 1982
The use of a company name in this pubHcation

does not constitute endorsement or recommendation

by the National Bureau of Standards or any other

agency of the Federal Government.

National Bureau of Standards Technical Note 1158

Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), Tech. Note 1 158, 12 pages (Aug. 1982) CODEN: NBTNAE

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1982

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, DC 20402

Price (Add 25 percent for other than U.S. mailing)
ACCOUNTABILITY TANK VOLUME CALIBRATION DATA

Frank E. Jones, John F. Houser , and Randall M. Schoonover

National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC 20234

This paper presents the very precise data from the volume calibration of a nuclear materials input accountability tank and briefly

describes the treatment of the data. The calibration system

involves the use of volumetric test measures for dispensing known

increments of the calibration fluid (water) into the tank, and a null-operated quartz bourdon-type differential pressure gage for

measuring the differential pressure between the bottom of the

bubble on the tip of a "bubbler" tube near the bottom of the tank

and a port in the top of the tank. The tank is essentially a right

circular cylinder with a capacity of approximately 13,600 L

(3,600 gal). The height is approximately 3.4 m (11 ft) and the

diameter is approximately 2.4 m (8 ft). The water volume and the

differential pressure were adjusted to correspond to the reference

temperature, 25.00 C.

Key words : Accountability tank; calibration; differential pressure;

volume; volumetric test measures; water calibration.

1. INTRODUCTION

An earlier paper [1] described the application of a significantly improved system for

the volume calibration of nuclear materials accountability tanks. The system involves

the use of volumetric test measures for dispensing known increments of the calibration fluid (water) into the tank, and a null-operated quartz bourdon-type differential

pressure gage for measuring the differential pressure between the bottom of the

bubble [2] on the tip of a "bubbler" tube near the bottom of the tank and a port at

the top of the tank. The system was used in a very successful calibration [1] of an input accountability tank at the Savannah River Plant in Aiken, South Carolina,

operated for the U. S. Department of Energy by E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co., Inc.

It is the primary purpose of this paper to present the very precise data from this

calibration and to briefly describe the treatment of the data. The tank volume

calibration data have been used as an example in two different statistical papers on calibration [3,4].

The input accountability tank that was calibrated at the Savannah River Plant is

illustrated in figure 1. It is essentially a right circular cylinder with a capacity

of approximately 13,600 L (3,600 gal). The height is approximately 3.4 m (11

ft) and the diameter is approximately 2.4 m (8 ft). The major details are shown in

the figure. The cooling coils are of 51 mm (2 in) outside diameter and are located

in the interior of the tank. The two "headers" are cylindrical, approximately 229 mm

(9 in) long and 76 mm (3 in) in diameter. The tubing above the headers is approximately 76 mm (3 in) in outside diameter.
HlIEdil II

cooiiie Wild II BUBtUI TUt(

cooime wiiEt oui HlTEtlU OUT

Figure 1. Sketch of an accountability tank.

2. CALIBRATION RUNS

Seven calibration runs were made, six in a "mock-up" area of the plant and one in the

process location; the runs in the "mock-up" area were made prior to the installation

of the tank in the process location in the canyon. The data for two of the runs

(Runs 3 and 4) are not treated here due to operational problems which were analyzed

and eliminated from subsequent runs [1].

In three runs (Runs 1, 5, and 7), 36 increments of water from a 378-L (100-gal)

volumetric test measure were introduced into the tank. In two runs (Runs 2 and 6)

,

the first increment was introduced from a 189-L (50-gal) test measure in order to

offset the accumulated volume from Runs 1,5, and 7 by this amount. Subsequent increments in Runs 2 and 6 were of 378 L (100 gal) , except that 189-L (50-gal) increments were used to arrive at the six check points, 1,890 (500), 5,300 (1,400), 8,330 (2,200),

10,200 (2,700), 12,100 (3,200), and 13,600 (3,600) L (gal) that were used throughout

the series of runs to establish control and to permit monitoring of the run-to-run

performance of the calibration system.

In each of the calibration runs for each increment of water transferred to the tank

from a volumetric test measure, the following were determined (after operation of the

agitator) from instrument readings and instrument calibration data: temperature of

the water in the test measure, temperature of the water in the tank, differential

pressure, ambient air pressure, and ambient air relative humidity. The volume of

water introduced in each transfer was determined from the calibration volume of the

test measure, the test measure sight gage reading, and the temperature of the water

in the test measure.

