Break-away Traffic Flange for Hydrant Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing traffic flanges for hydrants often fail prematurely or not at all, leading to costly damage to water supply systems and unnecessary water loss, as they are not designed to sacrificially fail under impact conditions, necessitating material changes that require redesigns.
Innovation Solution
A traffic flange with an arcuate shape and break-away portion featuring tabs extending radially inward, secured by fasteners through axial holes, designed to predictably weaken and fail under pressure, protecting the hydrant's lower components by separating from the barrel flange, made from ductile iron for increased strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the traffic flange is designed to be strong and durable, then it can withstand normal operational loads, but it fails to sacrificially fail under impact conditions, resulting in costly damage to the water supply system
Solution Approach 1:
The traffic flange is divided into a body portion and a break-away portion, creating distinct functional zones. The body portion maintains structural strength for normal operation, while the break-away portion is designed with reduced strength characteristics to fail sacrificially under impact, thus resolving the contradiction between overall strength and controlled failure reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the traffic flange are assigned different mechanical properties. The body portion uses material and design optimized for strength and durability, while the break-away portion uses material or design optimized for controlled failure. This local differentiation allows the flange to both withstand normal loads and fail reliably under impact conditions.
2Reliability
If the traffic flange is designed to fail easily to protect other components, then it can sacrificially fail under impact, but it may fail prematurely under normal operational conditions
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the traffic flange into body and break-away portions with clearly defined strength boundaries, the design ensures that only the break-away portion fails under impact while the body portion maintains sufficient strength to prevent premature failure during normal operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The design changes material parameters or geometric parameters locally in the break-away portion to reduce its strength relative to the body portion. This parameter differentiation ensures the break-away portion fails first under impact while the body portion retains adequate strength for normal operational loads.
3Reliability
If the material of the traffic flange is changed to improve its failure characteristics, then it can fail more predictably, but it necessitates a redesign of the component
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation into body and break-away portions allows different material selections for different functions. The body portion uses standard durable material, while the break-away portion uses material optimized for controlled failure. This segmentation enables material changes to improve failure predictability while containing the redesign scope to specific portions rather than the entire component.
Data Source
AI summary
A traffic flange for a hydrant includes: a body portion defining an arcuate shape and including an upper surface, a lower surface, an inner radial surface, and an outer radial surface, the body portion defining a body portion width in a radial direction relative to a main axis of the traffic flange, the body portion further defining a plurality of holes extending in an axial direction of the traffic flange relative to the main axis from the upper surface to the lower surface; and a break-away portion including a plurality of tabs extending radially inward in the radial direction from the inner radial surface of the body portion, a total width of the traffic flange in the radial direction of the traffic flange at each of the plurality of tabs greater than the body portion width.