Elastoplastic Buckling on the Bent Waveguide of CESR-Type SRF Cavity

A superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity module of CESR-type has been adopted for some advanced accelerators. During operation, the pressure in the liquid-helium vessel acts on the cavity wall, but an ultrahigh vacuum must prevail inside the cavity; the cavity structure must be thus pressure-tested at ambient temperature as a standard procedure for safety. During the pressure test elastoplastic buckling might occur on this SRF cavity and its bent waveguide section, being a shell-like structure. A nonlinear finite-element model for computation is established to assess the mechanism of buckling and post-buckling of the bent waveguide. Some test results with copper bent waveguides are presented. The critical pressure and buckling pattern are strongly affected by the material property and the thickness of the structure and the U-channel.