3. TREATMENT OF THE DATA

The calibration runs were made with water temperature in the vicinity of 22 C. The

water volume, V, and differential pressure, P, were adjusted to correspond to the

reference temperature, 25.00 C. V was adjusted using the relationship
^25 = ^^'"25 • (1)

where V„ and V are volume corresponding to the reference temperature and the

calibration temperature, respectively; P^^. and P are density of water at the

reference temperature and the calibration temperature, respectively. The table of

Wagenbreth and Blanke [5] was used to determine P„ and P for the temperatures.

The differential pressure, P, was adjusted [6] using the equation

^25 " ^c ^^ " ^"^ (25.00 - t)] , (2)

where ct is the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of the stainless steel of

which the tank was fabricated (taken to 15.9 x 10 (°C) ), and t is temperature in

degrees Celsius.

The inside diameter of the connecting tubing used for the differential pressure

measurement system installation in the "mock-up" area was smaller than that in the

process location with resulting pressure drops which represented systematic errors in

differential pressure. To estimate the magnitude of these systematic errors and to

make corrections for them, the differential pressure in the "mock-up" area runs was interpolated using the equation

^I " ^25 "^ ^^7 " V^^^/^^^x ' ^^^

where V is the interpolated differential pressure corresponding to V , a value of

volume m the process location run at the reference temperature, V is a volume in

a "mock-up" area run near V^, and (AP/AV) is the "rate" of change of differential

pressure with volume in the "mock-up" area run. The differences, (P - P-,), where

P- is the process location run differential pressure corresponding to V^, were

computed. (P-p - P^) was essentially constant for each run except for the first three

points of each which were treated separately; therefore, the negative of the mean

(P - P^) was applied as a correction to each of the values of P^r*

The temperature of the water in the tank, adjusted volume, and corrected differential

pressure are tabulated in Tables 1-5. The trans fer„number refers to the increment of

water dispensed into the tank, volume is given in m recalling that 1 m is equivalent to 1,000 L.

4. HEEL VOLUME

The heel volume, the volume of water in the tank below the "bubbler" tip, was estimated

by extrapolation from the first three points in Runs 1 and 3 and the first five

points in Runs 2 and 6. The mean of the four estimates is 101.4 L and the

estimate of the standard deviation of the mean is 0.7 L.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the excellent cooperation and assistance of duPont

and DOE personnel of the Savannah River Plant, the financial support provided by the

U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission through the Office of Measurements for Nuclear

Technology of the National Bureau of Standards, and the typing of the manuscript by

Susan Johnson.
ble 1. Cal ibration Data Adjusted to 25 C for Run No. 1

Water Diff.

ansfer Temp. Volume Pressure

No. (°C)

(m^)

(Pa)

1 22.31 0.37884 630.6

2 22.41 0.75755 1473.1

3 22.46 1.13642 2375.6

4 22.46 1.51528 3263.5

5 22.45 1.89414 4154.2

6 22.50 2.27302 5044.9

7 22.47 2.65191 5934.7

8 22.48 3.03084 6820.2

9 22.53 3.40977 7713.1

10 22.51 3.78871 8603.8

11 22.53 4.16762 9491.9

12 22.54 4.54660 10383.8

13 22.55 4.92553 11263.5

14 22.57 5.30445 12143.8

15 22.56 5.68339 12994.4

16 22.58 6.06229 13816.8

17 22.61 6.44116 14636.4

18 22.62 6.82009 15449.8

19 22.65 7.19901 16263.0

20 22.82 7.57791 17078.4

21 22.80 7.95687 17891.7

22 22.77 8.33576 18703.9

23 22.74 8.71469 19519.2

24 22.68 9.09361 20334.8

25 22.69 9.47253 21149.1

26 22.64 9.85149 21963.7

27 22.62 10.2305 22781.4

28 22.61 10.6094 23597.1

29 22.58 10.9883 24411.9

30 22.58 11.3671 25226.9

31 22.56 11.7459 26040.9

32 22.54 12.1248 26855.2

33 22.53 12.5037 27669.4

34 22.53 12.8826 28486.4

35 22.53 13.2616 29301.4

36 22.51 13.6405 30116.1
Table 2. Calibration Data Adjusted to 25 C for Run No. 2

Water Diff.

