Finite element and reliability analysis of nuclear power plant: A literature survey

Abstract

In recent time nuclear power plants (NPP) have become a major contributor of world's energy production. However, NPP presents a great threat to world's atmosphere, so risk analysis is a major concern related to them. The use of finite element analysis (FEA) has increased for the study of real world structures of NPP. It predicts how an NPP structure will react to real time forces, heat, vibration, fluid flow, and other physical effects. FEA estimates whether NPP will operate effectively or it will break down. There is increasing trend of literature related to this field in the last decade, where FEA is done to determine the physical behavior of structures or constructional material properties. Risk and reliability analysis is done to ensure the safe operation of NPP, and this paper is attempts to bridge FEA with risk analysis by presenting a set of references.