Effects of Local Site Conditions on Seismic Responses of a Reactor Containment Structure

Abstract

The effect of local site conditions on soil-structure interaction (SSI) responses of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) containment building founded on different site conditions was investigated using substructure SSI analysis procedure. The structure was analyzed for both surface and embedded foundation conditions for each site with an exception for one half-space site with shear wave velocity 5000 fps. Only the surface foundation was analyzed for this very stiff half-space site. A total of 23 analyses are presented in this paper. Responses including peak ground accelerations and response spectra at selected locations were compared. The results indicate that the local site conditions have a significant influence on SSI response particularly for the structure founded on the surface of shallow soil deposit overlying competent rock. For thick soil sites having shear wave velocity larger than 1000 fps and having soil thickness greater than 3.5 times the radius of the structure, the effect of the soil thickness is not important.