Transfer Temp. Volume Pressure

No. (°C)

(m^)

(Pa)

1 22.65 0.18941 218.8

2 22.14 0.56840 1039.2

3 22.16 0.94740 1929.2

4 22.13 1.32640 2819.5

5 22.11 1.70525 3712.3

6 22.15 1.89465 4152.8

7 22.16 2.08411 4601.5

8 22.16 2.46295 5489.8

9 22.17 2.84196 6382.2

10 22.18 3.22096 7269.4

11 22.19 3.59999 8158.6

12 22.20 3.97893 9052.0

13 22.22 4.35796 9940.6

14 22.22 4.73699 10825.1

15 22.23 5.11598 11704.7

16 22.26 5.30545 12145.2

17 22.30 5.49482 12581.4

18 22.32 5.87381 13407.2

19 22.33 6.25282 14227.6

20 22.34 6.63179 15045.3

21 22.35 7.01070 15858.6

22 22.36 7.38969 16673.6

23 22.38 7.76867 17487.7

24 22.41 8.14760 18301.9

25 22.43 8.33704 18709.4

26 22.45 8.52645 19116.8

27 22.48 8.90559 19931.7

28 22.48 9.28455 20748.0

29 22.48 9.66349 21561.4

30 22.49 10.0425 22376.2

31 22.50 10.2320 22786.5

32 22.52 10.4214 23193.9

33 22.56 10.8000 24008.1

34 22.58 11.1788 24822.2

35 22.59 11.5577 25635.7

36 22.60 11.9366 26449.8

37 22.61 12.1259 26856.5

38 22.64 12.3153 27264.5

39 22.64 12.6942 28078.6

40 22.65 13.0731 28896.1

41 22.66 13.4520 29709.5

42 22.67 13.6414 30116.8
Table 3. Calibration Data Adjusted to 25 C for Run No. 5

Water Diff.

Transfer Temp. Volume Pressure

No. (°C)

(tn^)

(Pa)

1 22.13 0.37880 630.2

2 22.23 0.75769 1473.4

3 22.18 1.13665 2376.5

4 22.13 1.51561 3267.4

5 22.13 1.89458 4150.6

6 22.09 2.27340 5044.4

7 22.08 2.65216 5932.4

8 22.08 3.03108 6819.3

9 22.09 3.40994 7712.5

10 22.10 3.78883 8602.9

11 22.11 4.16781 9489.8

12 22.10 4.54674 10382.6

13 22.10 4.92572 11262.6

14 22.12 5.30459 12142.0

15 22.13 5.68354 12994.1

16 22.12 6.06255 13817.3

17 22.11 6.44156 14635.6

18 22.10 6.82043 15450.1

19 22.14 7.19940 16265.8

20 22.14 7.57833 17081.0

21 22.13 7.95726 17894.5

22 22.13 8.33617 18707.3

23 22.16 8.71507 19521.2

24 22.13 9.09402 20340.5

25 22.14 9.47292 21154.1

26 22.14 9.85184 21968.3

27 22.14 10.2308 22785.2

28 22.14 10.6098 23600.1

29 22.14 10.9887 24413.6

30 22.14 11.3676 25227.5

31 22.14 11.7466 26042.0

32 22.14 12.1255 26853.8

33 22.13 12.5044 27669.4

34 22.12 12.8834 28486.4

35 22.14 13.2623 29300.9

36 22.11 13.6413 30115.4
Table 4. Calibration Data Adjusted to 25 C for Run No. 6

Water Diff.

Transfer Temp. Volume Pressure

No. (°C)

(m^)

(Pa)

1 21.53 0.18949 220.5

2 21.23 0.56843 1040.2

3 21.24 0.94746 1930.2

4 21.27 1.32640 2816.5

5 21.26 1.70527 3713.4

6 21.27 1.89466 4156.0

7 21.27 2.08406 4602.4

8 21.25 2.46313 5490.4

9 21.24 2.84205 6384.2

10 21.22 3.22114 7272.1

11 21.21 3.60028 8162.5

12 21.21 3.97932 9052.8

13 21.24 4.35825 9943.2

14 21.25 4.73715 10827.7

15 21.26 5.11601 11706.3

16 21.28 5.30558 12146.5

17 21.28 5.49499 12582.9

18 21.28 5.87408 13409.2

19 21.28 6.25317 14227.8

20 21.28 6.63211 15043.4

21 21.27 7.01115 15858.9

22 21.26 7.39017 16673.1

23 21.26 7.76916 17487.4

24 21.25 8.14815 18301.8

25 21.26 8.33774 18706.8

26 21.26 8.52723 19115.3

27 21.26 8.90621 19929.2

28 21.25 9.28520 20745.0

29 21.24 9.66418 21559.9

30 21.23 10.0431 22374.1

31 21.23 10.2326 22783.9

32 21.23 10.4220 23195.2

33 21.23 10.8010 24008.3

34 21.24 11.1800 24823.2

35 21.24 11.5590 25638.7

36 21.23 11.9379 26453.6

37 21.23 12.1274 26859.3

38 21.24 12.3169 27268.5

39 21.24 12.6959 28083.7

40 21.24 13.0749 28900.3

41 21.23 13.4538 29715.5

42 21.24 13.6433 30122.6
Table 5. Calibration Data Adjusted to 25 C for Run No. 7

