Abstract
AP1000 is a standard nuclear power plant developed by Westinghouse and its partners by using an advanced passive safety feature. Among the five principle building structures, namely the nuclear island, turbine building, annex building, diesel generator building and radwaste building, the safety of the nuclear island building is the most concerned. This paper investigates the dynamic response of the nuclear island building of the AP1000 plant subjected to safe shutdown earthquake loadings. A finite element model for the building, which is assumed to be built in a hard-rock base, is developed and its dynamic response is computed with the aid of the commercial finite element package ANSYS. The dynamic characteristics, including the natural frequencies, the vibration modes, and the time histories for displacements, velocities, and accelerations of the building are obtained for two typical safe shutdown earthquakes, El Centro and Kobe earthquakes. The dynamic behavior of the building due to the earthquakes and its safety is examined and highlighted.
Highlights
The safety of nuclear power plants in earthquakes is the most concern for engineers and researchers in designing a new plant as well as in evaluating the existing plants [1]
Investigations on the dynamic behavior of nuclear power plant by using both the commercial finite element packages and self-developed codes have been extensively reported in the literature
From a safety point of view, the nuclear island building is more dangerous in the Japanese Kobe earthquake than it is in the American El Centro earthquake
Summary
The safety of nuclear power plants in earthquakes is the most concern for engineers and researchers in designing a new plant as well as in evaluating the existing plants [1]. Manjuprasal et al [3] developed a 20node isoparametric solid finite element for investigating the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete containment shell of nuclear plants under seismic loading It has been shown by the authors that the material nonlinearity which considered in their work has a significant influence on the dynamic response of the structure and the dynamic. Politopouos et al [10] modeled the soil domain under the nuclear power plant by the finite elements and Lysmer radiation boundaries for investigation of the effect of foundation embedment on the floor response spectra of the plant It has been shown by the authors that the base rocking excitation induced by soil–structure interaction, may amplify the non-isolated modes' response. The dynamic behavior of the building in the earthquakes and its safety are examined and highlighted
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