Abstract
A linear three dimensional finite element (FE) study has been carried out to examine the structural response of a prestressed concrete (PSC) inner containment (IC) dome of reactor building (double containment system) of a typical Indian Nuclear Power Plant, having large steam generator (SG) openings with due emphasis on the local behaviour of the steel-concrete interfaces at the SG openings, due to initial prestress transfer. The predominant thrust of the study has been placed on the objective of predicting the possibilities of separation at the steel-concrete interface zones adjacent to the embedded plates (EPs) of the SG openings. Two types of modeling and analysis have been made to study the overall and local behaviour of the structure. Prestressing ducts, passive reinforcements and EPs have been included in the models in certain ways. For the FE analysis, the interface zone has been modeled using interface elements, the properties of which were derived from the results of past experiments conducted on steel plate-concrete inter-face specimens. The FE analysis results have been compared with the results of the past two FE analytical studies on the linear behaviour of the same PSC IC dome. Important observations have been made regarding dome deformation and stresses throughout the structure with special emphasis on the local behaviour of steel-concrete interfaces at and around the SG openings.
Highlights
The structural arrangement of the reactor building of a typical Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR)How to cite this paper: Desai, A.A. and Chakrabarti, S.K. (2014) A Study on the Structural Response of a prestressed concrete (PSC) Inner Containment Dome with Large Openings Due to Prestress Transfer
B) Major Principal Stresses in the Ring Beam and Wall (Figure 18) In the inner containment (IC) wall the magnitudes of the major principal stress have been found to be about 8.4 MPa - 11.1 MPa, predominantly, excepting for the regions located just below the ring beam and just above the thickened portion of the IC wall, wherein, the same have been observed to be about 4.0 MPa - 5.3 MPa
The magnitudes of major principal stress have been found to be about 1.6 MPa - 2.2 MPa, excepting for a magnitude of 6.0 MPa at some discrete locations possibly due to the prestressing anchorage forces applied at these locations
Summary
The structural arrangement of the reactor building of a typical Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR). As presented in the above, both the past two FE analytical studies [9] [10] are on the linear behavior of the PSC IC dome (with large SG openings) of the same actual double containment reactor building of the typical 220 MWe capacity Indian NPP, for the condition arising out of initial prestress transfer. The FE analytical work [11] that is reported in this paper deals with the linear behavior of the same PSC IC dome for its condition under initial prestress transfer; but, this work is novel for its following important distinctive features: Layered shell modeling and analysis of the symmetric half of the IC structure from the top of the base raft to its full height including SG openings, passive reinforcements and prestressing ducts in a realistic way for studying the overall behavior of the structure. In the context of the merit of this paper, it is to be noted that there are no other available research data regarding the important aspects of the structural behavior (both in the sense of overall structural behavior with due emphasis on the local behavior of the steel plate-concrete interfaces at the SG openings as well as at the pertinent locations of the IC domes for the condition arising out of dead load and initial prestress transfer) for this particular type of containment structure, than the ones referred here in this paper
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