Water Diff

Transfer Temp. Volume Pressure

No. (°C) (m^)

(Pa)

1 22.03 0.37884 629.2

2 22.85 0.75767 1474.9

3 22.74 1.13646 2375.7

4 22.89 1.51523 3265.2

5 22.97 1.89401 4154.3

6 23.03 2.27272 5046.5

7 23.09 2.65154 5933.9

8 23.10 3.03029 6820.6

9 23.09 3.40919 7712.8

10 23.08 3.78805 8601.3

11 23.08 4.16693 9486.7

12 23.08 4.54579 10381.9

13 23.07 4.92470 11260.3

14 23.08 5.30359 12140.5

15 23.08 5.68248 12993.4

16 23.06 6.06140 13815.6

17 23.05 6.44025 14634.4

18 23.07 6.81913 15448.7

19 23.05 7.19798 16262.0

20 23.05 7.57684 17076.0

21 23.06 7.95565 17889.6

22 23.06 8.33453 18703.2

23 23.07 8.71340 19517.2

24 23.07 9.09241 20332.8

25 23.06 9.47135 21147.8

26 23.06 9.85020 21961.1

27 23.06 10.2291 22777.5

28 23.06 10.6079 23594.5

29 23.07 10.9868 24408.8

30 23.07 11.3656 25223.8

31 23.06 11.7445 26036.0

32 23.06 12.1234 26850.7

33 23.06 12.5024 27665.7

34 23.07 12.8813 28482.1

35 23.07 13.2602 29296.7

36 23.07 13.6391 30110.7
6. REFERENCES

[1] Jones, F. E., Application of an improved volume calibration system to the

calibration of accountability tanks. Nuclear Safeguards Technology 1978,

Vol. II. International Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna), 1979, 653-659.

[2] Gaigalas, A. K. ; and Robertson, B. Time dependence of pressure in a bubbler

tube, submitted to AIChE Journal (Feb. 1981).

[3] Lechner, J. A.; Reeve, C. P.; and Spiegelman, C. H. A new method of assigning

uncertainty in volume calibration. Nat. Bur. Stand. (U.S.) NBSIR 80-2151,

1980 December.

[4] Sacks, J.; and Spiegelman, C. H. Nonparametric calibration, submitted to

Technometrics

[5] Wagenbreth, H. ; and Blanke, W. PTB-Mitt., 81, S. 412-415; 1971.

[6] Jones, F. E. A Tank Volume Calibration Algorithm, undergoing editorial review.
NBS-n4A (REV. 2-8C) U.S. DEPT. OF COMM.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET (See instructions)

1. PUBLICATION OR

REPORT NO.

NBS IN 1158

2. Performing Organ. Report No 3. Publication Date August 1982

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

Accountability Tank Volume Calibration Data

5. AUTHOR(S)

Frank E. Jones, John F. Houser, Randall M. Schoonover

6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION (If joint or other than NBS. see instructions)

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20234

7. Contract/Grant No.

8. Type of Report & Period Covered

Final

9. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street, City, Stote, ZIP)

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Coiranission

7920 Norfolk Ave.

Bethesda, MD 20555

10. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

1^2] Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FIPS Software Summary, is attached.

11. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a si gnificant

bi bl iograpliy or literature survey, mention it here)

This paper presents the very precise data from the volume calibration

of a nuclear materials input accountability tank and briefly describes the

treatment of the data. The calibration system involves the use of volumetric

test measures for dispensing known increments of the calibration fluid (water)

into the tank, and a null-operated quartz bourdon-type differential pressure

gage for measuring the differential pressure between the bottom of the bubble on

the tip of a "bubbler" tube near the bottom of the tank and a port in the top of

the tank. The tank is essentially a right circular cylinder with a capacity of

approximately 13,600 L (3,600 gal). The height is approximately 3.4 m

(11 ft) and the diameter is approximately 2.4 m (8 ft). The water volume and the

differential pressure were adjusted to correspond to the reference temperature,

25.00 °C.

12. KEY WORDS (Six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only proper names; and separate key words by semicolons)

Accountability tank; calibration; differential pressure; volume; volumetric

test measures; water calibration.

13. AVAILABILITY

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[X] Order From Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

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PRINTED PAGES

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15. Price

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